First gemstone purchase, emerald for engagement ring!

[GLudlow]

I''m planning on getting an ememrakd engagement ring and I''ve been looking for an emerald. Before I knew very little about gemstones, but I''ve learned a lot in the past several months. However, I have focused solely on clear stones.

I''d appreciate any advice in looking at stones. I live in Lafayette, Indiana so there are no good local jewelers. I know the basics (for Cs, etc) but other things, that might be huge red flags if you don''t know what to look for, would be appreciated.

(just for info, I want abut 1ct stone, oval or pear-shaped cut).

 

[valeria101]

Getting a nice emerals IS going to be a thrill... A clear stone with good color should not be a problem. The one issue with emeralds is that the average stone in most jewelry shops is light years away from what top quality means. Keeping color wel saturated and asking for "eye clean" and posibly no exotic enhancement is to ask for quite a gem.

You may want to get familiar with what exactly calrity enhancements do to emeralds, and decide wether these are acceptable to you. It is likely that all the emeralds you will be offered will be clarity enhaced. Color enhancement remains incompatible with high quality stones... All things to consider.

There are quite a few web sources with good info and examples of emeralds. Here are a few I know of:

A summary guide (not my favorite, but not bad either): WWW

A collection of emeralds with good explanations of what makes each stone valuable and what the quality criteria are for emerald (found if you click on the score names): WWW

About gemstone enhancements: WWW

Sample of emerald enhancements discussed: WWW


And how about a search for GIA emerald articles: WWW

Hope this helps