European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Chasing a Rainbow called Jam National geographical that s Green and carved is nol Jade and All that s Jado s not Green. No wonder the world is confused Aboul Jade. Dealers in China Hong Kong and Taiwan claim three dozen different Slones Are Jade Fred Ward Wriles in the september National geographic. No More than halt lha carvings Tram Central America exhibited As Jade actually Are says one expert. Through innovative scientific testing Ward proved thai a Maya masterpiece previously thought to be Jade a funeral mask trom Tikal Guatemala is nol. Jade look alikes abound and finding Rue Jade called the Stone of heaven by Tho ancient chinese can be like chasing a Rainbow. It has become All too convenient to name any Stone operation a Jade lactory.1 marketing Tho cheaper output As Jade to unsuspecting tourists is rampant in China Hong Kong and Taiwan Ward reports scientifically and legally Only two stones should be called Jade nephrite and jadeite the two Are chemically distinct materials. Both Are technically rocks usually boulders or cobbles lying on the Earth s  More plentiful nephrite a silicate of Calcium and magnesium is harder than most steel and reputedly the toughest of All rocks the most difficult to break. The Stone at the traditional Center of chinese civilization Lor More than 5,000 years is also found in abundance to Western Canada and Australia. Neph Rilo occurs in a variety of colors with fanciful names such As Mutton Tal White Long favored by the chinese. Jadeite. A silicate of sodium and aluminium has the Bright Green associated with jewelry although it is found in a Rainbow of less valuable colors. Slightly harder than nephrite but nol As Lough commercial jadeite comes Only trom Burma Guatemala and the soviet Union. The burmese Imperial Green is among the most prize. Three ancient civilizations the chinese mesoamerican and the Maori of new zealand considered Jade the most precious Possession beyond Gold and gems one can put a Price on Gold the saying went but Jade is  Erma Bombeck editors note Erma born Eck is on vacation. She Jeff behind some of tier favorite columns trom the past there is a period in a child s growth when everything he picks up goes directly into his Mouth. It s a lense time for a Mother who Musl appear miraculously at the right time to snatch whatever rom his hands and save him irom devouring a lamp Shade or the Stair treads. With most children the phase is a temporary one. They will Baste everything with saliva and reduce it to bite size Lor a period of three years. Tops. Then hey judiciously begin to examine the item smell in and determine whether it s edible. Then there is a group of children who never outgrow n am the Mother of one of them. At the ago at 9. He ale three soaps shaped like no nil own note Selett Thuoy my legally Only it Enrite and to team be matted but Torfen in Cut Ftp Hon at to Canton Trade fair Hong Kong and Taiwan claim that of Tom Doun Typo chinese emperors spoke to Tod through disks of Jade with holes in the Middle symbols of heaven. Jade was the link in China Between Earth and heaven. Athletes won Ivory for third place and Gold Tor second with Jade reserved Lor first. China s most beloved Jada washes irom the fabled Kunlun mountains in Xin Jiang province into the bed of the while Jade River. Tho Kunlun the original Jade mountains appear to have been Asia s sole source of Jade irom prehistoric times until the 1700s. A manager of the Beijing Jade carving factory old Ward that his craftsmen now use very Lille nephrite. Soapstone and Agate account for 75 percent of their finished pieces with burmese jadeite making up most of the difference. A factory official at the South Jade crafts factory in Guangzhou said that his workers carve soapstone instead of White Jade or nephrite. The factory makes about $2 million Worth of jadeite jewelry a year. Ii uses "$700.000 Worth of burmese jadeite annually 45 percent of it bought at Tho Burma government auction 50 percent smuggled through Thailand and 5 percent smuggled in through Yunnan the official said. Direct burmese smuggling to China is a new wrinkle in Iha Shady world of jadeite trading and unknown to outsiders until now Ward writes. Far closer to burmese mines than Thailand the Yunnan connection lets China avoid middlemen and Deal directly. Virtually unknown in China before 1784, when a shipment arrived in Beijing following a Burma Trade treaty the flashier jadeite in �00 years effectively displaced nephrite for jewelry and Commerce Ward reports. Has China rejected its Jade heritage i continued to meet numerous Young Carvers who had never put a Drill to nephrite he writes. And in factory stores i saw far More burmese Jad Oile jewelry that  today the world s major nephrite production occurs across the Pacific in Canada from British Columbia s Gigantic surface deposits. Taiwan and . Miners caused the mess we re in says British Columbia mine owner Kirk Makepeace of the world s current disdain Lor nephrite. We produced too much and sold in for peanuts. Then Taiwan cheapened it with junk jewelry and carvings making people think Jade was just shabby and Green More than 400 ions of British columbian nephrite is imported into Taiwan annually carved and unethically exported As Taiwan Jade Ward writes. I be been just As Guilly As any other Miner but no longer Makepeace Lold Ward. This is a precious nonrenewable resource. I m going to be Independent of Taiwan now refusing to sell my Jade at Giveaway prices. My secret weapon is China. I be broken into that  in Central America Ward discovered Jade is often nol what in appears. When he suspected that a mosaic Maya funeral mask was incorrectly labelled jadeite National geographic financed a Tost with a new portable Light spectrometer. Although designed for Remote Earth sensing the instrument confirmed that Only the mask s ear flares Are Jade. A specific Gravity test thai Ward ordered Lor a 3 Pound Maya plaque from Copan. Honduras proved that in in t Jade. I doubt in half the artefacts from this religion Central America exhibited anywhere Are realty Jade says Bon Bishop a senior research archaeologist at the smithsonian institution. To add to the confusion Many archaeologists and museum curators suggest that it does t really matter what these carvings Are As Long As they re Green. Too bad Ward concludes about Jade s diminished stature in Iho world Jade deserves  strawberries. At age 11, he ale a Green Apple and did t even realize it was a Candle until he spit out tha Wick. One evening in his 16lh year a wore Al a Friend s House having dinner when i looked up to find him Ealing a Cork coaster. What Are you doing i asked. Eating a cookie he said. It s nol Loo  ill get her recipe i said tiredly. Ironically children who hang on to this appetite Lor non edibles never seem to suffer any ill of tells. My son has consumed enough baking soda stored in the Elri Geralo to combat doors to turn him into a statue. He came in the other night and like a Magnet went to his free throw line in front of the refrigerator and with both hands pulled Bolh the Freezer and the refrigerator doors open. Don t eat the film in the  i said your father is saving it Tor vacation " his eyes caught the Glass carafe filled Ullh red liquid. In typical boy fashion he whipped Olf the Cap and hoisted Illo his lips and began to drink. Al the same Lime his eyes went to a Hummingbird feeder just outside our Kitchen window. He stopped drinking. Wait a minute he said. Is thai Hummingbird drinking the same Skull i m drinking i nodded. You could have told me in was nectar he said wiping the Sticky liquid Olf his lips. He is �3 years old. A Friend of mine came by and when i told her the Story sri said thai s nothing. I gave a parly the other night and one of the guests dipped her hand in my Potpourri and started popping in into her Mouth. She thought in was Trail  How old was she t asked anxiously.  Why me god Page in the stars an stripes wednesday. October 28,1987