When it comes to China, we think of yellow as the imperial color – but you may be surprised to know that this wasn’t always the case. Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty instituted black as the official court color, and black was also an imperial color during the Zhou Dynasty.

In modern-day Chinese culture, black jade symbolizes strength, authority and leadership. 

Black Jadeite Jade Jewelry from Mason-Kay Jade

Black Jade Quality

The quality of black jade is determined by its luster, texture, and translucency. While black jade is technically considered opaque, specimens with higher translucency may exhibit a green glow when light is shone through a thin enough section.

When evaluating black jade, it’s important to consider that the degree of light transmission can vary. If light does not pass through a piece of black jade, it could be due to the jade being more opaque, which indicates a larger and less compact crystal structure. However, the thickness of the jade piece also plays a significant role in light transmission, so a thicker piece may not allow light to pass through even if the jade itself is relatively translucent. Keep this in mind when assessing the quality of black jade.

Grey Jadeite Jade Jewelry from Mason-Kay Jade

Grey Jade vs Black Jade

In grey jade and some black jadeite jade, the color comes from varying concentrations of graphite inclusions.

High-quality, solid black jadeite jade get’s it color from of high, high concentrations of chromium or in some cases, iron from significant amounts of iron-rich omphacite, which is a mineral that also comprises jade. Some black jadeite jade is a combination of jadeite, omphacite and kosmochlor.

Black Jadeite vs Black Nephrite

Both jades are beautiful, and there are only pros to buying either one – but no cons.

Black jadeite jade is the rarer and the preferred of the black jades for two reasons:

1- Jadeite jade is harder, meaning it takes a higher polish. 

2- When an inky black jadeite jade cabochon has a green glow, it is absolutely spectacular.

Black nephrite jade is the preferred choice for price, as it tends to be much more affordable than black jadeite jade and very difficult to distinguish visually. At Mason-Kay, most of our black jade jewelry features black nephrite jade from the Cowell mine in Australia, whereas our grey jade jewelry is always jadeite jade. We do have some high-quality black jadeite jade pieces in stock, so if you’re interested in purchasing black jadeite jade feel free to reach out to kris@masonkay.com