Emeralds...Show and Tell

[FrekeChild]

If you have an emerald story, or just a pretty piece of jewelry or stone that you want to show off, that'd be great!

I feel like it's one of the three biggies (sapphires, rubies and emeralds) but I don't think I know all that much about them.

This is what I know:

Colombian is best.
Don't ultrasonic them.
They're green.
Their inclusions are called "jardin", which is the French word for garden.
They are typically pretty included.
When being set, jewelers have to take painstaking care of them.
They are typically clarity treated. Oil is first, and acceptable. Resins are next, and not so acceptable.

 

[FrekeChild]

Ah! And "Emerald Green" was the 2013 Pantone color of the year!

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Freke, you know how to do the mechanics of linking pages. Robert Genis has the new winter issue of the Gemstone Forcaster posted on his web site. He talks about Burma, and quotes some information on Emeralds that I found most interesting.
www.precious gemstones .com/ . I tried to post it yesterday, but failed with my limited skills.

I have zambian emeralds in a necklace, ring and earrings. Mine have minor treatment, (checked by a lab.) However they are not top color, or near it, but I love them. I really don't like the dark top color. I also have diamond earrings with a smaller emerald in each. This color is more near the Ideal, but is only .25 pts each.

I have always said my favorite color is blue, but I notice I gravitate toward Green. The newsletter has an explanation for why many of us like green.


Annette

 

[dk168]

My first emerald, a tiny stone about 0.42ct, bought in Hong Kong's Jade Market back in Nov 2013, amongst my other CS purchases during the same trip, most likely to be tension-set in cobalt chrome by Boone:



DK

 

[T L]

Certain resins are acceptable and actually very stable, unlike oil and older resins that tend to go white in the stone and dry up, and oil needs to be replaced every few years.

I forget which resins are on the acceptable list at the moment. What isn't acceptable is not disclosing treatment as nearly all emeralds are clarity treated. The treatment designations go from none, faint, minor, moderate and significant. Everything is acceptable up to moderate treatment. You wouldn't want an emerald with significant treatment.

So when getting an expensive emerald, you need to find out both the treatment designation and the type of resin or oil used.

Some emeralds are also irradiated.

 

[LD]

A couple of things to add to your list Freke:-

1. Emeralds are a nightmare to photograph accurately.
2. There is a misconception that seeing Jardin in a stone is a good thing. Actually no! The less jardin the better. If it has jardin then it should be placed so that it doesn't affect the overall look.
3. Emeralds can crack in hot water.
4. If you search long and hard you can still find untreated Emeralds on the market.
5. Siberian Emeralds were also mined years ago but there is very little written about them.

Zambian Emeralds (generally speaking) are a deeper darker green (more bottle green) than Colombian Emeralds that distinctly have a blue tone - having said that, there are always ones that break the mould!

 

[RSargent]

Emeralds are my birthstone, so I love them. Here are my two favorites, a 2 carat Colombian emerald ring set in 18k white gold with 2 diamond chevrons at .50 carats each. The stone seems darker in this light, but pops grassy green in sunlight. The other is a pendant I just got. The emeralds are stunning -- so clear and bright.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,


Finally, someone has posted the color of my necklace, ring and earrings. I have 5 emeralds about 1.80 each in the necklace surrounded by 4 ctw of diamonds.

They are all the color of RSargent's second picture. Bright green and pretty. So says I



Annette

 

[FrekeChild]

The article is about 2/3 of the way down.

http://www.preciousgemstones.com/gfwinter13.html

"The price for high-quality emeralds has increased by a factor of 10 since 2009, and the price of Colombian emeralds is set to increase by at least 25% this year alone."

"The value of emeralds stems, in part, from their scarcity: they are over 20 times rarer than diamonds -- a consequence of the extraordinary conditions required to create them. Beginning 500 million years ago, magma and hydrothermal fluids-rich in aluminum, beryllium, silicon and vanadium-cooled amid a delicate balance of heat and pressure, forming the precious gems.

Today most emeralds are mined in Colombia, Brazil and Zambia, and then sent to Jaipur, the emerald capital of the world, where artisans cut and polish them. Long before you encounter an emerald, it has been on a long and magnificent journey."

What a great article!

 

[minousbijoux]

Don't forget the glow, the glow, the glow!

The only emeralds I own.

 

[FrekeChild]

wow Minou!

 

[iLander]

Ooooo! Minous! How beautiful! Gorgeous!

