A Visit to The Emerald District in Bogota Colombia

[Sungura]

Thank you for the fascinating information. I always wondered why they were still using cedar oil on their stones, when most high end emeralds are treated with Xcel or permasafe. Emerald dealers in the US prefer it to cedarwood, which dries up, leaves streaks, and has to be retreated every few years. I personally don’t care for it, but they seem like traditionalists. The Excel and permasafe are typically treated after cutting, unlike cedarwood, so cutting shouldn’t be an issue.

This is what an American emerald dealer told me when I sent him an emerald for evaluation. This info is ten years old though.

“Yes the modern fillers (Permasafe and ExCel) are significantly more stable than when your emeralds were purchased. They are even resilient to steaming and UV cleaners, not that I would test a $2000 emerald in there, lol. GIA did tests of emerald treatments and the new polymers faired 'no observed change' over time. High end stones are carrying the ExCel treatment typically in the present. However, the choice of treatment is always a personal one and cedarwood oil is the traditional choice taken by many.“

I didn’t get a chance to spend much time with Fabio, their treatment expert. Ricardo described something like a synthetic oil alternative to cedar wood that does not dry out. It was unclear to me if that is an oil or a resin. He didn’t seem too bothered by it. I believe part of George’s luxe branding is to sell untreated or insignificantly treated gems.

Come to Bogota with me next time @TL !

 

[Sungura]

Feeling like you need to get into the business of selling emeralds because of the special and convenient access...

Considering it as part of my retirement plan. Buying and selling a few gems each trip would pay for airfare back and forth between Colombia and US. For now i’m a consumer

 

[Sungura]

The thing with vivid dark emeralds is that they always look very green, not black.

I would have assumed that these darker duck neck emeralds might go dark. But no....that’s the magic

 

[T L]

I didn’t get a chance to spend much time with Fabio, their treatment expert. Ricardo described something like a synthetic oil alternative to cedar wood that does not dry out. It was unclear to me if that is an oil or a resin. He didn’t seem too bothered by it. I believe part of George’s luxe branding is to sell untreated or insignificantly treated gems.

Come to Bogota with me next time @TL !

My friend is in Columbia right now visiting family. She could care less about emeralds, argghhhh! I would love to go, I would even brave the heat, just to see those beauties!

 

[Sungura]

My friend is in Columbia right now visiting family. She could care less about emeralds, argghhhh! I would love to go, I would even brave the heat, just to see those beauties!

Bogota is at nearly 10,000 ft above sea level so it is always sweater weather. But yes there are many hot places depending on the altitude

This remix of a Carlos Vives song with artists from all over Colombia gives a sense of the diverse temperatures. Through out the video you will see the meters above sea level and the temperature in Celsius in the corner of the screen

 

[DauphineMucha]

Thanks so much for sharing! Did you happen to buy anything from George this time? It is good to know that he carries various price ranges.

 

[Crazie4Cuts]

Appreciate the information @Sungura! A big help to learning more about Emeralds, especially about the type of treatment used on the stones. When I asked a vendor what type of treatment used on a stone, I do not received a direct answer on the type of treatment. And on one particular vendor’s website the description says:
Treatment: Natural
Most of the stones say this, so I don’t even know what this means nor is there any other explanation on the website about treatment used!
Anyway...I wanted to rant about this and warn peeps to be careful about where you purchase your emeralds from! So appreciate your posts and helping me!
-C4C

 

[Sunshinelab]

Thank you so much for sharing all of this amazing information with us! I now love emeralds even more! I already have plans for another!

 

[DauphineMucha]

We are waiting for your updates...! Please come back!

 

[Sungura]

We are waiting for your updates...! Please come back!

Today is my second day back in NJ and at work. I’ll post my next topic: a visit to the Bogota Emerald Trade center soon

In the mean time here are two pics of the stones I purchased there

 

[T L]

Nice stones!! Thank you for this amazing thread.

 

[Rad_Fan]

That's a pretty step cut on the left!

Care to show us what your current ering looks like? Another emerald too?!

 

[whitewave]

Today is my second day back in NJ and at work. I’ll post my next topic: a visit to the Bogota Emerald Trade center soon

In the mean time here are two pics of the stones I purchased there

Oooh, those are pretty!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

OMG those two stones look stunning!!!! Can't wait to see pics!!!!!!

