Colombian emeralds

[windrider 10]

I saw that in the past month there were quite a few silver jewellery pieces with emeralds: necklaces, rings and earrings. My understanding is that emeralds are quite expensive. I did not pay such a large amount and I like the piece overall, but I do wonder how the sellers were able to offer genuine emeralds at such a low price? Even if the stones are of much lower quality then what one sees in the high-end jewellery shops.

 

Gemstones - **R3 700** Classic 2.55CTW Genuine Emerald 3-Stone .925 Sterling Silver Ring for sale in Pretoria / Tshwane

[alloway65 10]

Hi,

Like a lot of other "gemstones"...there are Emeralds and "Emeralds", one seems to get "emeralds" that are translucent and "emeralds" that are dense and heavy and look similar to Malachite!

I bought a few "dense" large "emeralds" a while ago for a few Rand each.

Possibly Lukeness can explain in more depth!

Have a good day

David

[Lukeness 10]

Thanks David,

 

Emeralds of high quality a extremely rare and expensive. There are many low grade emeralds being sold, often they are completely opaque and resemble jade. Often they are even dyed to attain the strong green colours. Usually these come from India. Strictly speaking they would be considered dyed green beryl, not Emerald, which is the chromium or vanadium bearing member of the beryl family and must have a rich, natural green colour. Lower quality opaque-translucent emeralds are, of course, available but like most other things, you get what you pay for. Rarely will good quality gemstones be sold in cheap settings.

Natural Emeralds, as a rule, always have some inclusions. The less the better.

Emeralds from different localities are distinguished by their chemical composition and the type of inclusions they contain.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Luke

[alloway65 10]

:)Thanks Luke, We all live and learn....very informative and in a nutshell!

[windrider 10]

Thanks Lukeness, that was very informative.