What is raw marble? How to distinguish real from fake stone
Key Takeaways
- Rough Jade is a precious natural stone favored for its unique beauty and feng shui value. With diverse colors and high durability, rough jade is widely applied. However, to buy quality stones,...
Rough Jade is a precious natural stone favored for its unique beauty and feng shui value. With diverse colors and high durability, rough jade is widely applied. However, to buy quality stones, you need to know how to distinguish real from fake and refer to market prices. So, how much is rough jade? How to choose to buy it? Let's find out the details with Jemmia right below.
What is Rough Jade?
Rough jade is a natural gemstone that has not undergone any processing or polishing, often directly mined from quarries and retaining its original shape. It is a form of jade, a highly durable mineral commonly used in jewelry making, feng shui items, and artistic carving.
Characteristics of rough jade:
- Natural shape: Usually large blocks, irregular shapes, may have cracks or impurities.
- Skin (skin): The outer layer can be thick and opaque, hiding the true quality inside, which makes pricing rough jade very difficult.
- Unsorted or unprocessed: Not yet polished, cleaned, or cut.
- Potential value: If the inside contains high-quality jadeite (Type A jadeite), its value can be very large after processing.
Jade comes in two main types:
- Jadeite: High-class, rare, and valuable type. Diverse colors such as green, purple, white, and yellow.
- Nephrite: More common type, mainly green or milky white, high durability but lower value than Jadeite.
Rough Jade is usually large blocks, irregular shapes, may have cracks or impurities
Uses of Rough Jade
Feng Shui Applications
Rough jade is considered one of the precious stones with high feng shui value. According to Eastern beliefs, jade brings:
- Good luck and prosperity: Especially green jade, helps attract positive energy and wealth.
- Peace and health: The stone helps regulate energy, reduce stress, and improve mood.
- Energy balance: Placing jade in the home helps create harmony and ward off negative energy.
Therefore, rough jade is often used to make bracelets and pendants to wear.
See more: Top Most Expensive Jade Bracelets in the World
High-End Jewelry Crafting
High-quality rough jade stones are crafted into precious jewelry. Jade is often used to make:
- Rings, bracelets, earrings, pendants.
- Feng Shui jewelry, helping the wearer receive good energy from the stone.
- High-end jewelry, especially Type A Jadeite from Myanmar, is very valuable.
Rough jade is often crafted into high-end jewelry
Use in Carving and Stone Sculptures
With large blocks of rough jade, artisans can craft into:
- Buddha statues, feng shui statues (Pixiu, Long Quy, Thien Chu).
- Display items such as stone spheres, vases, dragon seals.
- Handicrafts, such as teapots, bowls, plates, stone carvings.
How to Identify Real and Fake Rough Jade
Distinguishing with the naked eye
Observe color and stone patterns:
- Real jade has natural, uneven colors, with a gentle swirling effect, and natural, faint patterns.
- Fake stones often have excessively uniform, unusually dark or light colors, patterns that look artificial and easily fade when soaked in water or rubbed.
Check transparency and light transmission:
- Real jade can have a translucent to semi-translucent appearance. When placed under strong light, you will see the depth of the stone and its natural structure.
- Fake stones are often opaque or too transparent like plastic. When viewed under light, they will show an artificial surface with no natural light effect.
Real and fake rough jade can be identified with the naked eye or through professional methods
Professional inspection methods
Inspection under strong light:
- Place the stone under a strong light or flashlight to observe its internal structure.
- Real jade has natural color streaks that do not follow a fixed pattern, with light reflection effects.
- Fake stones often have uniform colors, no natural light effect, or sometimes show air bubbles if they are pressed or plastic.
Using a loupe and specific gravity meter:
- Loupe (10x - 20x): Observe stone patterns, air bubbles, or signs of treatment. Real jade has natural patterns and no air bubbles.
- Specific gravity meter: Real jade has a specific gravity of 2.9 – 3.3 g/cm³. If the specific gravity is much lower, it might be fake or treated stone.
A small tip that Jemmia would like to share is that you can also use a sharp object to gently scratch the surface. Real jade has high hardness and will not be scratched, while fake stones will be easily scratched or peeled off. However, this is just a tip; for accuracy, you should use more professional methods.
See more: 5 Ways to Accurately Identify Natural Gemstones
Current Price of Rough Jade
The price of rough jade (marble) on the market is not fixed and depends on many factors such as quality, color, origin, and size. Here is some reference information:
- Large rough white jade: This type of stone is mined in Nghe An province, Vietnam, and is often used in carving and interior and exterior cladding for high-end projects. Specific prices are not disclosed and usually require direct contact with the supplier for detailed information.
- Imported natural marble: Marble imported from Italy, Spain, Greece, etc., ranges from 2,000,000 VND/m² to 4,000,000 VND/m² for common types. Higher-end types, such as White Volakas, White Statuario, White Calacatta, cost between 4,000,000 VND/m² and 20,000,000 VND/m².
- Domestic natural rough jade: Natural jade mined domestically, such as white jade from Nghe An, is usually cheaper than imported stone. However, specific prices need to be determined by contacting suppliers directly.
The price of rough jade depends on its origin, quality, color, and size
Please note that the prices above are for reference only and may vary depending on the time, stone quality, and supplier. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, you should contact reputable suppliers directly for consultation and specific quotes.
Frequently Asked Questions about Rough Jade
Is rough jade good for feng shui?
Yes, jade helps balance energy and attract good luck.
How to know if rough jade is high-grade?
Check transparency, color, and origin.
Can rough jade be used to make jewelry?
Yes, but it requires processing and polishing.
What are the common colors of rough jade?
Green, white, purple, yellow, black.
See more:
- 6 Ways to Accurately Identify Real and Fake Jade
- What is a Gemstone? Top 13 Most Popular Gemstones for Jewelry
- Natural Gemstone Price List 2025
Rough jade not only possesses natural beauty but also carries profound feng shui significance, helping to attract wealth, luck, and peace. Owning a quality piece of jade brings many values in terms of aesthetics and spirituality. However, due to the presence of many fake stones in the market, buyers need to learn how to identify them and choose reputable suppliers to ensure quality. Follow Jemmia to learn more useful knowledge.
