Emerald help please

[sortonb]

I am looking to purchase a piece of emerald jewelry for my mother. My son was born in May and I would like to get her something in his birthstone. I don't know that much about emeralds, but from what I've seen, natural emeralds are either very cloudy or very very expensive. My mom and I have talked about emeralds in the past, and commented on how we don't find them pretty if they are cloudy. Since I don't have thousands to shell out for a clear stone, what is your opinion on lab created stones? Are they worth the cost? I am looking at an 8mm created pendant in 14k from Costco for $240, but I'm not sure if I should spend that much for a lab created stone. Any emerald advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you.

 

[Pandora II]

We're not allowed to discuss lab-created on PS. I will say that compared with lab sapphires, lab emeralds are not cheap as they take considerable time to grow.

Have you looked at Zambian emeralds? They tend to be a lot less included than those from Colombia and are also significantly cheaper.

Enchancements: 99%+ of natural emeralds are oiled (they actually use oil to examine the rough so pretty much every emerald has been in contact with oil at some point. Many are also filled with resins like Opticon to improve the stability and appearance. There is no need for dealers to disclose if an emerald has been oiled or filled as it is such an accepted and commonplace treatment - although some vendors do disclose. However sometimes dye is added to the oil or fillers to improve the colour, this is not acceptable practice.

 

[sortonb]

I didn't realize lab created stones were not up for discussion. Thanks for the information.