Preliminary Study on Idocrase Jade

A kind of jade mixed with jadeite jade and very similar to jadeite jade is recently appeared on the markets of Yunnan and Guangzhou,which results in the complexity for the testing work.The jade product and raw material samples are studied by using the conventional gemmological methods,rock-mine identification,IR and XRD analysis.The results show that the main mineral component of the jade is idocrase,containing a small amount of grossular,as a kind of idocrase jade,whose locality is unknown.The jade can be significantly distinguished from jadeite jade according to the conventional gemmological characteristics,the features under polarizing microscope,IR and XRD characteristics.