Freke- This one is actually from Somalia, from Dana at Mastercut. It glows like crazy. It has a blueish green color, which I, personally, prefer.

 

[treasurehunter]

Colombian Emeralds are coloured by Chromium or Vanadium and Iron. Chromium gives emeralds the green colour, iron can cause yellow or blue however too much iron causes over blue or over yellow and also dampens emeralds florescence .
Colombian emeralds secret is that pyrite inclusions absorbs iron reducing the levels of iron in the crystal giving it a purer green and a more florescent affect in daylight.
Brazilian emeralds were not called emeralds as they contained vanadium , that was changed when they recognised vanadium coloured beryl as emeralds.
Zambian typically darker bluer or yellower than colombian emeralds , lack the florescence of colombian emeralds and are typically smaller yet cleaner than colombian emeralds.

Inclusions are worse if they stick out to the naked eye, but often you will see an eye clean emerald and when you view the emerald with dark field illumination you will see 'jardin' , some jardin however causes lack of transparency in the stone which is obviously a less desired thing however some prefer the velvety sleepy affect.

 

[LD]

I'm sure you're all bored with seeing this ring but this was my Mothers and my Grandmother's before that. I believe it's untreated and either Siberian or Colombian.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

The article is about 2/3 of the way down.

http://www.preciousgemstones.com/gfwinter13.html

"The price for high-quality emeralds has increased by a factor of 10 since 2009, and the price of Colombian emeralds is set to increase by at least 25% this year alone."

"The value of emeralds stems, in part, from their scarcity: they are over 20 times rarer than diamonds -- a consequence of the extraordinary conditions required to create them. Beginning 500 million years ago, magma and hydrothermal fluids-rich in aluminum, beryllium, silicon and vanadium-cooled amid a delicate balance of heat and pressure, forming the precious gems.

Today most emeralds are mined in Colombia, Brazil and Zambia, and then sent to Jaipur, the emerald capital of the world, where artisans cut and polish them. Long before you encounter an emerald, it has been on a long and magnificent journey."

What a great article!

I am always too late on these crazy price increases.

 

[livannie]

This one is mine, and it is really hard to photograph. It is really bright green in person and looks more clear. I love it. My daughters love The Wizard of Oz, so this is their favorite ring of mine because they think it came from the Emerald City. I don't know if it's been treated or not but I don't wear it too often because I get freaked out I am going to crack it or something. This is the only emerald stone I own. I have no idea where it's from either, it was an estate ring when I bought it.

 

[LD]

Don't forget the glow, the glow, the glow!

The only emeralds I own.

Stunning - just stunning.

 

[minousbijoux]

I'm sure you're all bored with seeing this ring but this was my Mothers and my Grandmother's before that. I believe it's untreated and either Siberian or Colombian.

Um, no, we are most decidedly NOT getting bored with this, or any of your other emeralds. I love that stone and what amazes me is that each woman in your family wore it and it still exists - it hasn't been cleaved into emerald shards, thankfully!

 

[T L]

This is the ebay emerald I was telling everyone about in the other thread. It's sitting atop a CZ setting. I have to get a setting for it one of these days. I bought this one and another the same color from this dealer as well as some lighter ones, but glowy.

Crappy pic.

Here's the pic of the other one of the same color. I just took this pic. I took it out of the bank this week because I was thinking of setting it.

These are both dark stones, and very hard to photograph.

 

[pregcurious]

I'm sure you're all bored with seeing this ring but this was my Mothers and my Grandmother's before that. I believe it's untreated and either Siberian or Colombian.

I can't see how anyone can be bored. It's beautiful.

 

[pregcurious]

Can someone post pictures of the fluorescence?

Minous, please tell us more!

 

[pregcurious]

Don't forget the glow, the glow, the glow!

The only emeralds I own.

Minous, those are gorgeous. Can you tell us more?

 

[minousbijoux]

You all are so sweet! Thank you Preg, Freke and LD. I'm afraid I don't know much. I bought them second hand and they were represented as untreated Columbian emeralds (doubt it). At one point, someone changed out the top and did a fairly rudimentary job soldering on shepherd's hooks (my favorite kind of ear wires), but the rest of the earring is really well made in 18k, diamonds and emeralds. A bit of jardin is visible on close inspection (and more under loupe) but nothing that jumps out at me, which is why I doubt that they are untreated.
They were an impulse purchase years ago and I just love them - but have done nothing to find out more (kinda don't want to know, you know?).

