Education on emeralds

[Atwater]

I am trying to educate myself on emeralds, not so much on the treatment, but more on the color. I know that I will need to ask for lab report and I am only interested if the stone is minor to moderated oiled. To educate myself on the color, I have been following some instagrams, but somehow I think the so called "top color" seems too dark for me. For example,

 

[Atwater]

The color I like is more like these:


Is this brighter green not considered as the top color for emeralds? And is the commonly accepted top color a much darker tone in the pictures of my last post?

 

[Mrs_Strizzle]

I don't have any education on emeralds, but just wanted to say that I am with you. The second post has the color I prefer. In my mind, tsavorite does the 1st post color better, as well as hardness and clarity. I prefer the glowy bright green in emerald.

 

[lovedogs]

I don't have any education on emeralds, but just wanted to say that I am with you. The second post has the color I prefer. In my mind, tsavorite does the 1st post color better, as well as hardness and clarity. I prefer the glowy bright green in emerald.

Same here! I think the glowy ones are the most expensive/sought after. But I know others love the deep Forrest green. I much prefer the green/blue ones with glow, but sadly they aren't in my budget .

 

[chrono]

I suspect the top pictures don’t do the emeralds justice as I see a lot of head/camera shadowing. A first couple are lacking but the last few are shadowed. I actually suggest looking at synthetic emeralds for top colour examples.

 

[T L]

Chrono basically said what I was going to say. The photos don’t do top color justice. Emeralds are notoriously difficult to photograph accurately. It’s impossibke to get that intense satiny green glow that emanates from them. I have photographed my best Muzo emerald a billion times and it still looks like a dark green square, whereas my lighter toned ones photograph nicer. It’s not like photographing tsavorite where a too dark color is essentially what it is, too dark. Dark Muzo top color emeralds are definitely not forest green. They’re very slightly bluish green.

Also, the term “oil” is a bit misleading. Most emeralds are filled with a polymer and some (cedar “oil”) are inferior to others like the gold standard Excel treatment.

You can find top color emeralds at a fine antique jewelry show or shop if there’s one in your area. I highly recommend seeing one in person.

 

[arkieb1]

Ditto - Emeralds are notoriously difficult to photograph well. Sometimes stones that photograph dark are a really vivid pop of green in real life.

But you can indeed like them with more blue or a lighter or a mid green. I like them in a wide range of colours light all the way through to vivid darker greens.

 

[T L]

The color I like is more like these:


Is this brighter green not considered as the top color for emeralds? And is the commonly accepted top color a much darker tone in the pictures of my last post?

While these are very pretty, and way more affordable, I think I teared up in awe the first time I saw a top color emerald. It was 1995, at a gem show, a five carat almost flawless stone, and it was $250,000 back then. There are just certain stones you never forget.

That being said, lighter emeralds are very pretty too, and more affordable. I just would be careful not to go too light, because it can end up looking like green glass (flat and lifeless).

 

[Atwater]

Chrono basically said what I was going to say. The photos don’t do top color justice. Emeralds are notoriously difficult to photograph accurately. It’s impossibke to get that intense satiny green glow that emanates from them. I have photographed my best Muzo emerald a billion times and it still looks like a dark green square, whereas my lighter toned ones photograph nicer. It’s not like photographing tsavorite where a too dark color is essentially what it is, too dark. Dark Muzo top color emeralds are definitely not forest green. They’re very slightly bluish green.

Also, the term “oil” is a bit misleading. Most emeralds are filled with a polymer and some (cedar “oil”) are inferior to others like the gold standard Excel treatment.

You can find top color emeralds at a fine antique jewelry show or shop if there’s one in your area. I highly recommend seeing one in person.

I see. So the darker tone I see in those photos does not represent the top color. It is a pity that there are so many pictures online but they are so limited in helping one to build up real knowledge about emerald colors. I am close to a metropolitan city where top color emeralds should be available; it is just that I always consider going to the city is a hassle. The intergem show is coming; can I anticipate to see top color emeralds there as well?

 

[Atwater]

Ditto - Emeralds are notoriously difficult to photograph well. Sometimes stones that photograph dark are a really vivid pop of green in real life.

But you can indeed like them with more blue or a lighter or a mid green. I like them in a wide range of colours light all the way through to vivid darker greens.

At this point, based on the pictures, I prefer the brighter green. However, I am trying to be an informed buyer; if after I gain enough knowledge I still prefer the bright green, at least I will not need to pay premium for the top color.

 

[T L]

Check out any antique or estate dealers at Intergem, they might have fine emeralds.

