Need help deciding on emeralds!

[ramyak75]

Hi All,
This is my first post! I have been on this website for a few months now, learning a lot! But any help is appreciated!
I am trying to get a modest emerald for a fairly simple ring. Clarity is the most important for me (or as best as I can afford for an emerald)! Next I would like a nice color, and finally the size. I would prefer quality over quantity. I am not very particular about the shape of the emerald as long as its cut nicely.

I reached out to Dana of master cut gems regarding this item: http://mastercutgems.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=5402 BUT alas its sold.

Then I reached out to him about http://mastercutgems.com/index.php?page=viewgem&id=6576 which is a lighter color , but seems very sparkly and clear. He just got back to me that this is still available, and though its a lighter color, it is old stock from Columbia, and has chromium in it.

While I was waiting for a response from Dana, I also saw this on etsy....this vendor also seems to have decent reviews on this forum.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/127948525/certified-215-carat-untreated-columbian?ref=shop_home_active

Any thoughts, or other suggestions? Any help is welcome!
Thanks
Ramya

 

[GregS]

Of the three the pear is my favorite.

 

[chrono]

Of your two choices, the pear is the nicest - good cut and better colouration than the oval. However, in terms of colour, it is very pale. You will see the colour in the shade but I am concerned it will wash out under stronger lights.

More options:
http://www.embassyemeralds.com/

 

[katharath]

I also like the pear best. I love the color and the glowy look in the hand pic.

The oval from the other vendor is my favorite gem dealer/jeweler so I can definitely recommend her as well; another plus is that the oval is bigger. And I don't personally like pear cuts.

However, that said, overall I do think the pear is more appealing.

 

[ramyak75]

Thanks for the votes for the pear. I like it the best, and maybe a bezel will help with the color? I saw some nice darker stones in the same price range albeit smaller on embassy emeralds. But no response to my email. Either out of town, OR another forum user had mentioned that they maybe closed shop? I don't know. Hard to find emeralds in my price range! Also considered Angara, but not sure what I'd be getting since they have stock photos and not the exact emerald.
Thanks again for helping!

 

[ramyak75]

Oh forgot to mention....I am dark skinned, so it won't look washed out I hope !
Ramya

 

[chrono]

If you do decide on bezeling a pear, make 100% sure that the bench knows how to handle emeralds and is experienced with bezeling and pointy tips. You don't want to find it damaged under the setting one day.

Have you tried to call EE? Sometimes the email system doesn't always work well. I know their website was down for a while but it looks like it is back up again.

 

[ramyak75]

Thanks, for the suggestion. I will try calling Embassy tomorrow. See if they are around. Maybe their email was down with the site. Also thanks a for the tip on bezel. I was not aware of the hazards!
Ramya

 

[GregS]

I see a lot of nice Emeralds at the Intergem shows, depending on your location it may be worth checking it out.

Emeralds seem few and far between online. That pear is really nice though, reminds me of a cuprian Tourmaline.

 

[ramyak75]

So I spoke to Dana from Mastercut gems, and he may have something else for me in about 2 weeks. Such a pleasure to talk to! So I will wait with fingers crossed! In the meanwhile I did check the intergem show - looks like it will be in my area (Massachusetts) in October. So will also look out for that!
Thanks all for the help!
Ramya

 

[eastjavaman]

Agree with Hamish, the color on those emerald are very light and pale(similar aquamarine). Emeralds are typically treated(since they are normally included, not to mention brittle for daily wear, i managed to chip in my girdle somehow and dare not wear it ever since), the similar green would be tsavorite and chrome tourmaline.

 

[partgypsy]

Did you see that someone on DB I believe is selling a pear shape emerald in a silver bezel setting? If you don't mind pears you should definitely check it out.

 

[T L]

Emeralds are very strange. The best colored ones look terrible in photos, and the pale ones look best in photos, but lack the saturation of green that emeralds are famous for. This is probably due to the fact that they have better clarity. It's very difficult to get a stone with fine color and good clarity. Therefore, based on what I see, I bet the top stone (octagon) has the best color of the three.

If you want a pale emerald, that's fine, and they can be pretty, but just know it's not the fine color quality that you said you wanted over quantity. If your budget is modest, that may be your only option, or to get a very small emerald (like 1/2 carat) that has fine color and clarity. The nice thing about emeralds is that they're not dense stones, so a 1/2 carat emerald can face up like many 1 carat stones.

 

[chrono]

i could buy those first stones for less than 50 dollars in bogota .. .

I am sure you can but you have to consider that these are very well cut and also include the expense of bringing them back to the US, the time and cost to take pictures and post these online. If you include the airfare, food and lodging expenses, the OP would definitely have spent far more than $50 to buy this emerald in Bogota. For those of us who are unable to travel to the source country, brave the political situation, have our own tools and knowledge to buy smartly and safely, we have to rely on middle persons to do the legwork for us and thus pay them appropriately. In addition, those in the trade will pay far below the retail pricing so to compare wholesale to retail pricing is quite unfair since we consumers will never get to pay trade pricing.

 

[minousbijoux]

i could buy those first stones for less than 50 dollars in bogota .. .

Hi Hamish and welcome to the forum! Since you are new here and seem to be a Trade member, I thought I should remind you (before you get a warning from the Mods ) that as a Trade member, you are prohibited from commenting on other vendors stones. You are also prohibited from showing anything of yours you have for sale, or for recommending vendors. I know this may be hard to do, especially when I'm sure you have the best interest in the OP and other readers at heart, but its the only way to keep the playing field level among the various Trade members. For detail on this, you may want to refer back to the rules and policies you agreed to when you first joined PS.

All that said, it sounds like you are knowledgeable and its great to have you here!