 

[SouthernSunset]

I can't add much other than compliments. Loving these pieces, especially the earrings! They make me realize how much I need to go get my ears re-pierced.

I'm glad this popped up too because just a day or two ago I started looking at emeralds as a possibility for my anniversary wishlist, and on the pinned threads I didn't see any posts devoted solely to emerald information.

I'd adore having an emerald ring, but I'm afraid I'd be too rough. I don't work with my hands, but I am a bit clumsy. A tanzanite cluster ring I bought a year ago has a stone that has almost cracked in half after I had owned it about 6 months, and I never wear it more than a 3-5 times a month.

Nevertheless, after being here a few months I'm really loving the glowy, silky and sleepy like stones much more than I thought.

1) How do you emerald owners find the stones to hold up for you personally?
2) Are you extra careful/aware when wearing them?
3) Do you only set in pendents or earrings?
4) Is the cleaning care for them different than harder stones such as spinel, sapphire and diamonds?

 

[treasurehunter]

Its not the jardin that is treated its fractures
To check for treatment you can reflect light off the surface of the stone , you will see little crack lines were fractures have extended out from the crystal to the surface, as all emeralds that have fractures extending to the surface are treated you will know its treated.
UV lighting can detect some resins like some permasefe.

Another way is to look for a 'ghost' fracture, where you will see the whitish outline of a fracture but the middle is transparent. This technique is hard even for a gemologist but when i was in Colombia * not Columbia I remember seeing stones that were literally held together by permasefe resin , they add it to the rough before cutting which holds the rough together and stops it from falling apart.

I

 

[minousbijoux]

Its not the jardin that is treated its fractures
To check for treatment you can reflect light off the surface of the stone , you will see little crack lines were fractures have extended out from the crystal to the surface, as all emeralds that have fractures extending to the surface are treated you will know its treated.
UV lighting can detect some resins like some permasefe.

Another way is to look for a 'ghost' fracture, where you will see the whitish outline of a fracture but the middle is transparent. This technique is hard even for a gemologist but when i was in Colombia * not Columbia I remember seeing stones that were literally held together by permasefe resin , they add it to the rough before cutting which holds the rough together and stops it from falling apart.

I

No cracks at all visible on the surface, but forgive me when I say that it sounds too simplistic a solution to determine treatment of emeralds. But thanks for giving me a bit more optimism. Oh, and yes, you caught a typo - it is indeed Colombia.

 

[dk168]

I would love to have a blue green emerald in emerald cut set in a diamond ballerina setting one day, similar to the one in TL's post.

DK

 

[T L]

Its not the jardin that is treated its fractures
To check for treatment you can reflect light off the surface of the stone , you will see little crack lines were fractures have extended out from the crystal to the surface, as all emeralds that have fractures extending to the surface are treated you will know its treated.
UV lighting can detect some resins like some permasefe.

Another way is to look for a 'ghost' fracture, where you will see the whitish outline of a fracture but the middle is transparent. This technique is hard even for a gemologist but when i was in Colombia * not Columbia I remember seeing stones that were literally held together by permasefe resin , they add it to the rough before cutting which holds the rough together and stops it from falling apart.

I

That's why if you want a more durable emerald, it's important to know how much treatment is has. Anything with significant treatment is likely to be very non-durable. If you're lucky enough to have an emerald with faint treatment, it will be more durable. However, as a beryl, it's prone to chips no matter what, even though beryl is a harder gem at a 7 on the Moh's scale. Anyone who owns an aquamarine (another beryl) which has no clarity enhancement, will realize they do require special care.

Pale emeralds will also tend to have less fractures and jardin than dark ones. The chromium content, which also colors the stones green, is the reason emeralds grow with so many fractures and inclusions as they make the crystal structure unstable. Therefore, if you find a dark green emerald with minimal fractures/inclusions, similar to the one Elizabeth Taylor had in a ring, it will be a great rarity.

I believe this stone also had faint treatment, deemed by AGL.

 

[pregcurious]

I'd adore having an emerald ring, but I'm afraid I'd be too rough. I don't work with my hands, but I am a bit clumsy. A tanzanite cluster ring I bought a year ago has a stone that has almost cracked in half after I had owned it about 6 months, and I never wear it more than a 3-5 times a month.

Ack! This is exactly what I am afraid of. I can't imagine falling in love with an emerald, then having it chip or crack! I would feel so horrible.

 

[pregcurious]

Can people with emerald eternity rings share their experience?