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Old 15th August 2010, 11:21 PM   #3
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Ferguson, the stone in this hilt is probably serpentine.

Jade, both nephrite and jadeite, has a hardness of 6.5 to 7 on the mohs scale.

Serpentine has a hardness of 2.5 to 5.5.

Both nephrite and jadeite come in a wide variety of colours, for instance I have a khanjar with a black stone hilt that has been identified as jade (I am uncertain if jadeite or nephrite) by an gemologist. I have a ring in which the stone is a large piece of lilac jadeite.

You really need a gemologist to identify what the stone is, but a quick test that can save money when buying is to pull out your pocket knife and see if you can scratch the material. If you cannot scratch it, its a good indication that you have one of the jades in your hand.

Over the years I have owned a number of daggers of this type, all have had serpentine hilts.
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