Information Page
As I mentioned in the home page my name
is Ken Dalzell. I am no stranger to jade, I have spent
thousands of hours fossicking stone on the many beaches and rivers of Westland,
on The West Coast
of the South Island of New Zealand. (Known locally as "The Coast").
My shop and this web site bears testimony
to the love I have for this wonderful stone Nephrite,
known as Pounamu by the Maori and Greenstone by the early European miners
in New Zealand.
There are over twenty varieties of
jade and New Zealand jade is regarded as one of the finest nephrite jades
in the world. Westland also boasts of the valuable Marsden flower jade, which
is fine jade with accentuated
yellow rind inclusions. Visitors are able to purchase unique tectonic float
specimens from Westland's
latest glacial age, which transported a lot of jade found today. Small specimen
samples of natural floats and
unset stones can be purchased for further setting into jewellery.
Shades of Jade Ltd. Ltd. also has a range of local gemstones, paua, and the famous rare Ruby rock or Goodletite.
To contact us email information@westcoastjade.co.nz
Ruby Rock
New Zealand Ruby Rock
Ruby - Sapphire - Tourmaline
Source: Westland, New Zealand the
only known source. It is sometimes referred to in geological texts as
Goodletite. However, the most common commercial name is ruby rock.
Goodletite was first discovered
in the early 1890's by gold miners steadily working through boulders derived
from the Southern Alps.
Around that time Mr William Goodlett,
from Otago University, took a chip of the sample back to
Professor Ulrichin Dunedin who tested the rock and published what he found
in the Institute of Mining
Journal under the title"on the Discovery of 'Oriental Ruby' in the Province
of Westland, New Zealand".
This article caused a mini ruby rush
on the West Coast.
The rock was loosely named 'Goodletite'
after Mr Goodlett although it is now most commonly known as
'New Zealand Ruby Rock'. This unique gemrock is composed of 3 precious stones,
ruby/sapphire and
tourmaline crystals, in emerald-green fuchsite (margarite and muscovite).
The rock has been formed
approximately 30km down in the earth at pressures of 5000 atmospheres and
at temperatures of 4600C.
The gems needed approximately 3 million years to grow.
Its fame has been spread abroad with
official documentation in the Journal of Petrology (volume 37, number 2,
April 1996) and the Journal of Gemmology, Great Britain (July 1996) making
it widely recognised throughout the world.
This rock is a very interesting formation
of small, but distinct, crystals of the above named minerals that form
in such a tight proximity as to create a rock formation from the conglomeration
of the crystals. This is truly one
of the most unique and beautiful gemstone materials
To find out more about Ruby Rock click here
The photos below are of our "Shop Spirit"
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To contact us email information@westcoastjade.co.nz
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Shades of Jade Ltd.
16 Tainui street
Greymouth
Phone: 03-768-0794
Fax: 03-789-0794
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