Philly, i've posted quite extensively on this topic ("what is JADA selling?") both here and at Yahoo in a series of posts starting on July 8. For convenience, here are a few of them saved to my files:
--Timothy
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JADA's SheTai jade 8-Jul-10 05:25 pm value1008
The topic has come up in two recent threads (yesterday and today) about what, precisely, JADA is selling. There's a lot of misinformation on both sides of the posts.
As many know, i made a big investment in JADA and still hold all my shares.
Here's what i've found:
China's civilization for most of its history has worked with different gemstones/mineral substances that they have called "yu," which in English is translated as "jade." Modern gemologists only FORMALLY recognize two of these substances as "jade," calling one “nephrite jade,” the other “jadeite jade.” INFORMALLY, gemologists recognize a number of other substances as forms or brands of "jade," such as "Indian jade," which is, strictly speaking, Aventurine Mica Quartzite, and “Australian jade,” which is Chrysoprase.
I'll quote from this respectable source (www.gem.org.au/jade.htm):
"Many other minerals [besides nephrite and jadeite] simulate and are sold as jade, particularly in Eastern and Asian countries. The more important of these jade imitations include chrysoprase (Australian jade), serpentine (Pilbara jade), aventurine quartz (Indian jade), bowenite (New Zealand new jade), massive hydrogrossular garnet (Transvaal jade), massive idocrase (California jade), prase, and dyed chalcedony."
Now, jewelers consider jadeite to be far superior to nephrite, and the former commands a much higher price than nephrite jade. But for most of its multi-thousand year history, China's love-affair with jade was ONLY with NEPHRITE jade, for it was the only kind of “jade” found in China (i.e., “jade” as strictly-speaking gemologists would call it). Then, around 1800, a Chinese emperor's forces discovered what gemologists know as "jadeite" in the mountains of northern Burma/Myanmar.
Burmese jadeite often replaced nephrite among Chinese jewelers, who liked jadeite’s greater hardness (less prone to abrasion), though the nephrite jade is actually “tougher” (less brittle) because of its uniquely interlocking molecular structure. But Burmese jadeite, as we know from the revelations of some intrepid explorers (see A. Levy and C. Scott-Clark’s long article and book), is part of a hideous "blood jade trade" involving payment of exploited workers in heroin, with rampant HIV/AIDs due to repeatedly shared needles, prostitution, etc at the junta-operated "death camps" that mine the jadeite. By the way, Burmese jadeite is also being tapped out and has only a finite supply.
It became clear to me as i did due diligence on JADA's "SheTai jade" that this would be a wonderful, cruelty-free jade product to replace Burmese jadeite in the Chinese jade marketplace. I also realized that, just as the Chinese traditionally called all sorts of things "yu" ("jade"), not just nephrite and jadeite, this "SheTai jade" was, as JADA's website materials state, "a new kind of jade." And the good news about this SheTai jade is that it has a much greater hardness on the Mohs scale compared to jadeite (so it is less prone to abrasion and cutting), and yet it is visually as BEAUTIFUL as Burmese jadeite, so it can be used for extensive architectural design and artistic statuary. This SheTai jade should “weather” much more nicely over time than jadeite.
I think Zhang Guoxi and JADA CEO Hua-cai Song have realized that they can take this “SheTai jade” and create distinct marketplace advantages over both the traditional Chinese nephrite jade and the bloody Burmese jadeite in China’s big demand for “anything jade.”
Guoxi and Song’s HUGE success in running their enterprising lacquer-wood business selling expensive statuary and altars to the high-end Japanese markets tells me they can achieve great success with this SheTai jade product.
Sentiment on JADA’s stock: Strong Buy
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According to what is in those certificates at JADA's website, "SheTai jade" is evidently a VERY HIGH QUALITY of what gemologists informally call "Indian jade"-- Aventurine Mica Quartzite.
Here are the specific properties of JADA's "SheTai jade," as identified in the video of that Jan. 2008 consultation with expert gemologists in China which is uploaded at JADA’s website--and i would note that the closest known substance on earth similar to this is Indian jade (i.e., Aventurine Mica Quartzite):
1. Raw jade in big chucks
2. High degree of hardness (a hardness factor of 7.1 - 7.5)
3. Condense texture (a density factor of 2.65 – 3.0)
4. Abrasion resistance/wearing strength factor of 2.2
5. Index of refraction of 1.54
6. Smooth finish factor of 85-90 degree
7. Acid and alkaline resistant factor of 100%
8. Fire-resisting: 1,730 – 1, 770 Celsius degree
9. Rustproof
10. Non-discoloring
11. Non-weathering
12. Semi translucent
13. With a glassy luster
14. Smooth and refined, similar jadeite as to the hardness of emerald [jadeite?] from Myanmar
15. No radioactive harmful element
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I don't think it is disingenuous or misleading for JADA's early paid analysts (like Murphy Analytics) to refer to SheTai jade as "jadeite." It is visually as impressive as Burmese jadeite and, like Burmese jadeite, the SheTai jade is of much higher hardness than Chinese nephrite.
