My two scholar's fetishes: the little boy monk is from Shouzan (famous for semi-precious stones that cannot be found elsewhere), the old man with ru-i, Xian-jin (on the border between China and Mongolia). I am told that the Chinese literati collect such stones and that they are highly treasured. The friend of a friend has hundreds and keeps a photo catalogue of them; the little boy monk was part of that collection and was purchased from him by a very close friend for me. Such stones are meant to be touched frequently or held in one's left hand, presumably while writing with the other hand.

It is said that each stone will crystallize with age. I can believe that; note that portions of the little boy monk have crystal quartz.

These stones are jade, not agate. The old man figure is an example of three-color jade, which is quite expensive.

Jade comes in many colors, but, once I got started with red, I decided to stick to it.