 

[Atwater]

While these are very pretty, and way more affordable, I think I teared up in awe the first time I saw a top color emerald. It was 1995, at a gem show, a five carat almost flawless stone, and it was $250,000 back then. There are just certain stones you never forget.

That being said, lighter emeralds are very pretty too, and more affordable. I just would be careful not to go too light, because it can end up looking like green glass (flat and lifeless).

I understand. If the tone is too light, the emerald will lose vividness. The other factor is about the glow of emeralds, which I do not quite understand. Richard Wise in his book says "the finest emeralds exhibit a wonderful clear crystal which gives the stone a marvelous inner glow". How would clear crystal provide glow? Maybe I will need to see a lot of emeralds to get a better idea, but what is the "reason" for clear crystal providing glow?

 

[T L]

I understand. If the tone is too light, the emerald will lose vividness. The other factor is about the glow of emeralds, which I do not quite understand. Richard Wise in his book says "the finest emeralds exhibit a wonderful clear crystal which gives the stone a marvelous inner glow". How would clear crystal provide glow? Maybe I will need to see a lot of emeralds to get a better idea, but what is the "reason" for clear crystal providing glow?

I think It’s best explained by looking at metallic green foil or shimmery satin green sheets. They have this marvelous sheen, and the cleaner the emerald, the less this sheen is impeded. There’s simply no other green stone like an emerald. I know some people like to compare tsavorite, but that stone doesn’t have a sheen to it.



The dark green emeralds you posted photos of look more like tsavorite. Cameras fail to capture this sheen.

Here’s more on that particular quality.

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Gota-de-Aceite_-Nomenclature-for-the-Finest-Colombian-Emeralds.pdf

 

[T L]

You can see a sheen in this video, but again, it’s more lush and perfect color in person. Top emeralds are slightly bluish, no yellow to their green.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxVi00hFhQX/?igshid=195lbqyukwll5

 

[Atwater]

I think It’s best explained by looking at metallic green foil or shimmery satin green sheets. They have this marvelous sheen, and the cleaner the emerald, the less this sheen is impeded. There’s simply no other green stone like an emerald. I know some people like to compare tsavorite, but that stone doesn’t have a sheen to it.



The dark green emeralds you posted photos of look more like tsavorite. Cameras fail to capture this sheen.

Here’s more on that particular quality.

https://www.gia.edu/doc/Gota-de-Aceite_-Nomenclature-for-the-Finest-Colombian-Emeralds.pdf

Thank you for the explanation. I can imagine what you said about the sheen but I will need to see some good emeralds in person to really associate the imaged sheen with the emeralds. Ok. I will head to the big city next weekend. Thanks!

 

[Atwater]

You can see a sheen in this video, but again, it’s more lush and perfect color in person. Top emeralds are slightly bluish, no yellow to their green.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxVi00hFhQX/?igshid=195lbqyukwll5

I did see this video, and I was thinking: another quite dark emerald. It's time for me to get some firsthand experience.

 

[arkieb1]

This might be worth checking out;

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/please-show-me-your-emeralds.183829/

I'd probably suggest seeing if there are any gemshows on near you so you can go and look at a lot of stones for yourself. You want something either with a reliable lab certificate or that is returnable if it comes back with anything other than minor oiling/treatment.

Lots of stones "glow" some clean, some not, emerald can, rubies can, spinel can, paraiba tourmaline just to name a few..... Some really clean emeralds "glow" because of the colour and sheen as in the description above I'd argue some included ones also appear to "glow" ie seem to have a light on inside them when the light hits them, because they are filled with oil/treated in such a way that the inside of them picks up and reflects back a neon colour and sometimes the oil in the right light.

 

[Atwater]

This might be worth checking out;

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/please-show-me-your-emeralds.183829/

I'd probably suggest seeing if there are any gemshows on near you so you can go and look at a lot of stones for yourself. You want something either with a reliable lab certificate or that is returnable if it comes back with anything other than minor oiling/treatment.

Lots of stones "glow" some clean, some not, emerald can, rubies can, spinel can, paraiba tourmaline just to name a few..... Some really clean emeralds "glow" because of the colour and sheen as in the description above I'd argue some included ones also appear to "glow" ie seem to have a light on inside them when the light hits them, because they are filled with oil/treated in such a way that the inside of them picks up and reflects back a neon colour and sometimes the oil in the right light.

Thank you for the link; I am very impressed by the post by @distracts. The picture below is cropped from that post. The left was the actual photo and the right was photo-shopped to show how it looks in person; wow, huge differences!


