Many people are concerned when they see inclusions on the jade. First of all, we have to understand that jade is a natual stone formed under extreme pressure
over many many years, so like diamond and all other natural stones, perfection is rare and almost impossible. All jade will have some inclusions, and it's only a
matter of different degrees of severity.
If someone presents you a perfect jade with no inclusions at reasonable price, beware that it's likely man made imitated jade.
The following section will briefly describe several commonly seen inclusions that people are usually concerned about. Please note that only
the crack line and crack tuft are indeed considered "Flaws" in jade. All the other inclusions are merely parts of the characteristics of natual jade.
Crack line - Usually a breakage caused by drop or hit.
Mostly on the surface. Can be seen by bare eyes, there's
no filling inside the line, so tip of finger nail can feel
it.
Crack tuft - Usually a breakage caused by the external
pressure during formation of jade in a complicated
geological enviornment. Mostly under the surface appearing
as web lines. Can be seen by bare eyes. There's brown or
black filling inside the line. May not be felt by tip of
finger nail. This will affect the durability.
Root line - Looks like tree root. Naturally formed.
Colored lines like dregs of root. The color is absorbed
during formation of the jade in a complicated geological
enviornment. Can be seen by bare eyes. Not considered
crack.
Varicolored - Small area or dots of green, red, yellow can
enhance the appearance and value of the jade. They are
called smart color. Small area or dots of black, dark
brown, and grey can affect the appearance and value of the
jade. They are called dirt.
Cui characteristic - Chinese jade dealers call this
"wings of the flies" because the existance of small shiny
structures resemble the wings of the flies. This is
a distint characteristic of jadeite. If the structure of
the jadeite is coarse, the jadeite characteristic will be
more obvious.
Stone line - The external pressure during formation
of jade in a complicated geological enviornment caused the
structure of one side to be formed non-uniformly with the
structure on the other side. Natually formed. Can be
seen by bare eyes. Looks like crack but is not considered
crack. There's no filling inside the line. Stone line
similar to the lines seen inside an ice cube is one common
type. If using a 10x scope, all jade will show stone
lines. Even if stone line is not observed, it doesn't
mean they do not exist. Instead, it means that the
structure of the jade is very fine and dense, so the lines
can not be easily observed.
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