We often get the questions: What is imperial jade? How much does imperial jade cost?
“Imperial” is a trade term, so it’s not strictly scientifically defined or regulated by the FTC. Trade terms are words that are used by customers and sellers, but may change over time or even vary from seller to seller.
“Jade” is technically a trade term as well, as opposed to gemological terms with strict meanings such as “jadeite jade,” “nephrite jade,” “natural,” and “treated.”
Before we dive into the meaning of imperial jade, here are a few notes to help customers better understand this term in the jewelry industry:
- There is no universal quality grading system for colored gemstones, jade included.
- GIA, the Gemological Institute of America, will identify jadeite jade on a Gem ID Report – but they will not assign the quality of “imperial jade” to a jade stone on it’s gem report.
- A seller can legally, albeit unscrupulously, call any stone “imperial” to imply that it’s of exceptional quality, including quartz, jasper, grossular garnet, or treated jadeite. This is frowned upon in the industry, especially by businesses that are properly educated on gemological terms. Beware of sellers who overuse this term.
So now we’ll explain exactly what imperial jade is.
Imperial jade must meet all of these criteria:
-
It must be natural, meaning untreated, jadeite jade
(“imperial jade” should never refer to 'B Jade' and it should never refer to nephrite jade) -
It must rank exceptionally high in quality factors such as color, translucency and texture.
To be considered imperial, it should be in the 1% of gem-grade jade quality. - It must exhibit “inner glow.”
Traditionally, imperial jade refers to the finest green jadeite jade of high translucency and even texture. However, it’s not improper to assign the adjective “imperial” to other exceptional jade colors such as lavender, red, and yellow.
Again, imperial should only describe the finest qualities of jade – so it’s unusual to see this term assigned to jade stones under $50k USD, and is often attributed to jades selling in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
We hope this answers your questions about imperial jade.
If you are interested in purchasing imperial jade, please contact kris@masonkay.com.
