My emerald is here! Guidance welcome!

[MakingTheGrade]

So my emerald from Weblorn is here, and while it looks lovely (and I do love it), I don't really know much about emeralds. It was on sale for 375$, .93ct, 7x4.6. Lightly oiled and Brazilian in origin.

Would love any input or emerald education! I'm hoping it will fit into a 7x5 ring I have currently housing a cz.

This was the vendor photo


Here are some in daylight

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I'm still unsure about 2.0 so I'm posting 2 at a time...

 

[MakingTheGrade]

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[MakingTheGrade]

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[MakingTheGrade]

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[MakingTheGrade]

Here it is with the ring I'd like to set it into. A 14k mistral setting from Sally. I don't know if it will fit, think the .4mm difference will make it impossible?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

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[MakingTheGrade]

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[Arkteia]

Oh, it is so glowy? Did you use special light when taking these pictures or is it just the stone?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Hey crasu, I did not use a special light, all photos that are glowing are just the stone reflecting natural light through the window. the last few are in my living room under fluro lights. Nothing very special.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Here are the last of my pics, thanks for looking!
Sooo..

Here are some pics of it with my tsav.
In comparison, I like my tsav's green much more, but is it really fair to compare the two? Is it not worth keeping just because I don't like it as much as my tsav? hmm...

 

[MakingTheGrade]

If anybody has links to good emerald articles, I'm all ears!!

I'm mostly trying to learn enough not to be 5 years down the road, looking back, and thinking "oof, can't believe I bought that emerald" and resign it to the "learning stones" box..

 

[T L]

Here are the last of my pics, thanks for looking!
Sooo..

Here are some pics of it with my tsav.
In comparison, I like my tsav's green much more, but is it really fair to compare the two? Is it not worth keeping just because I don't like it as much as my tsav? hmm...

It appears that while your emerald has the velvety sheen, it is not very saturated, and so if you don't love it, you should return it. Brazilian emeralds are personally not my cup of tea since I don't find them to be very saturate in color. The good thing about the stone is that it's relatively clean for an emerald, and it has a pleasing glow in lower light levels.

Here's my emerald face down so you can compare the saturation (even though the tones are different) with your face down photo above. You may just like a darker toned, more saturated stone, which is why you probably like your tsavorite better.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Thanks TL.

I like it on it's own...but I keep comparing it to my tsav and going "meh.."

 

[GliderPoss]

Well I positively adore it! So glowy and pretty! Would be a shame to return it but as pointed out - you may just prefer darker toned stones....

 

[T L]

Thanks TL.

I like it on it's own...but I keep comparing it to my tsav and going "meh.."

Fine emeralds with medium dark tone, nice clarity and strong saturation in a very slightly bluish green hue, are very pricey, so you have to make a choice, do you want to keep a nice, but not fine emerald, or return it? Most emeralds in the market place suffer from being mediocre to average to downright ugly. Some are pretty, but not "knock your socks off." Tsavorite is a very nice alternative green stone to emerald because you can find very nice colored gems, untreated, with good clarity, for attainable prices in sizes under three carats (next to a fine emerald that is). To get the same clarity, tone, non-enhancement level, and saturation in an emerald, as in your tsavorite, would be $$$.

It's funny, I have the opposite problem as you, I have a very slightly bluish green tsavorite with strong saturation and the same tone as my emerald in that photo. I like it until I place it next to my emerald, then I go "meh" at the tsavorite.

 

[Indylady]

I think you could do similar for less cost, but I do think its very pretty and you do have the peace of mind that its an oil-only emerald, which you might not have from other vendors.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I think you could do similar for less cost, but I do think its very pretty and you do have the peace of mind that its an oil-only emerald, which you might not have from other vendors.

I'd be interested if you had any links to any comparable emeralds. I've been trying to comparison shop but I'm finding it difficult as many of our favored PS vendors don't have many emeralds in stock. I'm willing to buy from overseas as long as returning isn't a huge hassle.

