Nephrite jade is a semi-precious gemstone with an inter-locking crystal structure. This structure is responsible for it's incredible toughness and a host of other superior properties which are unique among all gemstones. It is a stone that has been valued for over 10,000 years.
We showcase nephrite's superior color, translucency, quality, strength, and versatility as un-engineered natural stone slabs.
Definition of Jade
Shuo-wen chieh-tzu 2nd-century
CE Chinese Dictionary
Our nephrite slabs are available in endlessly varying shades of green; from near-black to light green-blue. Each nephrite stone produces wholly unique patterns and characteristics.
Nephrite's superior translucency is a result of its underlying crystal structure. Light defuses within the material itself resulting in incredible depth and color, even in a thin profile.
Jade is the toughest of the gemstones, superior even to diamond (which can be quite brittle). It has a crushing strength greater then steel. A gemstone's toughness is a measurement of its ability to withstand mechanical shock. It differs from a stone's hardness, which is a material's ability to withstand wear and abrasion.
Nephrite has an impressive Mohs hardness of 6-7 which is roughly equivalent to that of quartz, and is resistant to scratching and staining.
Dimensions
Thicknesses
Finishes
Vancouver Jade is the world's only supplier of nephrite dimensional stone blocks and slabs. Most semi-precious luxury stone slabs are resin-based aggregates, such as agate or turquoise slabs. We supply slabs of natural gemstone up to industry standard sizes for conventional dimensional stone.
190 m (75 inches)
275 m (108 inches)
We offer pre-processing of thin section slabs to facilitate your jewelry processing needs as part of our lapidary services suite. Each slab is polished on one side for ease of material inspection and selection. We see this approach as the future of jade processing, eliminating the risk and subjectivity which is common place in the jade industry.
< 6.3 mm
(0.25 inches)
All of our materials are offered in a variety of finishes including:
Ca2(Mg,Fe)5Si8O22(OH)2
6 - 6.5 Mohs Scale
Translucent to Opaque
0.74 -0.54
(barefoot v Stocking)
1 x 10-3
212 +/- 55 MPa