HOW ARE EMERALDS EVALUATED?


Beauty

Is the most prominent criteria for emeralds and it is judged by color, clarity, weight and cut.




Color

Color is the emerald’s most important characteristic, Colombian Emeralds being famous for their wide color range. Deep Herb Green, characteristic of the Muzo mine, Bluish Green, distinctive of the Chivor mine and the Yellowish Green typical of the Coscuez mine, are the Colombian emerald’s primary colors. Each of these greens can have at least 100 shades. The variety of color that captivates you most, is of course, your Best Purchase.

Clarity



All emeralds have what jewelers refer to in French as “Jardin” or “Garden”. In the trade we use the word “Inclusion” when referring to tiny flaws in the emeralds crystalline structures. Since all emeralds have visible inclusions (except in the mega dollar range) the fewer inclusions it has, the more expensive the stone is likely to be.Also, the less distracting a particular inclusion is the higher the price will be per carat. Chivor emeralds tend to be much “cleaner” (less included) than others, but what is gained in clarity is usually lost in color.

The inverse is also true. When we have a deep green emerald, usually from the Muzo mine, we have to sacrifice a little radiance.


Weight


Carat is the measurement of weight of all precious stones. Five carats is equal to one gram. A carat is further subdivided into one hundred units called points. It´s important to clarify that in relation to precious gems, “carat” is not a measurement of quality as it is with gold where it determines the purity of the metal. When a gems weight increases, the price per carat rises due to the extreme rarity of large rough crystals of high quality.



Cut


Giving geometric shapes to the rough gem material by grinding is called faceting or cutting. In this process 70% of the expensive material is lost. For example: a rough emerald of 30 carats, will weight approximately 9 carats when finally cut.



In EMERALD REPORT 3 we will look into the cut of an emerald at length.The finest of emeralds are lush herb green, relatively brilliant, practically free of inclusions, and of symmetrical proportions. There are many beautiful emeralds available in a wide range of prices, up to US$ 150,000 per carat for the finest possible quality in larger sizes.

Beauty is the most prominent criteria for emeralds desirability, allure, mystery and price. The color, tones and degrees of brilliance in each individual stone, will be of varying attraction to each person and again, the ones that “touch” you, will be a choice acquisition.