Pounamu is found only in the South Island of New Zealand. Because of this, the island was originally named Te Wāhi Pounamu (the place of pounamu), but over time this name changed to Te Wai Pounamu (the greenstone waters). No other jade should be classified as pounamu as it is a Maori name for the stone. - there are ten main types of pounamu:

• Arahura - a dark velvet green
• Inanga - pale blue or green - can be opaque or translucent
• Totoweka - a rare type - streaked or spotted with red
• Kahotea - dark green with darker inclusions
• Kawakawa - rich leaf green sometimes with dark freckling
• Kohuwai - a misty grey blue with vivid bright green - like moss in a stream.
  
• Kokopu - sometimes called troutstone - silver or golden green with brown freckling
• Kahurangi - emerald clear green sometimes with white feathering - highly prized
• Raukaraka - called Flower Jade - varied greens with gold/orange blooms
• Tangiwai - bowenite - found only in certain areas of Aotearoa NZ - dark blue/green - exceptional translucence.

You are welcome at my auctions - please read my 100% feedback and know you are  buying ONE OF A KIND CARVINGS BY NATIVE NEW ZEALAND ARTISTS exactly as described and pictured. DON'T SETTLE FOR VERY  INFERIOR TOURIST MASS PRODUCED SOUVENIRS - many of the low priced so called "Maori" jade carvings you see on eBay at the moment are not carved in New Zealand and not New Zealand jade.

The carvings I offer are priced incredibly reasonably for genuine artist carved NZ POUNAMU which will soon become impossible to obtain.  I am a fair trade seller and pay the carvers what they deserve. All my pendants are blessed in the Maori tradition. All my photos are taken outside in natural light - no digital enhancement - no photoshopping - what you see is what you get!

New Zealand gold

Māori valued pounamu in the same way Europeans valued gold. Around the 1870s, Te Otatu from Coromandel remarked: ‘Let the gold be worked by the white men. It was not a thing known to our ancestors. My only treasure is the pounamu.’ (Kati ano taku taonga nui i te pounamu.)¹

The main deposits used by Māori are in the districts around the Taramakau and Arahura rivers in Westland, coastal south Westland and the Lake Wakatipu area in Otago. In addition, there is a significant field of bowenite in Milford Sound (Piopiotahi).

Traditionally, the pounamu in the Arahura River has been most important for Poutini Ngāi Tahu (Ngāi Tahu people on the West Coast), with the junction of this river and Waitaiki (Olderog) Stream being particularly important.