The bottom line is that JADA has found a market for this gorgeous material in the raw. And we've seen from the Chinese websites run by the Guoxi Group that this SheTai jade can be fashioned into really beautiful and LARGE statues and works of art, not to mention all the architectural design usages for this SheTai jade as a gorgeous replacement or supplement for using marble and granite flooring, countertops, wall-elements, etc.
Should be very profitable!
I, for one, am rooting for Guoxi and CEO Song to succeed in educating Chinese over time to prefer SheTai jade over the "blood-trade" in jadeite coming out of Burma.
If they begin to do so, then the market for SheTai jade will become phenomenally huge.
Sentiment : Strong Buy
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[To someone who insisted that JADA’s jade is “jadeite”:] Strictly speaking, Burmese jadeite does NOT bear the same chemical characteristics as SheTai jade. The closest thing on earth to SheTai jade, in terms of hardness, S.G. (density), refraction index, etc., is Aventurine Mica Quartzite, aka "Indian Jade." [Curiously, SheTai Jade seems to be of higher hardness and greater density than Indian Jade, which would merit its being called "a new kind of jade."]
I wrote to Hsin saying that if JADA's jade is chemically in fact like Burmese jadeite and those posted gemological certificates are NOT indicating what's at the XiKai mine, then those certificates should be taken down because they're confusing. Well, those certificates are still there.
What else can one conclude but that "SheTai jade" is being loosely called jadeite because SheTai jade has the same beautifully lustrous translucency as jadeite and, like jadeite, has higher hardness than nephrite. But, again, its hardness range is NOT in the same hardness range of Burmese jadeite, and the S.G. (specific gravity or density) and refraction index numbers are significantly different.
Just stating facts here.
Again, i'm not bashing the company --certainly not with the huge number of JADA shares i own!
And as i've stated in an earlier message in this thread, i'm actually rooting for JADA and Guoxi to educate Chinese out of their fascination with the cruelly-derived Burmese jadeite. Chinese tastes in jade once before changed en masse, namely from 1800 onward when Burmese jadeite became preferable (at least for jewelry purposes) to China's long beloved nephrite--which was the original source for that 5,000 year love affair with jade. There's no reason why, in light of the blood-trade involved with Burmese jadeite, that SheTai Jade can't become the source of a new love affair with the Chinese in their fondness for "anything jade."
As i've also said here, i think SheTai jade will make for a BETTER medium with which to make architectural design elements, statuary, and other objects, given its greater hardness than Burmese jadeite.
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My overarching point with all this, in case it isn't obvious by now, is that, though the trendy folks at Christy's auctions might like Burmese jadeite for their necklaces, and some Chinese may think that jadeite is in some ways a better substitute for the nephrite revered by their ancestors going back millennia (and it's nephrite that was the object for all the mystical talk about yu/jade's healing powers, "the heavenly stone," etc.), i think Burmese jadeite SUCKS because of the horribly evil karma of the Myanmar junta and the stunted miserable lives of the hapless, hopeless Burmese miners constrained to work in those hell-holes.
There's NO WAY that Burmese jadeite can any longer be considered an "auspicious" gemstone for anyone with half a conscience.
THEREFORE-- i think JADA and Guoxi are well-positioned to create a landmark revolution in the Chinese jade market with their cruelty-free, higher-hardness-scale, visually beautiful SheTai Jade. And remember that SheTai Jade is native to China, it's not a "foreign import" from Burma. That will make it far more "auspicious" in Chinese people’s hearts and minds. For instance, if you're the abbot of one of the MANY new Buddhist and Taoist monasteries and temples being built, do you want your statue of the Buddha or Lao-tzu made of Chinese SheTai Jade or blood-stained Burmese jadeite?
Guoxi and JADA's Song are evidently already working on creating a recognizable BRAND-IDENTITY for SheTai Jade.
I'm rooting for them, and i think as the word gets out over time in China about this morally superior and indigenous ("home grown") SheTai jade, it could take a LOT of MARKETSHARE away from Burmese jadeite. That's what i'm betting on with my very big investment in JADA…
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