In this high-quality maw sit sit necklace, the average bead diameter is 11.5 mm.
Photo by SD Lynn (Burma JARS)
Maw Sit Sit is a vibrant,distinctive green and black color gem material that has been confused with jade for hundreds of years.
It has been mined out for some time making it very desirable and difficult to find now.It is much more rare than jade making it highly collectible.
Maw Sit Sit was first noted in the early 1960s by the famed Swiss gemologist Eduard J. Gübelin during field investigations in Burma.
It also know as Jade-Albite or Chloromelanite, is a combination stone whose composition comprises of various minerals including a chromium enriched Jadeite and Albite Feldspar.
It is a bright emerald green color with black veining. It achieves its vibrant green color from the element chromium, as does emerald and ruby. While some have classed this as a "jadeite" (and it has been called 'Chrome Jade'), in reality the color is due to another clinopyroxene, kosmochlor (NaCrSi2O6) and it should not, therefore, be considered a variety of jadeite.
So far, maw-sit-sit has only been found in the jade mining region of Northern Burma (Myanmar). There is no other known source for this rare gemstone.Therefore, it is a rare rock and high quality materials command high prices.