This article first appeared in Personal Wealth, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 4, 2019 - February 10, 2019

Naturally formed jade is one of the world’s most sought-after gemstone. The predominantly green-hued gem is one of the top five most expensive coloured stones that investors covet in times of economic uncertainty.

Besotted by its beauty, prized for its hardness and resilience and revered for its cultural significance, many, especially the Chinese, have sought to possess this gem for centuries. “Due to the strong demand for jade in China, the price has increased manifold in the past decade,” says Lay Soo Yuen, a gemologist certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

Lay, who runs a store that specialises in bespoke jadeite jewellery, Rui Vivre Sdn Bhd, says sales of the ornamental jewel has been moderately positive and looks set to continue along the same vein this year. “Individuals who buy jade for investment are usually those who already invest in traditional asset classes such as equities and bonds. They look to jade when they seek to expand their investment horizons,” she adds.

The affinity for the prized gem can be seen in the kind of the rare pieces sold at auctions. For example, an 11.1cm double hairpin made of tortoiseshell with a jadeite arc at the top, sold for HK$32,500 (RM17,131) at Christie’s auction in Hong Kong on May 29 last year.

At the same auction, a carved jadeite and tourmaline pendant — depicting a boy and a bat on one side and carved with foliate motifs on the reverse — strung to an adjustable silk cord sold for HK$562,500. Meanwhile, a jadeite and diamond necklace made up of 69 jadeite beads, measuring about 8.2mm to 10.8mm in diameter, adjoined by a pair of jadeite hoops and an oval-shaped diamond and diamond clasp mounted in platinum sold for HK$33.7 million.

The record for the most expensive piece of jade jewellery, however, is still held by a Cartier jade necklace adorned with a ruby and diamond clasp. The necklace that once belonged to the American heiress Barbara Hutton sold at a Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction in April 2014 for US$27.44 million, more than six times the price it sold for at auction 20 years earlier.

While most people buy jade for its beauty, Easterners also desire it for its mystical properties and believe that it is a symbol of purity, knowledge, prosperity and protection, says Lay. “Apart from the shaped jade, carved stones such as pendants or bangles are also popular for their implied meanings.”

She adds that she occasionally gets customers who express interest in selling pieces that they own or ones that were passed down the generations as heirlooms. “But usually, they change their mind because of the sentimental value attached. The most expensive piece that we sold lately was a jadeite ring surrounded by diamonds for RM100,000.”

Apart from gems fashioned into jewellery, carved jade objects such as figurines, vessels and plaques have always been in demand for their aesthetics.

Jade is a catch-all term for both jadeite and nephrite — two distinct ornamental gems. Jadeite, which was introduced to the Orient in the 1700s during the Qing Dynasty, is more durable and revered as it is believed to ward off evil spirits and symbolise purity and longevity. It has been mostly mined in Myanmar since the early 19th century, but it is also found in New Zealand, Russia, Guatemala, Mexico and Canada.

Jadeite that is usually transformed into gems are mostly white or deep green but blue, crimson and black varieties have also been discovered. The rare imperial green jadeite, a translucent vivid stone that is said to be equivalent to the emerald, is the most expensive gem in the world — worth more per gram than diamonds.

Nephrite is a softer gem distinguishable by its marbled white, yellow or brown tint. This is the most common indigenous variety in China. It was discovered as early as 3,400 BC in the form of funerary ornaments and tools.

Unlike precious metals and diamonds, jade has no international pricing system and still falls within the ambit of coloured stones. Therefore, prices can vary drastically based on the different expert advice given.

There is a standard colour nomenclature — a system of colours — but without an experienced eye and specialised knowledge, any enthusiast can be easily fooled.

The entry point for jadeite can start from RM500, but it will not be of the best quality. Jadeite’s three most important qualities are colour, transparency and texture. The more intense the colour, the higher the premium, says the GIA.

The A grade gems are the untreated ones while poorer quality stones are labelled “B” and “C” grades to mark that they have been chemically bleached or injected with polymer. Such pieces are prone to discolouration due to it being exposed to bright light, body heat or household detergents.

Lay points out that it is no easy feat trying to distinguish genuine jade from bleached or dyed variants. But with technological advancements, gemologists can look into the properties of a stone to discover whether it is jadeite or nephrite and spot the ones that have been coloured.

To avoid being surprised, Lay recommends that collectors or investors obtain a certificate of authenticity. Rui Vivre’s gems are authenticated in labs in China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In June last year, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that €423 million (RM1.9 billion) worth of the ornamental gemstone was sold, 21.4% more than in 2017, at an exhibition held in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, driven chiefly by an insatiable demand for the gem in China.

The report added that 70% of the 4,300 buyers registered at the 10-day Gems Emporium — an annual trade show — were from China. In 2015, non-governmental organisation Global Witness reported that Myanmar’s total jade trade stood at US$31 billion (RM128.2 billion).

The global demand for jade is driven by fast-expanding mining activities in Myanmar’s northernmost state of Kachin. For the most part, the rush to mine the jade hills have masked the dark underbelly of the industry, which most recently led to numerous deathly accidents, unexplained killings and an epidemic of heroin use. Last year alone, haphazard infrastructure and landslides claimed the lives of more than 30 labourers.

Such events have earned jade sourced from Myanmar a status similar to that of blood diamonds. In 2003, the US placed sanctions and eventually banned imports of the gems, including rubies, from the country as investigative reports revealed that profits were being used to finance bloody ethnic conflicts among the Kachin minority, who mine the gemstones. However, in 2016, the ban was lifted following the first democratic election.

At Rui Vivre, Lay strives to ensure that the gems are responsibly sourced.  While it is not a common practice to state the provenance of gems, customers can put in a request to have the gems identified through a lab test, she says.

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