Don, what does this iconic symbol represent?

It has a very long history.

It's one of the longest things carved in jade.

It's a pagan symbol.

The classical B is really much larger.

It really wasn't jewelry until much later.

It was huge, sometimes, you know, a foot across.

And it represented the heavens, the sun.

In burial jade, the deceased is laid to rest with a B under his head and a cun on his chest.

Cun, you know, represents the earth, B, the heavens.

So you're residing between heaven and earth, as it were.

It became jewelry, oh, I don't know, a few hundred years ago, really.

A B really has to be kind of formalized.

The hole can't be too big, or it's called an annular ring or a hololith.

It should be about a third to a quarter of the diameter of the whole thing to be, you know, a B.

That's, I think, probably the symbol that is most asked about.

Would you say it's one of the more common symbols in jade jewelry?

A lot of reasons for that.

Yeah, it is.

Number one, it's easy to cut.

If you're cutting a jade rough, you've got a bunch of stuff left over, sometimes not thick enough for a calve, sometimes not big enough for a carving.

What are you going to do?

Well, a B is pretty good.

You can do lots with it.

So yeah, it's practical.

It's also very popular.

I've been wearing this one for 40 years.

Wow.

Yeah, that's kind of a nice one.

It is.

Yeah, I like to wear jade, and it's supposed to be close to the skin.

Can't get closer.

Do you rub it?

Do you rub it like a worry stone?

Actually, I do from time to time.

Does it help?

Well, I haven't been hit by a car yet, you know.