gems, jade, nephrite, Taiwan, nephrite cat’s eye

Two samples of Taiwan's jade, one of them with a clear cat's-eye effect, have been studied by optical, x-ray, thermal and electron microprobe analyses and SEM investigations. They showed that both samples are tremolitic members of the tremolite-actinolite- ferroactinolite series, with identical chemical and mineralogical composition. The diverse shades of green colour and cat's-eye effect are related to different arrangements of the fibres.