 

[Atwater]

@Sungura: Those two stones are pretty! Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

 

[voce]

Good choice on your two stones, and I look forward to seeing them more in the future! The rectangular emerald is a superb color and I would guess is the more expensive one, but the round one is bright and would go in so many settings!

 

[minousbijoux]

First off, thank you so much for taking the time to document your visits. To live vicariously is just awesome. As to your stones, I'm just so impressed. They are intense, glowy and perfectly toned as to show the intense bluish green and glow without being on the dark side. We could all learn so much from your knowledge and expertise with emeralds, particularly those from Chivor and Muzo.

It is no small feat that your emerald cut stone makes me really really really covet an emerald for the first time!

 

[arkieb1]

Thank you sharing amazing pics and info of your trip, and we love your emeralds!!!!

 

[Sungura]

My visit to Bogota’s Emerald Trade Center

The Emerald Trade center is a mall with stalls of vendors and some jewelers who sell retail and wholesale, much like in the diamond district in New York City. Sellers are quick to offer you a coffee or other beverage to encourage you to linger in their spaces. The stalls generally look the same so one has to look at several asking them to show a variety of stock and for ask for quick quotes





The first day I visited with my husband and we visited a few places asking them to show us their best stones. We settled on one shop that was quick to realize I was an educated consumer and were very accommodating to pull out gems quickly and price them. I agreed to visit them later in the week

I visited two days later alone. It turns out this shop has an Instagram presence @muzem_emeralds

I first asked about the types of emerald jewelry they sell to average Colombians and they show me a selection of rings with super high quality, small but mighty emeralds size 3 to 3.5 mm. The collage below shows 2 small rings with top quality emeralds



I then asked them to line up a selection of gems from the highest price per carat down the the lowest quality that a local would buy

The gems in the image below represent the range. From left to right starting at the top left the relative carat prices are: 40, 30, 20, 10, 8.5 and 1.5. All gems are from Muzo mine

In real life the gem in the upper left is top color, and clarity with insignificant oil treatment, and they change in color and clarity as them go down in price. The top left is really a duck neck green, the second is lighter green but top clarity/ eye clean and the third is same color as number 2, also eye clean but with a loupe there are few non surface reaching feathers. My step cut is from this third group. Categories 5 and 6 are very glowy with more inclusions or jardin. I even liked gems in category 5.

The pictures were taken one by one of each gem box (closed) in a white piece of paper. No edits. You can see the white paper to the right of each gem box below



Below is the same image but very overexposed to help you see the clarity differences



I asked to see the lowest quality gems and asked who bought these. The amswer was that some shoppers from the US were more interested in size. they have a repeat customer from US who consistently wants the biggest gems made into jewelry regardless of clarity. To be honest, I saw a pendant and between the 18k gold and the opaque but pretty color emerald it was a nice piece if you didn’t know what a good emerald looks like.

When I agreed to buy I began negotiating and I got a significant break in price. Once I realized the prices included 18% VAT tax I know I could get that refunded and and I was satisfied with the price

I didn’t spend a lot of time with Chivor gems but they have a nice bright, lighter color and much more quality for the price. The 8.2 mm round I purchased is from Chivor mine. More about Chivor and that stone in my next post

To be continued

 

[Rad_Fan]

Love this ring on their IG!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwvD9lTBu_9/

Could you please explain what you meant by 40, 30, 20, 10, 8.5 and 1.5.?

 

[T L]

I love this one!! What was the size and price in USD?

Thank you for the great post and photos!!

 

[Rad_Fan]

In real life the gem in the upper left is top color, and clarity with insignificant oil treatment, and they change in color and clarity as them go down in price. The top left is really a duck neck green, the second is lighter green but top clarity/ eye clean and the third is same color as number 2, also eye clean but with a loupe there are few non surface reaching feathers. My step cut is from this third group. Categories 5 and 6 are very glowy with more inclusions or jardin. I even liked gems in category 5.

The pictures were taken one by one of each gem box (closed) in a white piece of paper. No edits. You can see the white paper to the right of each gem box below



Below is the same image but very overexposed to help you see the clarity differences

Just wanted to clarify, the single emerald cut emerald is the best quality and follow by the 3 square cut emeralds on it's right, correct?

