Emeralds - Second to None, Well, Except to Diamonds
Introduction To continue our feature on gemstones, we will now discuss one of the most fascinating of gemstones - the emerald.
It exudes a greenish color that makes it beautiful and intense.
In some cases, fine emeralds are even more valuable than some diamonds.
If you are fortunate enough to possess an emerald that can fit the palm of your hand, it could be valued well at over a million dollars, of course depending on its color and quality.
Emeralds are in the beryl crystal family.
They are formed from a combination of the common elements aluminium and silicon with the rare element beryllium.
Small amounts of trace elements, either chromium or vanadium, gives its distinctive green tint.
History The word emerald derives its name from the Old French word "esmerlde" or the Greek word "smaragdos", both plain and simply meaning green stone.
It is regarded as the traditional birthstone for May as well as the traditional gemstone for the astrological signs of Taurus, Cancer, and Gemini.
The first known discovery of emeralds was made near the Red Sea of Egypt, some 440 miles southeast of Cairo.
Between 3000 - 1500 B.
C.
, these mines, later to be known as the Cleopatra mines, were exploited by Egyptian pharaohs.
Working long hours under the blistering heat of the Sun, and the darkness, heat and dust of the underground mines must have been a real ordeal for those ancient laborers.
These mines were rediscovered during the 19th century but were found to have already been exhausted.
One of the largest and most famous emeralds is the "Mogul Emerald".
It was discovered in 1695 during the Mogul Dynasty, and weighed about 217.
8 carats.
This emerald was auctioned off in the Christie's London auction for close to $2.
3 million dollars.
Another famous emerald which is displayed in the New York National Museums is the "Patricia" and is stated to weigh 632 carats.
This emerald belonged to Mughal Indian Emperor Jehangir.
The 4C's of Emerald Similar to the diamond, you must consider the 4 C's of the emerald: color, cut, clarity, and carat.
Unlike diamonds that are primary characteristic is the clarity and brilliance, emeralds are more primarily concerned with color.
Color As stated, the color of the emerald is the most important of all characteristics when considering emeralds.
This is created from small amounts of chromium and vanadium.
There are 4 distinct colors of an emerald.
See below for details: Too Dark: This color of emerald comes in a very dark green color.
These emeralds are inexpensive and the least valuable of all emeralds.
Too Blue: These types emeralds are not considered 'real emeralds' due to the lack of green and pale color.
Too Yellow: These emeralds have a tint of yellow and might come close to the true emerald green.
Emerald Green: This color green has the perfect amount combination of blue and yellow hue.
This color emerald is the most valuable of all emeralds.
Clarity As stated before unlike the diamond the emerald is no so dependent on its clarity.
Inclusions are so common in the emerald that it does not affect its beauty.
Natural inclusions which are also called "garden inclusions" are what give emeralds the natural emerald green color.
Since emeralds are so highly included, a high percentage of rough emeralds must be cut in order to create a gemstone.
Also, unlike the diamond, you do not need a loupe to grade its clarity.
Emerald can be graded by sight and if it has no inclusions, it is stated that the emerald is flawless.
Cut A well cut emerald will gives the emerald a greater sparkle and glow to its greatest ability.
The cut is not as important to the emerald, since as stated before the color is what makes the emerald more valuable.
The shape, width and depth of the emerald make up the cut.
The ideal cut emerald will be symmetrical and have uniform facets that provide for maximum color and brilliance.
If the cut is too shallow, light will be lost at the bottom of the stone and the emerald will not have maximum brilliance.
If the cut is too deep, the light will escape out of the sides and the emerald will appear dark.
Remember, because emeralds are expensive and sold by weight, the cutter is pre-disposed to try to save as much weight as possible.
Also, the shape of the rough will most likely pre-determine the final shape of the cut emerald.
Round emeralds are least common because you must waste more material to cut a round and the rectangular step cut known as the "emerald" cut is generally thought to compliment the end result for emeralds.
Carat For emeralds the carat size and weight is the least determining factor when finding the value of an emerald.
Just because a certain emerald is large does not mean it is expensive and just because the emerald is small does not make the emerald least expensive.