I plan to go visiting some shops next weekend and I will go to the Intergem when it comes. I am not in a hurry to buy yet. I just started to learn about emeralds (to prepare for a future purchase). I probably will not be able to afford the top quality emeralds, but I do not care. I want to know how to appreciate them first.

 

[arkieb1]

Yes that's it exactly some dark emeralds are extremely beautiful but a lot photograph darker than they really are, this is a bracelet I sold, the emeralds seem dark in the photo but they were a lovely bright mid vivid green IRL;

 

[T L]

I have a couple of very dark emeralds, but the green is extremely intense. They photograph much darker than they are. Some mid toned emerald do capture the sunlight better and kind of glow like a Paraiba, but they don’t have as much of that metallic looking sheen as the darker stones. It’s that metallic sheen, or “drop of oil” look that really separates the fine material.

In the video, I showed above, do you see how there’s a sheen along the facet edges as he turns and tilts the stone? The back facets are also kind of blurry and not well defined, that’s because the light is scattered differently in a fine emerald, kind of like the silk in a Kashmir sapphire, that produces more even richness of color.

 

[T L]

I tried so hard to capture the sheen in this 1.3 carat guy. I also adjusted the color balance best I could to get the truer color. I don’t do that for any other stone photos. This is a medium dark stone. I have two even darker emeralds that I pretty much gave up on ever capturing their full beauty. For the record, I dislike dark toned stones, except for emeralds.

 

[T L]

This is a 2.75 ct medium light toned stone that is very bright, but definitely not as fine in color as my darker stones.

 

[Bluegemz]

Emeralds are so hard to capture in pics. I agree, they must be seen in person if at all possible. To give an example of range of colors captured in pics of one emerald, all without depicting the true beauty of it. First 2 pictures are most what it is like...a deep, rich green with blue. ( this ring has 2 broken prongs, which I’m not ready to fix due to fear of hurting the emerald. )


Next pictures show it in different lights. Looks quite different.

 

[T L]

@Bluegemz, beautiful ring. You can really see the glints of that metallic bluish green in your top photo.

It’s not just the color green that makes them so hard to photograph, because tsavorite is more accurately depicted in photos I think.

 

[Bluegemz]

@Bluegemz, beautiful ring. You can really see the glints of that metallic bluish green in your top photo.

It’s not just the color green that makes them so hard to photograph, because tsavorite is more accurately depicted in photos I think.

Thanks! Yours too!

 

[T L]

Thanks! Yours too!

Thanks, but I’m a little shocked you’re wearing a green stone!

I need to set these stones one of these days. The big green one is sitting in an empty setting it’s way too big for. I love your ring and I don’t blame you for not fixing the prongs. It certainly is safe in there now, and heaven forbid it gets damaged.

 

[Bluegemz]

Thanks, but I’m a little shocked you’re wearing a green stone!

I need to set these stones one of these days. The big green one is sitting in an empty setting it’s way too big for. I love your ring and I don’t blame you for not fixing the prongs. It certainly is safe in there now, and heaven forbid it gets damaged.

I confess, I do love emeralds, though I definitely wear them less frequently. To me they feel like a heart stone.
Re the prongs, my jeweler retired...and then I took it to another well known and highly skilled jeweler who told me that the gold prongs were very carefully folded over the emerald, and then mentioned that he personally did not want to take on the risk of redoing the prongs. Then another well known jeweler around here told me during a casual conversation how he was sweating bullets, with heart pounding when he recently set a 40k emerald. These guys are decades long experienced professionals, so all in all that made me fairly apprehensive about doing it now. It is insured, but I’m not sure it would be easy to find another like it, ( oval non emerald cut, etc). I just need to wait until I am feeling more courageous/risk tolerant and with a jeweler who is the best that I can find for this project. In the meantime, I kinda don’t mind the prongs as they are not that noticeable in life, as in, they aren’t what one first sees when looking at the ring.

I hope you do set your emeralds soon!

 

[T L]

I wouldn’t change the setting, it’s beautiful and vintage. I think the missing prongs are part of the character of the ring.

 

[Bluegemz]

I wouldn’t change the setting, it’s beautiful and vintage. I think the missing prongs are part of the character of the ring.

Thanks for that. It does look vintage, but I bought it new close to a decade ago from my old jeweler who retired, who made the setting for the stone. These gold prongs both broke off getting snagged in clothing threads, especially sweater fibers. But hey, they do add to the look. I never wear it with sweaters now lol!

 

[T L]

Well I love it, and those large diamonds are just yummy. One thing with rings I always worry about is too few prongs, You know that emerald isn’t going anywhere despite the missing prongs.