Learn the Secret to Evaluate Color in Colombian Emeralds

Remember

In the last Blog we were about to learn the Secret to Evaluate Color in Colombian Emeralds. We were looking at a Colombian Emerald face up held with our tweezers.

Why?

Because, this is how it will appear once set in a piece of jewelry. You are seeing a multitude of green flashes in many different shades, tones and hues. All of these green sparkles refracting from within the emerald are very confusing. It’s impossible to define what color the emerald is because it is constantly changing.

Here goes…

The Secret to Evaluate Color in Colombian Emeralds is…

Turn the emerald over.
Now upside down, all the confusion goes away! (This is the reason I photograph emeralds upside down for you to see on our web site.) If you don’t have an emerald to work with, see HERE and look at this stone face up then face down. Notice, the emerald is darker face up and lighter face down.
What you see face down, is the True Color of the Emerald.

What Happened?

Let’s recap, the Cut of an emerald, collects, concentrates and returns as much Color and Brilliance as possible to you. Observing the stone Face down, NO facets are refracting the beautiful but ever changing green flashes and sparkles.
This allows you to Determine the Genuine Color of the Emerald.

Let’s try this again;

Hold an Emerald with your tweezers about an inch over the white pad of paper and look through the bottom of the stone. If you don’t have loose emeralds to work with, go to another stone on our web site: HERE and look at this stone face up then face down. Check out others stones, HERE.
The Color of all Colombian Emeralds will always be lighter when seen face down.

What you see Face Down is the Actual Color of the Emerald!

Make a note of the Color you have observed.

Now you have Identified the Real Color of that Emerald

Compare that Color, to other emeralds under the same lighting conditions. Remember, place them upside down. Separate the lighter emeralds to your left, face down, the darker ones to your right. Now, lift them one at a time, 1 inch above the White pad. According to your observation, classify the emeralds in order from lightest to darkest.

I classify them, 1 Lightest to 10 Darkest for ease of discussing color with you.

See how I classify the Emeralds in our Rings by going to the Jewelry section of our web site HERE or the Loose Emeralds section HERE in front of each piece is my subjective Evaluation of Color among other pertinent information.

Press every line for even more Valuable Information on each subject.

Guess What!

You are now Color Grading Colombian Emeralds!

All of a sudden you have created your own scale of Colombian Emerald Colors!

Congratulations!

You have acquired the Ability to Identify & Classify the True Color of a Colombian Emerald unaffected by color in the environment.

In our next Blog you’ll, Learn to Observe and Locate Inclusions in a Colombian Emerald.