Abalone/Maw Sit Sit Pendant w/set black cord #1
250,00$
This is a unique combo of local "Pacific Red Abalone" and very good quality Maw-Sit-Sit bead from Burma (Miramar). This Maw Sit Sit is a good even color that is highly sought after. Carved as a drop pendant that is partially polished on the front showing some of the natural textured stone and the back side is fully polished. The hole through is straight from front to back. These pendants are very unique and rarely available on the market as it is very technical to do these correctly. Item comes with NZ braided cord with black jade toggle not shown in pictures.
The Local Abalone:
Normally, abalone shell is the result of sport caught abalone from years ago and in California sport harvested abalone cannot be sold. I'm fortunate enough to dive for jade in the ocean around Big Sur California where I find discarded shells left over from local sea otters that target their tasty meat. The kill them and typically break a hole in the back of the shell to remove the meat inside and discard the shell. I find these shells on the bottom of the ocean either intact with a the hole in the back or in partial pieces.
The Glue used:
Not giving away my type of glue used, but the problem with gluing/setting abalone shell in jade is the difference in expansion when the combined item is temperature difference challenged. The rate at which abalone (shell) and jade expands when the temperatures change quickly is significant enough to make the glue line between the two materials will break. Example is where the item and jumping into a hot tub and forgetting to take it off. The glue that has been researched for these types of items has the properties to handle this "shock" expansion and to have longevity to last a lifetime. One of my tests was to put an item in the freezer for 2 days and then drop into boiling water. Pretty extreme but not negative results. : )
Specifications
Pendant Specifications:
Length: 1.54 inch
Width: 0.74 inch
Weight: 11.6 grams
Material History
About Maw sit sit:
Maw sit sit, also known as jade-albite, is a gemstone found exclusively in northern Burma. It was first identified in 1963 by the late Swiss gemologist, Edward Gubelin, and was named after the village close to where it was first found in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern Burma.
Since it is made of kosmochlor, chromian jadeite, chromian eckermannite, chromian albite, and other materials, maw-sit-sit is considered to be a rock, rather than a mineral. It is sometimes referred to as a variety of jadeite, but strictly speaking, maw-sit-sit is not jadeite, though it contains jadeite and is mined in the same area as imperial jadeite.
Jadeite is a mineral, whereas maw-sit-sit is a rock. The dominant mineral of maw-sit-sit is kosmochlor and this sets it apart from jadeite, which is sodium aluminum silicate. Therefore, maw-sit-sit is best considered to be related to jadeite. The kosmochlor component of maw-sit-sit is what gives it a beautiful emerald-green color with blackish-green patches.
Maw sit sit is a very rare, complex, polymineralic metamorphic rock composed mainly of:
Kosmochlor – the main colouring mineral species in Maw Sit Sit is kosmochlor, a sodium chromium pyroxene previously called “ureyite”. Kosmochlor is the primary component of both the brilliant emerald-green and dark green-black patches.
Chromian Jadeite – a chromium-enriched, but still Al-dominant jadeite (Al>Cr).
Chromian eckermannite – a chromium-enriched sodium-magnesium-iron amphibole-group mineral.
Chromian albite – a chromium-enriched albite.
So far, maw-sit-sit has only been found in the jade mining region of Northern Burma (Myanmar) known as Tawmaw. Therefore, it is a rare rock and high quality materials command high prices. High quality beads are going for around $132 a gram in US dollar.
About
Proud to say one of my specialties at Jadedivers.com is making one of kind custom beads found almost no where in the world. Most of my beads are going to have cone tapered ends that are deburred and polished. My photos are taken to show the natural colors without photo enhancements. I believe this will best represent the colors and promote repeat customers.
Branching into Pi/Bi Discs and Bangles, I provide the quality of the best offered. None of my designs are mass produced and material selection is always individually chosen even in the smalles beads. My Discs are unique in that they are mostly done by hand and not be "donut" cutting machines.
** Note: Many items stated to be "Jade" on Etsy and Ebay are not. In many cases, price does not indicate this either so buying an expensive item may be a jade replica like glass. There are many other stones including agate, grossular garnet, serpentine (many forms), aventurine... being sold as jade. To make it worse and more complicated, many jadeite stones are being reconditioned and died to be very attractive so they pass general tests to be real. If you see very clear bangles, odds are they are agate, glass or something else. If you see very bright colors of red, yellow, purple... most likely not real. I say this as many buyers are being fooled on-line by these practices.