What is the difference between chicken-blood stone and chicken-blood jade? A quick guide to telling them apart
Chicken-blood stone stands alongside Shoushan stone, Qingtian stone and Balin stone, enjoying the fine reputation of one of China's "four great national stones", and is mainly used as material for seals or carved crafts. Chicken-blood jade is dickite with cinnabar bands, and its color is even brighter red than cinnabar. Because its color is as bright red as chicken blood, people commonly call it chicken-blood jade. Let's take a look below at the differences between chicken-blood stone and chicken-blood jade!
Differences in origin between chicken-blood stone and chicken-blood jade
1. Chicken-blood stone: In China, chicken-blood stone was first discovered at Yuyan Mountain in Changhua, Zhejiang. Later, Balin chicken-blood stone was discovered in Bairin Right Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. In the 1990s, chicken-blood stone was also discovered in Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Hunan, Yunnan and other places.
2. Chicken-blood jade: What collectors in the trade and experts and scholars recognize as chicken-blood jade comes from the area of the north and west slopes of Weiqing Ridge in Longsheng County. It is a small portion of red jasper pebbles that have gorgeous color, dense and fine stone quality, no cracks and no sand holes, and were once buried deep underground, long covered by gravel and nourished by mineral fluids, and are the very few high-end red jasper pebbles that have not been weathered.
Differences in texture between chicken-blood stone and chicken-blood jade
1. Chicken-blood stone: Chicken-blood stone is merely a type of stone and does not belong to the category of jade. The "blood" contained in chicken-blood stone is cinnabar, mainly a mercury compound. The blood color can be bright red, true red, deep red, purple-red, etc. The shapes of the chicken blood include block red, strip red, star red, rosy cloud red, etc., and it is best when it achieves brightness, congealment and thickness, being deep and thick and penetrating deeply into the stone, and it is best when gathered together or evenly speckled.
2. Chicken-blood jade: The "blood" of chicken-blood jade is an oxide containing iron and silicon, and compared with Hetian jade it is not sufficiently lustrous and translucent. Its colors are mainly black and red, and yellow, purple, white, green and many other colors often appear. Its most distinctive feature is that its tone is mainly red, its jade quality is fine and tough, and its luster is warm and moist. At the same time it has good polishing performance and shows a glassy luster.
Differences in structure between chicken-blood stone and chicken-blood jade
1. Chicken-blood stone: The main mineral of the "blood" in chicken-blood stone is cinnabar (mercury sulfide, HgS), and mercury sulfide has been included by the State Environmental Protection Administration in the "List of Toxic Chemicals Banned or Severely Restricted in China". The main minerals of the "ground" in chicken-blood stone (the area other than the "blood") are dickite, kaolinite, pyrophyllite, alunite, etc.
2. Chicken-blood jade: Chicken-blood jade is an aggregate of quartzite, chalcedony and hematite. The "blood" in it is hematite, which is non-toxic and harmless to the human body, and the "ground" is an aggregate of quartz, chalcedony and hematite.
Differences in price between chicken-blood stone and chicken-blood jade
1. Chicken-blood stone: Chicken-blood stone is produced in Changhua Town, Lin'an City, Zhejiang, Bairin Right Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, Xunyang County, Shaanxi and other places. It is now exhausted, and its value is quite high. A good piece of chicken-blood stone can reach tens of millions, comparable to jadeite.
2. Chicken-blood jade: Chicken-blood jade is produced in Longsheng County, Guilin. Because there was previously no standard for chicken-blood jade, its price was not high, generally between several thousand and over a hundred thousand, but there are also exceptions. After it was designated as a national gift at the 9th China-ASEAN Expo in 2012, at the auction on September 23, Guilin chicken-blood jade China Dragon sold for 3.5 million yuan and Guilin chicken-blood jade Guan Gong sold for 5.9 million yuan, breaking the highest auction price in the history of Guilin chicken-blood jade. But generally speaking, the price of chicken-blood jade is still relatively low at present.