Jade was discovered approximately 3,000 years ago by an early Mesoamerican culture, The Olmecs.  They became expert lapidary artists and carved jade into beautiful statues, ceremonial ornaments and objects for their rituals.  Their descendants, The Maya, used it as ornaments and jewelry for nobles and priests.  Other cultures such as the Aztecs continued to work jade, up until the time of the Spanish Conquest. The Ancient Maya, builders of large cities, extensive traders and astronomers who developed a very accurate calendar, also revered jade as their most important possession.  Only the very wealthy and powerful could afford to wear jade both in this life and in the after life.  The love for jade and the knowledge of its source was lost to the Americas at the time of the Spanish conquest.  The Spaniards subjugated the ancient cultures and influenced them to value what the conquerors valued – gold.  So for more than 400 years, jade was forgotten in the Americas.  In 1974 after studying the work of Foshag and Leslie, the Ridinger family found a large outcropping of fine jadeite in Guatemala.  Scattered on the surface were some of the original jade working tools.  After assaying this stone and testing some of the museum jades, it was proven that this jade outcropping in Guatemala had been the source of many pre-Columbian jade objects.  JADES, S.A.™ was formed and began to mine work and train native Guatemalans once again in the fine art of jade carving. We hope that after reading this brief history you will visit our main factory in Antigua Guatemala, where you will see many fine replicas in our museum, see a worker carving jade in our factory, or simply spend time in our main showroom, viewing and choosing fine jewelry, jade objects of art, or museum replicas. We wholesale and do custom work as well, for company logos, commemorative plaques or unique gifts.  We have a catalogue available upon request with some of our products. We also invite you to visit us and select a special piece of jade.  Please contact us for future details.  Newly Discovered Guatemalan Jadeite Colors:   Lavender Jade Over the past year Guatemala’s jadeite color palette expanded enormously with the discovery of Rainbow™ Jadeite, that incorporates several new colors within a single boulder.  The new jadeites are lavender, mottled white and blue, different shades of green, light yellow,  pink and Olmec Blue jade.       ©Copyright 2003, Jades, S.A™. -  All rights reserved