 

[Sungura]

Just wanted to clarify, the single emerald cut emerald is the best quality and follow by the 3 square cut emeralds on it's right, correct?

Yes you are correct

 

[lmyracle]

Sungura, take my money and bring me back a beauty! This thread was so interesting and I adore emeralds! I worry I'd damage an emerald because I'm such a clutz.

 

[Sungura]

I love this one!! What was the size and price in USD

Good eye @TL This is the duck neck green with the metallic sheen you like. It is .96 carats and measures 7x5.2 mm. It is certified insignificant or maybe minor oil (I forget) If I were to get the same negotiated discount as I got for my small step cut, then the price after the VAT tax refund would be USD 5,800 at this shop. Before buying a stone of this color and clarity, I would first go to George at IEEX.

 

[T L]

Good eye @TL This is the duck neck green with the metallic sheen you like. It is .96 carats and measures 7x5.2 mm. It is certified insignificant or maybe minor oil (I forget) If I were to get the same negotiated discount as I got for my small step cut, then the price after the VAT tax refund would be USD 5,800 at this shop. Before buying a stone of this color and clarity, I would first go to George at IEEX.

In the States, that would probably be 10k. Gorgeous stone, but the problem is that there is absolutely no way to capture that velvety bluish green magnificence on camera. I can only imagine how it looks IRL. My emerald looks yellowish in almost all photos of it.

 

[lambskin]

You have me wanting to do some math here...but I don't understand what 30% means!

#163 – 1.10cts – USD7678.12

#129 – 0.96cts – USD8375.00

#127 – 1.76cts – USD7700.00

#65 – 2.20cts – USD1687.50

Radfan you are again, awesome! I am math challenged and it took me a while to figure out the math calculations. I should have scrolled down sooner. Like my husband, when I travel I rely on his ability to divide when I am shopping.! Division and Decimals give me PTSD from my failure in all math classes starting from 4th grade onward.

 

[lambskin]

About 9 years ago we went to Colombia and visited the Emerald center. I had no inside person to help navigate me through the process. (I had done research on emerald pricing in the US and treatments and have loved and looked at emeralds my entire life as it is my birthstone.) I would not deal with the folks selling stuff outside the building. I went to a few shops on the upper levels that looked more retail and started pricing out stones. I was looking for a matched pair of pear shapes for drop earrings. Bear in mind I had two little kids and a husband who hates to shop with me so my time was limited. I knew I did not want settings as I had a jeweler back home. I bargained hard and I ended up with a pair of non-Muzo matching stones, a carat each, nontreated, that are not a deep green, have nice translucency and the pear cut is probably not top -top quality for $100USD. Upon return home my jeweler (who specialized in wholesale colored stones) said I did great-really great. Flash forward, the stones look exactly the same as when I bought them so I do not think they are treated. Frankly, the small size and origin probably was not worth treatment. The earrings were set with just quarter carat diamond posts with a half inch thin white gold bar attaching the emeralds. My only regret is that I did not set them in yellow gold.

 

[Sungura]

Love this ring on their IG!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwvD9lTBu_9/

Here is a picture of that ring’s little sister. My ring finger a size 7.5 for reference

Could you please explain what you meant by 40, 30, 20, 10, 8.5 and 1.5.?

Here is a picture of that ring’s little sister. My ring finger a size 7.5 for reference

Regarding the numbers they are in millions of Colombian pesos Highest is 40 million a carat and lowest is 1.5 million a carat. These are the prices on the back of the gem boxes. They are not even the starting price in some cases. I used those numbers to show the price breaks. My step cut is half the price per carat as the most expensive gem that @TL likes

Ps the gem boxes are large so these gems are not as small as they look

 

[Sungura]

About 9 years ago we went to Colombia and visited the Emerald center.

Thanks for sharing your story @lambskin. Your jeweler is right - you did a great job of negotiating. I'm so happy to know another pricesopers has seen the district. I think you might have emeralds from Chivor mine which are real emeralds without the Muzo name. They are less expensive and I think they are beautiful. I was in search of the best emeralds on my trip, but there are many stunning less clear stones. Please share a photo of your earrings!