All About Emeralds

Emerald is the birthstone for May and the anniversary gemstone for the 20th and 45th year of marriage. Emerald and Aquamarine are members of the beryl group. Minute traces of chromium, vanadium and iron give Emeralds their famous “Green Fire”. The green crystals grow slowly within metamorphic rocks and are restricted in size by the host rock, making large Emeralds rare and costly. Only the finest emeralds are transparent. Often the emerald is clouded by inclusions. This is a good way to determine if the emerald is natural. Natural inclusions in the stone are referred to as “Jardin”. Which means garden. The most desired color is a deep green, which is more valuable, even with inclusions, than a pale and clean quality.

The most important deposits of emeralds are found in Columbia. The Columbian mines yield the desirable deep green color. Brazil also produces a small amount of rough. Stones are lighter than Columbian ones, mostly yellow-green, but they are often free of inclusions. Emeralds are also found in Africa, Pakistan, Australia and the United States.

Some common excepted treatments of Emeralds are colorless oils, polymers, wax, resins in fissures and/or dyed with the use of colored oils and/or open fractures or cavities filled with hardened resins. Emeralds are a 71/2 – 8 on the hardness scale but they are brittle. So some care is needed when wearing them.

Some of our One of a Kind Emerald Pieces: