I scored a pair on eBay :)

[luxetveritas]

... of jade bowls that is

If you recall, I was starting a collection. Well, eBay has proved magnificent once more- check out the pics of my soon-to-be first jade bowls!!

The jade looks very old to me. Does anyone else have another opinion?


(Click on the photo to enlarge)
--Lux

[ayashe]

Oooooh, I'm afraid I don't know anything about jade but they're beautiful. Good luck, I hope you win them!

[ironlord1963]

Looks like a deal to me, but I know little about jade bowls.  Went to see them on E-bay and good price so far and 4 days left.  I hope you get them, they are nice looking and the seller has great feedback.  Good luck.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Nice pair ya got there Lux!  I'll have my fingers crossed for you to win!

[luxetveritas]

Thanks! The seller says they're from an estate, which makes me even more excited (but in reality this probably means very little). I read that after a long period of time, like 100 years, jade starts to develop white "spots"- a good indication of old jade that is harder to fake. The coloring looks like what I have read old jade should look like- although sometimes (like the bowls I posted earlier) certain jades never change in their coloring, like spinach jade.

I'm thrilled about finding them. Every now and then I will do an eBay search, and I can actually find one or two but they're always set at a really high buy-it-now price. A pair of them is still there, after well over a year without selling. I did find the alter bowl I mentioned earlier for only $50 (but didn't win the auction) and a bowl that was previously sold at Bonhams- I don't even remember why I didn't bid.

But anyway, thanks for the comment I am going to snipe the auction with the sniper you told us about, Tales.

--Lux

[talesofthesevenseas]

Good luck on that! Remember it's no guarantee, even if your bid goes in in the final seconds there are other people doing the same thing and it still goes to whoever bids highest.

[luxetveritas]

Yeah, that's true. I really hate sniping- hee hee (even though I do it ). I once payed $50 for three Sotheby's catalogues in a sniping war because I got caught in a "must win" sort of attitude. Turns out the same catalogues were listed asbuy it now catalogues on eBay for less than half that cost. 

[regularjoe2]

Not to toss water on your fire , lux ...

I collected jadeite for about 15 years ( I still keep an eye out for it ) , and have seen alot of things kinda like what you've posted .... these days , a yard sale could qualify as an 'estate sale' ... I'm just saying that I think it pays to be a skeptic , when buying jade .
Many current items on the market today are heavily 'treated' with polymers , dyes & etc. and can be a disappointment to buyers , even to those "in the know" .

I'm not saying that those bowls are not attractive ... they just may not be what you think they are .

You may already know , but I'll state that there's two main minerals that are sold as 'jade' , similar in some ways , but chemically different :

Jadeite - a silicate of magnesium & calcium.
Nephrite - a silicate of aluminum & calcium .

I'd suggest a fine source of information about jadeite at : ruby-sapphire.com/jade_burma_part_2_.htm , for starters .

Nothing wrong with collecting both types , or just one type ...but I think (in my case) it's good to know about what a person is getting into , esp. when actual/resale value is a main concern .
 

[luxetveritas]

Thanks for that info! For once I'm not buying to resell I'm actually going to collect them for my private collection of Chinese artifacts. I don't know a whole lot about jade, but I have several pretty good books, and I think it would be beneficial to even buy a fake piece of jade. Especially since this auction is so low at the moment.

Concerning estate sales, I know exactly what you mean when you say garage sales. Where I currently live the "estate" sales are just junk sales, you walk through the person's house and are offered the items no one wants/don't have any value. However, I lived in southern California for a long time and the estate sales I went to were actually estates, not just garage sales. That was a long time ago, so maybe that has changed.

I just think the bowls are beautiful and would be a nice study piece. In regards to the different types of jade, I thought there were quite a few more than the two you mentioned- or am I thinking of so called "sub-classes"? Thanks for the info!

--Lux

[regularjoe2]

I don't know what you're thinking , regarding different types of jade , lux .

I barely know what I'm thinkin' !

There's certainly several types of fake jade : soapstone , plastic , alabaster , misc. minerals , composites etc . , if that's what you mean ....

... unless you're speaking of 'grades' of jade ?