 

[serenitydiamonds]

This is a very nice example of a type of emerald known as Cristal (or Crystal), light in saturation, and very clear. I agree the price is a little high for something that lightly saturated, but not too bad so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Top tier emeralds that would compare with your Tsav would be significantly more saturated with a lot more life to them, also running in the thousands of dollars per carat. You can almost always determine the quality of an emerald by it's price per carat.

Picking a stone is all about what sings to you. If you love it, keep it and make it into something wonderful.

--Joshua

 

[chrono]

It is a pretty stone, very clean, bright and light toned and lightly saturated. However, if you don’t love it, then don’t keep it. Fine emeralds (clean, rich saturation and medium dark tone) are going to be major money though, so like every thing else, there’s going to be a trade off somewhere.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I do like it. The glow is very impressive and the blue secondary is very nice.
The only time I don't like it is when I put it next to my tsav.

 

[serenitydiamonds]

I do like it. The glow is very impressive and the blue secondary is very nice.
The only time I don't like it is when I put it next to my tsav.

Unfortunately the quality of the emerald you've chosen is not at the same level as your tsav. Emeralds of that level are quite a deal more expensive.

So.... just put your emerald on something fun and store it in a separate box from the tsav. ;')

--Joshua

 

[brandy_z28]

I really love the glow of your emerald MTG. It's really not fair to compare it to your tsav but if the saturation isn't up to par for you then well, it isn't.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Sigh. My tsav is ruining other gteenz for me.

 

[chictomato]

I really love the glow of your emerald MTG. It's really not fair to compare it to your tsav but if the saturation isn't up to par for you then well, it isn't.

I share the same thoughts

 

[chrono]

Or you can look at it differently; with your tsav, your taste is being refined and “upgraded” so that from now onwards, at least for greens, you’ll only be buying quality that is at least comparable to it.

 

[Kismet]

If you have to talk yourself into loving a stone then don't keep it.

 

[LD]

MTG - finding Emeralds in that price range that have a lovely glowy colour and are not too included isn't as easy as you may think. I realise you don't have anything to compare it to but I would urge you, before returning it, to keep it for a few days to see if you fall in love.

Generally speaking people either prefer Tsavs or Emeralds and you'll always find people are in one camp or the other. Whilst I love my Tsavs, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Emeralds! Maybe you just fit into the other camp?

If you decide to keep it, there are several things to bear in mind ......

(1) Emeralds are considered to be a "soft" stone. Now this isn't actually the case and if you look at the MOHS scale they have a relatively good hardness. However, they can be brittle and can chip easily if knocked in the wrong place so a good protective setting is recommended. For this reason, please make sure whomever sets it, if you keep it, has worked with Emeralds.

(2) Do not, under any circumstances, get your Emerald near water (ie. washing up etc). Hot and even medium hot water can crack an Emerald.

(3) If your Emerald is oiled - and you said yours is lightly oiled - it may need re-oiling in the future. Again, being only lightly oiled is a big plus.

(4) Yes, the one you have is light in saturation BUT the trade off is the clarity. If you got one with a deeper saturation, you may find you end up with more jardin.

If it were me, I'd be keeping it and putting diamond baguettes all around it to make it have a lovely large look BUT you've got to love it to keep it. If you don't, then it should go back but be aware that you've got a very decent Emerald for your money.

 

[Barrett]

I really like it ..

 

[MakingTheGrade]

I also kind of think it's over blue...

And so it's going back...sigh.

When I opened the box, I thought "wow, so pretty and glowy", but the more I looked at it the more I realized it would probably end up sitting in my jewelery box as I much prefer my tsav. I guess I fall in the tsav camp for now! Maybe one day when my budget allows, I'll find an emerald that convinces me to switch sides. Guess for now I'll save my pennies. One of my fav vendors is cutting a tsav so maybe I'll see if that tickles me more...