Photo Credit: Paul’s Rok Shop
Guatemalan Manzana Jade Slab
Buy It Now Price: $120 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)
Pros:
-This light-green Manzana jade slab comes from the Motagua River valley in Guatemala, which was the source of the jades so prized by the Mayan civilization.
-It measures approximately 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) tall by 4 inches (10.2 cm) wide by 0.5 inches (1.2 cm) thick and weighs a substantial 501 grams (1.1 pounds).
-Manzana, the Spanish word for “apple”, is a moniker sometimes applied to pleasingly light-green varieties of jadeite jade from Central America. Manzana jade was one of the Mayan civilization’s most treasured materials.
-A quick density calculation verifies that this piece is indeed genuine jadeite jade. To do this we take the weight of the stone (501 grams) and divide it by the slab’s volume (11.4 cm x 10.2 cm x 1.2 cm = 139.5 cm3). This gives us a density of 3.59 gm/cm3, which is close enough (given the specimen’s slightly irregular outline) to jadeite’s range of 3.25 to 3.45 gm/cm3.
-One of the great attributes of this Manzana jade slab is its shape; it is the perfect size for turning into a bangle bracelet. Not only that, but the slab’s quality is particularly high, with a fine, even color and some evidence of translucence. This is especially important because only the best quality jades are fit to be carved into bangle bracelets.
-This Manzana jade slab, like all high quality Guatemalan jadeite jades, is an incredibly underappreciated tangible asset right now. In addition, they are rarely treated via bleaching or dyeing, meaning that you get a perfectly natural gemstone in a world overrun by synthetics and fakes.
-With a buy-it-now price of $120, this Manzana jade slab is selling for only $239 a kilo. I find this price to be absurdly low given jadeite jade’s rarity and the excellent quality of the piece.
Cons:
-The eBay seller who is offering this jade slab, Paul’s Rok Shop, will stop selling rough jades by the end of June 2019 due to the low profit margin involved. So if you are reading this article anytime after that date, it is likely that this specific piece of jade is no longer available. For any who are interested, I recently wrote an article on the tragedy of losing this fine jade dealer.
Read more fascinating Antique Sage gemstone spotlight posts here.
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