Emerald: Most popular of the Beryls

Emerald, another member of the beryl family like aquamarine, has been a favorite for thousands of years. Across the world, different cultures revere this green gem. Ireland is the Emerald Isle and Seattle is considered the Emerald city. Thailand’s most sacred icon is called the emerald Buddha-and it’s not even made of emerald! It’s carved from jade!

Let's go into a bit of the lush green gem’s history. 

Some historians believed Egyptians mined the gem as early as 3500 BC! Egypt was the major source for emeralds until the 16th century, when Spanish explorers learned of the plentiful mines in South America (now called Columbia) and is still an important source to this day.

Photo cred: GIA

Today, emerald is the world’s premier green gem. US imports of emeralds have a higher dollar value than imports of any other gem! Some can even surpass diamonds in per carat value!

The color has a huge impact on value. Colors range from yellowish to bluish with bluish green to green being the most desirable with strong to vivid saturation and medium to medium dark tones. 

The color of a colored gem is created when one or more trace elements are incorporated into the crystal as it forms. Chromium, vanadium, and iron are the trace elements that create an emerald’s color. The presence of or absence of each element and their relative amounts determines the hue, tone, and saturation of the crystals. The higher the chromium or vanadium content, the more intense the green color. As iron content increases, so does the degree of blue. Color has a lot to do with the chemical composition.

There are different terms in regards to emerald colors:

Columbian: finest emerald color (bluish green with medium dark tone and strong to vivid saturation.

Zambian: slightly darker and more bluish often with higher clarity.

Sandawana: commonly a bright intense green; found in small sizes

Brazilian: lighter in tone than other emeralds.

The most common emerald shape in its natural habitat is an elongated six sided prism, sometimes with striations (natural lines) along its length.

Emerald crystals have nearly uniform physical properties which means they can be cut in any direction, but the most popular cut is the emerald (see how to buy for other cuts). All emeralds have inclusions that are visible to the naked eye and are quite common, even in the finest quality gem. This isn’t necessarily a negative because the type of inclusions present are one of the key ways to determine if an emerald is nature-made or man-made. Gemologists and other trade members typically classify emeralds as being lightly, moderately, or heavily included. As long as the inclusions do not interfere with the emeralds overall beauty, this will not decrease the gem’s value.

Photo cred: GIA

With her experience and knowledge about emeralds, Therese has helped many clients and will help you find your perfect emerald. 

Check out tons of different cuts and styles on trudygems.com