Type A, B and C jade: what the letters mean

Search for a jade bracelet and you'll see "Grade A" stamped on listings at every price, including some that cost less than lunch. It sounds like a quality rating. Usually it isn't, and the real system behind those letters is more useful to know.

The letters are about treatment

The A, B and C system grew up in the jadeite trade in Asia. The letters tell you what has been done to the stone after it came out of the ground. They say nothing about how beautiful it is.

• Type A is natural jade. It has been cut and polished, and often finished with a light coat of wax, which is a traditional step. Nothing has been added to change its colour or fill it.
• Type B has been bleached with acid to strip out brown or grey staining, then impregnated with polymer resin to fill the gaps the acid leaves behind. The result looks cleaner and more translucent than the stone ever was.
• Type C has been dyed to add or deepen colour.
• B+C is both: bleached, filled and dyed.

The letters were made for jadeite, but the same three questions apply to any jade. Has it been dyed? Has it been bleached? Has it been filled?

Why it matters if you plan to wear it

Treated jade can look great on day one. The trouble shows up later.

The acid in the B process eats into the boundaries between the stone's crystals, which is part of what makes jade tough in the first place. Dealers and appraisers report that B jade can turn brittle over the years, and that the resin can yellow with sunlight, heat and everyday contact with things like perfume, sweat and cleaning products. Dye can fade. None of it can be undone.

There's also the money. Treated jade is worth far less than untreated jade of the same look, so a seller who doesn't tell you is charging you for something you didn't get.

"Grade A" is not the same as "Type A"

This is where most people get caught. "Type A" means untreated. "Grade A" has no fixed meaning. Some sellers use it to mean Type A. Many use it as a vague quality badge. Some put it on stone that isn't jade at all.

And Type A doesn't mean top quality either. An untreated stone can be cloudy, pale or plain. What Type A tells you is that what you see is what nature made.

Can you tell by looking?

Mostly, no. A few things are worth noticing: colour that sits in cracks like ink, a surface with a fine crackled or web-like texture under a loupe, and colour that is very bright and very even for the price. None of these is proof. A gem lab confirms polymer with infrared spectroscopy, and dye with other instruments. Our guide on how to tell if jade is real goes through what you can and can't check yourself.

What about certificates?

A report from a recognised gem lab is useful when it carries a report number you can look up on the lab's own website. A certificate with no lab name, or one you can't verify, is just paper. Plenty of the cheapest "Grade A certified" listings come with exactly that kind of certificate.

Where we stand

Every Luzari jade piece is natural jade, never dyed, bleached or polymer-filled. For our jadeite, that's what the trade means by Type A. It also means the colour changes a little from piece to piece and link to link, because that's what untreated stone looks like.

Instead of asking you to trust a piece of paper, we give you 90 days from delivery to have the piece checked by any jeweller or gemmologist you choose. If it isn't what we said, return it unworn in its gift box for a refund. See our returns policy for the full terms, or browse the jade collection.