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How to buy an EMERALD

Buying loose Emeralds or Emerald Engagement Rings and Emerald Jewellery - Your Research tips

Prior to buying an Emerald ring, Emerald Engagement Ring, Emerald Jewellery or Loose Emeralds, make sure you are well aware of the fact that Natural Emeralds are almost always displaying many types of inclusions. Like Diamonds, Emeralds can be flawed, and imperfect. Traditionally, emeralds are well known for their display of diagnostic typical inclusions, with an Emerald, very rarely being totally clear of inclusions.

A benefit seen in this is the fact that an Emerald is one of only few gemstones that can be traced to its country of origin or even traced to the actual mine it was mined from with the shape and type of inclusion that is seen within it.

1. Emerald Colour

Emeralds are considered more desirable when the colour is a deep, rich green with evenly spread colour throughout the stone. The green in Emeralds can vary greatly from light crystal green, to the deepest darkest greens that are almost opaque. The green colour can vary also, with some Emeralds giving a blue green display and others more of a yellow green display. Generally these colours give away which country the Emeralds were mined from. The blue green colour is typical of Zambian type emeralds, and the yellow green varieties are most likely mined from Colombia.
When looking at colour, take into account that the colour is distributed evenly throughout the stone, without patching of colour, although this is not common in Emeralds. Colour in Emeralds can be an important factor when selecting one, although with an Emerald it is very important to have a balance between clarity and colour, as some Emeralds that are lighter in green but with minimal inclusions, can be higher in value than one which is darker but heavily included. The most desirable colour is a slightly bluish green in a medium dark tone with strong to vivid saturation. Clarity is important, but inclusions are tolerated more in this variety than virtually any other.

2. Emerald Cut

The most common cut for a natural Emerald is the ‘Emerald Cut’. Traditionally this cut was designed specifically for the Emerald crystal, as it utilises the most out of every crystal before it is cut, also considering that many emeralds are quite included, this cut offers, cut off corners for minimal risk of chipping from sharp edges. Emeralds are also cut in other shapes which can enhance its beautiful rich green hue. These include, Round Faceted Emerald, Cushion Cut Emerald, Pear Shape Emerald, Princess Cut Emerald, Cabochon Cut Emerald, Princess Cut Emerald and Marquise cut Emerald.
When looking at Cut of the Emerald, look for visual proportion balance. If a stone is cut  in an oval cut for example, look at it to see that one of the top and bottom are of equal measurements, and that one end does not bulge out more than the other end. As well as many other gemstones, Emeralds are  cut by hand in many countries still to this day. Keeping this in mind, there are many faceted Emeralds in the market which have been hand crafted cut and may show a slight variance in exact proportions.

3. Emerald Clarity

Emeralds are one of the only gemstones which generally display a high amount of inclusions, and are still considered desirable. These inclusions not only give each Emerald character it also can help determine exactly which mine the Emerald originated from. A two phase tubular inclusion is characteristic of Chivor stones (Colombia). The parasitic crystal only appears in stones from the Muzo (Colombia)mine. Common to all Colombian Emeralds is the three phase inclusion, comprised of Solid, Liquid & Gas. Spiral inclusions are also indicative of Colombian Emeralds.

4. Emerald Hardness

An Emerald, like Aquamarine, is considered an overall ‘hard’ gemstone, considering that if included heavily it may be considered more of a brittle stone depending on where the inclusions are situated within the Emerald. The Moh’s scale of hardness is a universal scale for minerals showing their position in the scale as to compare which ones are harder than others. As an example the hardest know mineral is Diamond, given a 10 on Moh’s scale. The softest known mineral is Talc given a 1 on Moh’s scale.
Emerald comes in at a hardness of around 7.5 - 8.

Routine Enhancements

An Emerald, being distinctly a gemstone with many inclusions, is usually oiled. Emeralds are like opals in that the stones are quite porous and will often have small fissures and gas bubbles exposed during the cutting process. As a result, just like opals, emeralds are coated with a clear resin-like oil that helps to seal the stone from detergents, hand lotions, etc. from seeping into the stone during everyday wear. This oiling is only acceptable when it is of clear oil, in the gemstone industry this is something that can be done every so often by an expert Emerald dealer. This oiling takes place when the Emerald is placed in a cylinder which is monitored at a specific high pressure scale for many hours, so that the oil gets deep into the Emerald.  Clear Oiling does not remove any inclusions, instead it acts as a type of ‘moisturiser’ to inclusions inside the Emerald.

Buying Emerald Jewellery

Whether you are looking for Emeralds for engagement rings, Emerald set jewellery such as: Emerald earrings, Emerald rings, Emerald bracelets, loose Emeralds. We offer Wholesale Emeralds for any type of need.

Being a Melbourne based Emerald wholesaler, we can provide you with assurance and quality of all of your Emerald Jewellery needs including custom made Jewellery.

History & Beliefs

Emerald is the birthstone for the mont of May. The name we know it as now is believed to come from an ancient Persian word, translated to Latin as “smaragdus,” and eventually over time, corrupted to “emerald.” Emerald was known as a stone that was workshipped by the Incas and mentioned in a few biblical notes.
 The earliest reference to Emerald in western literature came from Aristotle, being a favourite stone to him, he believed and wrote that an Emerald is said to increase its owner’s importance, and therefore will be of great benefit for any speech during business dealings, it gives victory in trials, it helps settle litigation and is even known to comfort and sooth eyesight.