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The True Value of Emeralds

 

 

The True Value of Emeralds


The emerald is truly one of the most fascinating gemstones in the world. It comes from the mineral beryl family of gemstones and is typically green in color, though it can have traces of other elements, which may give it a different shade of green color. To understand the true values of emerald gemstones a person needs to carefully evaluate the four main grades of gemstones. These are often referred to as the four C’s of value. They are the gemstone’s color, cut, clarity, and carat.

Most connoisseurs of emerald gemstones view the color as the most important aspect when determining the true values of emerald gemstones. When it comes to the color of the gemstone, there are three main aspects that a connoisseur looks for. These three aspects are the gemstone’s hue, saturation and tone.


The Look of an Emerald

The hue of an emerald is most definitely green. Now there can be varying shades of green which will still be considered within the same family of gemstones. The different shades of green are caused by the introduction of other trace elements during the formation of the gemstone. Every emerald gemstone mine produces its own unique color, but what most connoisseurs look for are colors that are about 75% in intensity on a scale where zero is not intense at all and 100% is a very intense color of green.

The saturation is also a key element in the determination of a color’s value. This just means the color of the emerald gemstone is green all the way through. It should not have any spots in the gemstone that are not green or a different shade of green. The green should be 100% saturated to produce the highest values.

Finally, the third aspect of color is the tone. This is basically the depth of green color of the gemstone. A connoisseur will only consider emerald gemstones that have a medium to dark tone of green to be truly considered an emerald. If the gemstone is too light in tone, then it is just classified as a green beryl, and this, of course, will drop the value of the gemstone considerably.

 

 


Cut of a Stone

The cut of the emerald gemstone is the second C of the four C’s. This is very important because an imprecise cut of any gemstone will prevent it from looking as brilliant as it could and thus devaluing the gemstone by a great deal. When examining the gemstone, a connoisseur needs to pay close attention to the facets of the gemstone as there should not be any overlapping of the facets. This will ensure that the light will reflect light from every facet.

A novice to the world of gemstones may not be able to see the facets as clearly as a professional would. For this reason, many people turn towards professional jewelers to evaluate the emerald gemstone underneath a microscope.

 


Clarity is a Must

The third aspect of determining the true values of emerald gemstones is the clarity. The clarity of a gemstone is examined on the inside as well as the outside of the gemstone. What a person looks for is whether or not there are any imperfections in the gemstone itself. For clarity, there are two main things that a person should look for: the presence of inclusions and the presence of fissures. Inclusions are whether or not there are other elements or stones trapped inside of the emerald gemstone. Fissures are noticeable grooves or edges that can be seen within the emerald gemstone.

For the most part, these gemstones are examined with the naked eye. If there are no imperfections seen with the naked eye, then the gemstone is considered flawless. This type of clarity grading is the highest grading and what experts look for when purchasing these gemstones.



It is All in the Size

Finally, the last of the four C’s is the carat of the emerald gemstone. This is basically the size of the gemstone. The carat is the standard measurement of the size of all gemstones, an d the higher the number of carats, the larger the gemstone will be. It should also be noted that the value of a carat is not linear. That means that, typically, a one carat gemstone will be more than double the value of a half carat gemstone and a two carat gemstone will typically be more than twice the value of a one carat gemstone.

A carat is a unit of measure that is roughly equivalent to 200 milligrams in mass. This unit of measure is divisible by 100 in order to account for the smallest of gemstones. There are some tricks of the trade that can make an emerald gemstone appear larger than it really is. A jeweler can give the appearance of a large size by simply mounting the gemstone higher in the set. That is why it is very important for any gemstone professional to double check the size in carats and not just rely on the naked eye.

These are the four main characteristics that determine the true values of emerald gemstones. In recent years, this value has been diluted somewhat with the emergence of synthetic gemstones. These are lookalike gemstones that are made within a laboratory. Technically they are real gemstones because the properties are almost identical, but the difference is that they are often too perfect. When a person examines the gemstone, and it appears too perfect for that price then chances are it is a synthetic gemstone. For the most part, most respected jewelers will clearly label all of their synthetic gemstones.

Ever since the beginning of advanced civilization the desire for fantastically brilliant gemstones and jewelry has always been in high demand. Today there are more technologies available to mount and display these gemstones in all kinds of fashions. This will help to add more value to the jewelry itself, but the basics of evaluating the true values of emerald gemstones has really remained unchanged over the years.


 


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