How to Find Some of Best Jade in Hong Kong

Jewelry dealers say most of the world’s fine jade passes through Hong Kong. The city’s abundance of traders keeps the competition high and prices relatively low.

That’s especially true at Hong Kong’s Jade Market. Located in Kowloon in a triangular area bordered by Kansu, Battery and Reclamation streets, it is enclosed by a utilitarian chain link fence and sheltered by the Gascoigne Road overpass.

More than 400 licensed dealers sit under umbrellas and behind displays of deep green jade beads, the palest of lavender or tri-colored bangles and delicately carved pale green or white jade brooches.

This fabulous sea of jade promises prices that are generally lower than those offered in souvenir shops and jewelry stores. Stop at various stalls and bargain. The first price quoted is often four times the value of the item. Pay up to $90 for a pair of beautifully matched stones to be set as earrings or get jade rings of lesser quality for as little as $3, bangles for $15.

Open from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Jade Market is frequented as much by dealers as it is by retail shoppers and tourists. Vendors--many of whom do not speak English--communicate with tourist/customers by writing the price of a piece on paper or punching it up on a calculator.

But be cautious. No one controls quality in the Jade Market. So unless you know jade well, purchase only inexpensive pieces here and go to a reputable jeweler for pieces costing more than $100.

Among jewelers is the excellent medium-priced shop Sunny Tsui Jewelry, at Golden Mile Holiday Inn Hotel in Kowloon on the M2 mezzanine floor (telephone locally 3-723-4775).

The shop carries good to high-quality jade jewelry, mostly in traditional and classic design. Rings and bangles range from several hundred to thousands of dollars. Better stones, often in settings adorned with diamonds, are more expensive.

Top quality jade in spectacular designs is sold at Trio Pearl Co., Ltd., on the balcony of the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon (3-679-1714). Trio offers fabulous jewelry that is very expensive. Top-quality jade beads sell for about $400,000. There are also strands of rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Lovely jade rings, earrings and pendants are beautifully set in 18 carat gold.

The most unusual jade jewelry is found in the collection of Hong Kong designer Kai-Yin Lo. Lo is famous for beaded, sequinned capes, belts and bags, and a costume jewelry line that is featured in selected top boutiques in the U.S. Lo also makes one-of-a-kind necklaces averaging $50,000. They’re available at the showroom, 4-6 On Lan St., Central District, or the Peninsula Shop on the mezzanine of the Peninsula Hotel, Kowloon (3-721-9693).

A fairly reliable and reasonably priced place to shop for simple jade bangles, rings and beads is Chinese Arts and Crafts Ltd., the Chinese department store chain with locations throughout Kowloon and in Shell House, Central District.

There a plain jade wedding band will sell for $10 and up. Plain bangles of light green jadeite will sell for $20 and up. White jade costs more, as do naturally tri-colored jade bangles. Chinese Arts and Crafts also has a substantial selection of jade statues, vases and bowls which are not antiques and not of investment quality but are attractive and reasonably priced.

A free brochure on the jade market and jewelry shops in Hong Kong is available from Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) offices at Jardine House (35th floor, across from the Star Ferry terminal in the Central District). Other offices are in the Star Ferry Concourse in Kowloon in the Tsimshatsui District and in the Royal Garden Hotel at 69 Mody Road in Tsimshatsui.

How do you recognize the real thing? Here are some guidelines for accessing jade:

The quality of jade is usually judged by the translucence of the stone, uniformity of color, thickness and size of the stone. Valueless glass and plastic are frequently passed off as jade, as are certain types of dyed quartz.

Jade comes in an array of colors: milky white, lavender, yellow, red, brown and black, as well as a wide range of greens. But only two types of mineral can legitimately be called jade: nephrite and jadeite.

Mined mostly in Chinese Turkistan, nephrite, or “soft jade,” was popular in ancient China. Most Chinese jade antiques are made of nephrite.

Jadeite or “hard jade,” the more precious of the two, is found in limited quantity and inferior quality in China, but is relatively abundant and of superior quality in neighboring Burma, where the government strictly controls export. Often referred to as “imperial jade,” jadeite is the finest quality jade. It is a deep, rich, velvety green in emerald, Kelly or apple hues. It often is more expensive than diamonds.

Both jadeite and nephrite have a waxed appearance and take a high polish. Barely visible “dimples” will appear when light is reflected off the stone. The color should be even. Veins of darker green indicate the piece has probably been dyed. Jadeite and nephrite are hard stones that cannot be marred by a steel blade. That is a sure test of authenticity.

But before purchasing any kind of jade, take a careful look at a good piece. Then shop around. If you have doubts, consult an expert.

In general, the safest place to buy is from dealers recommended by the HKTA. It has resident gemologists who check stores for consistent quality and fair prices in jade and other gems. When buying, be sure to get certification of authenticity. HKTA also has a complaint bureau that adjudicates disputes. All HKTA dealers display a red junk sticker in their windows.

Prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing.