Thursday, April 30, 2020

Jade at the landfill?

[Not rock pile related] Came across this while shoveling topsoil from a big pile at the Falmouth landfill into the back of my car. It pays to be interested in what can be found in dirt:
Is it jade? I think it is glass. These sorts of ring appear on the tassel of Chinese lanterns, and maybe in some Korean headgear.

Anyway, no arrowhead hunting and no rock pile hunting - just gardening and the occasional unexpected discovery in the dirt.

(After a bit of searching) I guess they are called "Disc Pendants":

Update: Looking carefully, there appears to be a capital 'O' etched inside the material.
Update: I have a piece of real jade (an ashtray) and it is about the same hardness.
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3 comments :

  1. CURTISS HOFFMAN9:35 AM

    Peter -
    You might try a hardness test. Jadeite has a hardness of 6.5 to 7, and Nephrite (true Oriental jade) has a hardness of 6 to 6.5 so neither probably won't scratch glass. Green quartz (chrysoprase) has a hardness of 7, so it will.

    Or perhaps it is just a lime-flavored life-saver!

    Curt

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  2. pwax11:34 AM

    Thanks Curt. Sure looks like a life saver! In fact, I can abrade it with a jackknife blade. About the same hardness as some jade I had.

    The real clincher appears to be a capital letter 'O' etched inside it. I'll show a picture.

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  3. pwax11:04 AM

    In the end, I see my jade ashtray has some inclusions that are visually similar to the 'O' in this disk; leading me to wonder if the 'O' could be natural. So I am going to go with thinking the disk is real jade.

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