Of course a 10 carat emerald would be valued more than a 2 carat emerald, if assuming they both had the same quality (color, cut, and clarity).
Thus, the color, cut and clarity are characteristics that are taken more into consideration prior than carat weight.
Enhancement For the last hundred years gemstone enthusiasts have discovered and pioneered techniques to enhance gemstones.
This process is known as oil treatment process.
This was done to cover the presence of fissures, flaws, and impurities.
This process requires the emerald to be cleaned, usually washed out by acid and afterwards treated with cedar oil or any other synthetic oil and polymers.
The US Federal Trade Commission requires the disclosure of treated emeralds when sold.
This use of oil is well accepted in the gem trade but practices such as using green tinted oil is not acceptable.
Emeralds treated with oil may be prone to cracking and breaking after a couple of years.
This is due to the oil wearing off making the emerald more brittle.
Local jewelers are well informed in a retreatment process required to keep the emerald intact.
Synthetic Emeralds Since emeralds are such a high value and rare gemstones, there has been much incentive by people to develop synthetic gemstones.
There are two ways create synthetic emeralds, these are flux growth and hydrothermal processes.
Flux growth is a process that synthesizes compounds with high melting points by using a flux and speed up the natural crystallization process at lower pressure and temperature.
The hydrothermal process is a process of synthesis of single crystals using hot water under high pressure.
It is hard to differentiate between real emeralds and synthetic ones.
Normal thermal and electronic gem testers would not be able to distinguish between these.
One way to distinguish this is by using the Chelsea color filter.
Chelsea Filter Other than using the Chelsea Dichromatic Filter there are significant differences that gemologists can distinguish between synthetic and real emerald.
These differences are: - Specific gravity of synthetic emerald is 2.
66 and natural emerald is 2.
70-2.
78.
- Refractive Index of synthetic emerald is 1.
565 and for natural emerald is 1.
576-1.
582 - Synthetic Emeralds shines off in a reddish color in ultraviolet light, which you do not get in a natural emerald.
- Natural Emeralds gives off a natural green light, which is due to impurities.
This shine cannot be done by synthetic emeralds.
It exudes a greenish color that makes it beautiful and intense.
In some cases, fine emeralds are even more valuable than some diamonds.
If you are fortunate enough to possess an emerald that can fit the palm of your hand, it could be valued well at over a million dollars, of course depending on its color and quality.
Emeralds are in the beryl crystal family.
They are formed from a combination of the common elements aluminium and silicon with the rare element beryllium.
Small amounts of trace elements, either chromium or vanadium, gives its distinctive green tint.
History The word emerald derives its name from the Old French word "esmerlde" or the Greek word "smaragdos", both plain and simply meaning green stone.
It is regarded as the traditional birthstone for May as well as the traditional gemstone for the astrological signs of Taurus, Cancer, and Gemini.
The first known discovery of emeralds was made near the Red Sea of Egypt, some 440 miles southeast of Cairo.
Between 3000 - 1500 B.
C.
, these mines, later to be known as the Cleopatra mines, were exploited by Egyptian pharaohs.
Working long hours under the blistering heat of the Sun, and the darkness, heat and dust of the underground mines must have been a real ordeal for those ancient laborers.
These mines were rediscovered during the 19th century but were found to have already been exhausted.
One of the largest and most famous emeralds is the "Mogul Emerald".
It was discovered in 1695 during the Mogul Dynasty, and weighed about 217.
8 carats.
This emerald was auctioned off in the Christie's London auction for close to $2.
3 million dollars.
Another famous emerald which is displayed in the New York National Museums is the "Patricia" and is stated to weigh 632 carats.
This emerald belonged to Mughal Indian Emperor Jehangir.
The 4C's of Emerald Similar to the diamond, you must consider the 4 C's of the emerald: color, cut, clarity, and carat.
Unlike diamonds that are primary characteristic is the clarity and brilliance, emeralds are more primarily concerned with color.
Color As stated, the color of the emerald is the most important of all characteristics when considering emeralds.
This is created from small amounts of chromium and vanadium.
