Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Why are Jade Bangle Bracelets So Small Size?

I often get emails from women who are looking at the jade bangle bracelets online asking why the jade bangle bracelets are "so small".

As I blogged in the past post about size, I buy and sell only genuine Chinese jade and Burmese jadeite.  All of the jade bangles on the web site except the "Chinatown" collection are jade bangles I personally purchased from jade carvers during shopping trips to China.  And the "good jade" is made for Chinese women, average sizes 52-58mm.  The "commercial quality" jade bangles that are made for export are the larger sizes.   They are often lower quality of jade, and may be color treated because it would be so expensive to purchase a large jade bangle that uses a lot of jade to sell online.  When I was shopping in China for jade, and ask the jade carver if he had larger sizes, he would consider they were for women, and pull out the B and C grade.  But, if I asked the jade carver if he had jade bangle bracelets for men, that was another story.  That's when I would see the larger sizes in natural color, because men in China and Asia sometimes wear jade bangles.

Most of our Burmese jadeite  is at least 10 years old because in 2008 the USA government passed the Lantos Embargo which prohibited import or bringing jadeite from Burma into the country.  The jade sellers in China started selling fake jade that they sold on ebay or their web sites because of the embargo, but USA buyers didn't know that.  The Lantos embargo is still in effect, but now that Burma is moving to a more democratic government, we are hoping that will change.

So that's why most of the jadeite bangle bracelets  we sell is smaller sizes, because it's genuine jadeite.

However, I also have a "jade man" in China who works with our jade carver to make the Chinese jade bangle bracelets, and he can make them in small and larger sizes, up to 70mm.  We buy the jade directly from the jade mine, then the carver makes them for me.
He also buys the "river" jade with the natural colors that come from minerals in the river where the jade is mined.  This kind of jade is China's national jade, the kind of jade Chinese people have used for centuries until Burmese jadeite was introduced in the 19th century.  It's real jade, natural color, and very traditional.  And good quality.

"Colors of Earth" Collection Chinese River Jade Bangle Bracelets

The Chinese jade is also the kind of jade used in jade rollers, jade gua sha tools and other jade health tools used in Chinese medicine for centuries.  So it's not only pretty, but has good energy for health and healing.

And they are carved in larger sizes, just for you!


3 comments:

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