Gilded Lane: Take a Stroll in the Emerald Garden

An emerald garden? What? Well, when it comes to natural emeralds, they are almost never completely inclusion free. In fact, emeralds are considered Type III stones, which tells you that you'd better love inclusions if you love emeralds, because you're gonna get 'em. To soften the blow, the term "jardin" is used to describe the inclusions in emeralds, which in French and Spanish means "garden." So there you go. Mystery solved. Well, the first mystery that is.

Emeralds are a member of the beryl family (along with Morganite and aquamarines). They rank 7.5-8 on the Mohs scale, and because of their inclusions are not safe for every day wear.

Emeralds come from all neck of the woods, but the dream-the-impossible-dream origin for emeralds is Columbia. More specifically the Muzo mines. That is where the perfect slightly bluish green glowing stones are found. Not to say there aren't other perfectly glowish blue green emeralds in other mines, however, as with sapphires and "Kashmir," using the origin "Columbian" describes the exact color that collectors covet.

Like with the Kashmir term, "Columbian" is often overused. People will use that term haphazardly and charge more than necessary because of the respect that mine has gained. As I've said before, buyer beware. Make sure you're buying a certified stone if you're paying top notch "Columbian Emerald" pricing.

Treatments are also something to consider when buying an emerald. Remember that I told you that almost all emeralds have inclusions? Well sometimes their inclusions can be dangerous to the integrity of the stone. The air in unfilled emeralds also causes light rays to bend increasing their visibility. Because of this, light forms of treatment in emeralds is acceptable within the industry.

Oil filling and resin filling are the most common. Basically the stones are dipped in clear (sometimes colored) oil or natural resin to fill up the cracks making them less obvious and safer for wear.

GIA.edu

This treatment is not stable, however. Oil can dry out, crack and rot. Resins are more stable, but again, if you own an emerald always err on the side of caution when cleaning it so that you can preserve the effects of the treatment. NEVER clean them in an ultra sonic cleaner and never use a steam cleaner. Only use warm water and mild soap.

There are other treatments that are less acceptable because they inherently change the look of the stone's color (glass filling and plastic filling). If you remember from my previous ruby blog, similar treatments are in rubies as well.

You also must be aware of synthetics. They are not the Devil, but you should always be aware of the possibility that an emerald you're buying is synthetic because lots of them exist out there.

Emeralds are an amazing, vibrant and exciting stone that can make a wearer feel like they're glowing just because they're wearing them.