Nephrite Jade

Nov. 26 – Shopping

Yes, here we are shopping again. Actually, we never stop shopping. In this case we are shopping for jade. The Maori used nephrite jade for weapons, tools and ornaments. They knew about gold but had no use for it because it was too soft and thus had no value to them. Jade, on the other hand, is very hard and makes an excellent war club. Today we use diamond saws and power tools to fashion the jade into the desired shapes. The Maori did it very painstakingly with other rocks, as demonstrated here. I didn't buy any war clubs, but was quite satisfied with a necklace and earrings.