There are 4 distinct colors of an emerald.
See below for details: Too Dark: This color of emerald comes in a very dark green color.
These emeralds are inexpensive and the least valuable of all emeralds.
Too Blue: These types emeralds are not considered 'real emeralds' due to the lack of green and pale color.
Too Yellow: These emeralds have a tint of yellow and might come close to the true emerald green.
Emerald Green: This color green has the perfect amount combination of blue and yellow hue.
This color emerald is the most valuable of all emeralds.
Clarity As stated before unlike the diamond the emerald is no so dependent on its clarity.
Inclusions are so common in the emerald that it does not affect its beauty.
Natural inclusions which are also called "garden inclusions" are what give emeralds the natural emerald green color.
Since emeralds are so highly included, a high percentage of rough emeralds must be cut in order to create a gemstone.
Also, unlike the diamond, you do not need a loupe to grade its clarity.
Emerald can be graded by sight and if it has no inclusions, it is stated that the emerald is flawless.
Cut A well cut emerald will gives the emerald a greater sparkle and glow to its greatest ability.
The cut is not as important to the emerald, since as stated before the color is what makes the emerald more valuable.
The shape, width and depth of the emerald make up the cut.
The ideal cut emerald will be symmetrical and have uniform facets that provide for maximum color and brilliance.
If the cut is too shallow, light will be lost at the bottom of the stone and the emerald will not have maximum brilliance.
If the cut is too deep, the light will escape out of the sides and the emerald will appear dark.
Remember, because emeralds are expensive and sold by weight, the cutter is pre-disposed to try to save as much weight as possible.
Also, the shape of the rough will most likely pre-determine the final shape of the cut emerald.
Round emeralds are least common because you must waste more material to cut a round and the rectangular step cut known as the "emerald" cut is generally thought to compliment the end result for emeralds.
Carat For emeralds the carat size and weight is the least determining factor when finding the value of an emerald.
Just because a certain emerald is large does not mean it is expensive and just because the emerald is small does not make the emerald least expensive.
Of course a 10 carat emerald would be valued more than a 2 carat emerald, if assuming they both had the same quality (color, cut, and clarity).
Thus, the color, cut and clarity are characteristics that are taken more into consideration prior than carat weight.
Enhancement For the last hundred years gemstone enthusiasts have discovered and pioneered techniques to enhance gemstones.
This process is known as oil treatment process.
This was done to cover the presence of fissures, flaws, and impurities.
This process requires the emerald to be cleaned, usually washed out by acid and afterwards treated with cedar oil or any other synthetic oil and polymers.
The US Federal Trade Commission requires the disclosure of treated emeralds when sold.
This use of oil is well accepted in the gem trade but practices such as using green tinted oil is not acceptable.
Emeralds treated with oil may be prone to cracking and breaking after a couple of years.
This is due to the oil wearing off making the emerald more brittle.
Local jewelers are well informed in a retreatment process required to keep the emerald intact.
Synthetic Emeralds Since emeralds are such a high value and rare gemstones, there has been much incentive by people to develop synthetic gemstones.
There are two ways create synthetic emeralds, these are flux growth and hydrothermal processes.
Flux growth is a process that synthesizes compounds with high melting points by using a flux and speed up the natural crystallization process at lower pressure and temperature.
The hydrothermal process is a process of synthesis of single crystals using hot water under high pressure.
It is hard to differentiate between real emeralds and synthetic ones.
Normal thermal and electronic gem testers would not be able to distinguish between these.
One way to distinguish this is by using the Chelsea color filter.
Chelsea Filter Other than using the Chelsea Dichromatic Filter there are significant differences that gemologists can distinguish between synthetic and real emerald.
These differences are: - Specific gravity of synthetic emerald is 2.
66 and natural emerald is 2.
70-2.
78.
- Refractive Index of synthetic emerald is 1.
565 and for natural emerald is 1.
576-1.
582 - Synthetic Emeralds shines off in a reddish color in ultraviolet light, which you do not get in a natural emerald.
- Natural Emeralds gives off a natural green light, which is due to impurities.
This shine cannot be done by synthetic emeralds.
