Advice appreciated - certification of emerald

[kimberlyqkim]

Please help me replace my grandmas cracked emerald!

Hi! I recently received this emerald and diamond necklace that had been my grandmothers. Unfortunately the emerald is cracked. (It was about 7.7m). My local jewelry sent it to their lapidary in Boston to see if they can maybe salvage two tiny matched side stones (2m?). Fingers crossed! I am...

www.pricescope.com

Above the back story on replacing my grandma's cracked emerald pendant and making it into a ring for myself!

I picked a stone I liked from my jeweler but it is not certified. Their gem distributor says its oil only. I want to send it to a independent lab before I purchase it (I would pay the $200 for the cert) but the distributor says I should pay a non refundable deposit before the gem is sent to be certified. My jeweler asked about pre-certified stones, but he said that he doesn't have anything in my budget (6K) and that a similar stone that is certified as oil only would be 50K. Does that sound accurate?

If I give up on finding an emerald from my local jeweler (I love the bench work so they will still be doing the setting no matter what) where should I look online for a certified, oil only stone! Thank you in advance!

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I don’t know anything about emeralds so I can’t help you, but I will point out that if the cost of a cert is $200, and the stone being offered to you is presumably within your $6k budget, why on earth would the distributor not get the stone certed if he thinks the same stone if certed can command a $50k price?

Either he’s full of crap about one thing: the price of a certed oil only stone, or the fact that the stone you want is oil only. I would be very wary of buying from a person like this especially since you’ll get locked in with him (non refundable deposit).

Perhaps look online to find out the price of a certed oil only stone, or wait for someone with more emerald experience to comment and give you leads. At the very least, a sanity check on the price is needed. It sounds beyond ludicrous to me (at $50k that stone better be untreated completely, free of inclusions and make me pancakes for breakfast every morning) but like I said - I’m no expert. Good luck with your search!

 

[kimberlyqkim]

I don’t know anything about emeralds so I can’t help you, but I will point out that if the cost of a cert is $200, and the stone being offered to you is presumably within your $6k budget, why on earth would the distributor not get the stone certed if he thinks the same stone if certed can command a $50k price?

Either he’s full of crap about one thing: the price of a certed oil only stone, or the fact that the stone you want is oil only. I would be very wary of buying from a person like this especially since you’ll get locked in with him (non refundable deposit).

Perhaps look online to find out the price of a certed oil only stone, or wait for someone with more emerald experience to comment and give you leads. At the very least, a sanity check on the price is needed. It sounds beyond ludicrous to me (at $50k that stone better be untreated completely, free of inclusions and make me pancakes for breakfast every morning) but like I said - I’m no expert. Good luck with your search!

That's exactly how I feel! It just seems so fishy! They arent willing to put their money where their mouth is, as they say! I have no contact or communication with this person - its all through my local jeweler sales team who have been trying to find a me a stone that is transparent-ish! As I mentioned I have a relationship with the incredible bench jeweler there who I know will do amazing hand crafting of the final ring.

I did a little research this afternoon and can see that certified stones online are indeed a lot more pricy than uncertified. But Leibish offered what I wanted my local jeweler to offer - I pay the $200 to have a stone certified WITHOUT buying the stone first.

 

[Bron357]

$50,000 for a certified “with oil” emerald?
Has your jeweller been too close to his pickling pot and the fumes have addled his brain?
Is it a big as an egg?
Emeralds are nearly always treated with oil. In modern times they are sometimes treated with Opticon, which is a permanent treatment.
Untreated emeralds are uncommon. i would only seek certification for an emerald purporting to be treatment free. To confirm that rarer status and to justify the premium attached.
Apart from size, two factors drive price. No 1 is colour, no 2 is origin.
Provided you are buying from a reputable vendor and the size, colour tone and origin (basically it’s Columbian or Brazilian) meet with your satisfaction, you only really need to reassured you a buying an emerald from out of the ground and not a lab created stone.

 

[kimberlyqkim]

$50,000 for a certified “with oil” emerald?
Has your jeweller been too close to his pickling pot and the fumes have addled his brain?
Is it a big as an egg?
Emeralds are nearly always treated with oil. In modern times they are sometimes treated with Opticon, which is a permanent treatment.
Untreated emeralds are uncommon. i would only seek certification for an emerald purporting to be treatment free. To confirm that rarer status and to justify the premium attached.
Apart from size, two factors drive price. No 1 is colour, no 2 is origin.
Provided you are buying from a reputable vendor and the size, colour tone and origin (basically it’s Columbian or Brazilian) meet with your satisfaction, you only really need to reassured you a buying an emerald from out of the ground and not a lab created stone.

Sorry, the 50K "quote" was for a similar size (so just under 2 ct) certified "MINOR oil only".. But yes, still silly I thought!

 

[prs]

The price of emeralds does vary significantly depending upon the level of oil treatment as noted on a cert from a reputable lab. In the USA an AGL cert would be preferable for any emerald worth more than $10K, GIA would be fine for lower priced stones.

You have to assume an emerald with no cert has a high oil level, and pay an appropriately low price.

 

[kimberlyqkim]

The price of emeralds does vary significantly depending upon the level of oil treatment as noted on a cert from a reputable lab. In the USA an AGL cert would be preferable for any emerald worth more than $10K, GIA would be fine for lower priced stones.

You have to assume an emerald with no cert has a high oil level, and pay an appropriately low price.

Thank you for that insight, I really appreciate it. I found that you can search w the most emerald-specific filters at GemsNY - and that has been helping me see the price difference more accurately!