Expert Emerald Assistance, Please!!!!!

[Mayacamas]

I wanted to buy a nice emerald to wear as a pendant, and yet the more people I talk to the more I feel like I have choosen badly.

It has to do with the various treatments emeralds get.

I need some assistance, on what is and isnt acceptable, what to look for and is this such a corrupt business I should not even bother.

Two GG have told me to buy a Tsavorite. Its easier and they arnt treated!

ALso where does one buy a nice emerald on the web? Is there such a thing?

 

[day_lily_me]

Colored Gemstone Nut posted this exact information in a previous post - about 5 or 6 pages back. I've gone through all the old threads and learned something from all of them. I hope this helps. (IMO, if you have your heart set on an emerald, that's the way you should go - just do you homework first.)

 

[valeria101]

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On 10/6/2004 4:15:24 PM Mayacamas wrote:



ALso where does one buy a nice emerald on the web?

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why not

You must see what david emslie is holding up on this thread

and then, these places below are worth browsing for emeralds, regardless whether you end up buying on the web or not

.


Israel-diamonds.com

Palagems.com

Cherrypicked.com

Multicolour.com

Africagems.com

Awesomegems.com

 

[valeria101]

For example... how these two below look in picture ?

I am not sure what IGI's word is worth there, but "moderate enhancement" sounds nice. As long as the treatment is temporary (oil instead of some more sophisticated permanent filler) you can always ask to have the stone shown without, I guess.

 

[katbadness]

As far as I know, emeralds are routinely oiled..
However recently I heard of other treatments done to emeralds that is more stable over time. I don't know for sure, so I have to defer to the experts on this one.

Another place on the web that sells emerald is Equatorian Imports. I believe they're in fact a Colombian emerald dealer.

They have loose stones as well as already made pieces..
Here's an example of what they have:

 

[katbadness]

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On 10/6/2004 4:15:24 PM Mayacamas wrote:

I wanted to buy a nice emerald to wear as a pendant, and yet the more people I talk to the more I feel like I have choosen badly.

It has to do with the various treatments emeralds get.

I need some assistance, on what is and isnt acceptable, what to look for and is this such a corrupt business I should not even bother.
----------------

Emeralds tend to be more inclusions and more brittle than other gemstones with similar hardness (7.5 - 8 Mohs hardness). So one should put more care when wearing it (esp. in a ring).

However, since you mentioned that you're looking to set the stone as a pendant, I don't think this brittleness factor would be a major issue.

Re: emerald enhancements..
Take a look at this AGTA article and what Equatorian Imports has to say about enhancements.

Re: tsavorites..
Here's Pala's tsavorite buying guide.

Good luck with whichever type of stones you decide to purchase!

(and post pictures! We love pictures!

)

 

[rubydick]

While I am the first to admit that color preferences are a personal matter, in my opinion, emerald's green is tops.

I often hear people say that they prefer tsavorite to emerald. And being the sadistic bastard I am, I test them. I take out an outstanding tsavorite and put it next to a ho-hum emerald.

Guess what? For most, the tsavorite looks plain-jane next to the King of Green.

I'm not dissing tsavorite, just putting emerald in its proper place. A medium emerald knocks the socks off most anything else. A fine emerald is in a league of its own.

Regarding treatments, emerald received a black eye in the late 1990's with the Fred Ward case, something I am quite familiar with:
The Politics of Emerald Fillers
Don't Forget to Flush

In my opinion, Fred got screwed by companies with an agenda (not having to pay out on future damage claims involving emerald), gemologists with an agenda (bow down before the all-knowing-all-seeing) and those who should have known better (we'd like to speak the truth, but our lawyers won't let us).

I did examine the emerald in question. My take tallied not only with the blind-examinations of several of my colleagues, but with that of a highly-respected independent gemologist and with several world-class fracture experts.

The conclusion was simple: Fred Ward's customer broke the piece herself. It had absolutely nothing to do with the oil-filling of fractures prior to the sale (which was disclosed at the time of sale).

So what does all this blather and bluster amount to? A simple debunking of the myth that emerald enhancements should have a major impact on your decision of whether or not to buy a fine emerald.

If you enjoy emerald like I do, then I suggest you search for a jeweler of similar mind, someone who truly appreciates the product and is willing to educate you on the nuances of a most beautiful member of the gem world.

As for locating an internet seller of fine gems, here we step into a world of contradiction.

The purchase of a gem is like bringing a piece of fine art into your home. Such gems defy not only two-dimensional 72 DPI photos, their beauty is beyond words.

Internet shopping for fine gems is akin to choosing a spouse from a singles site. Yes, the photo and description give you a hint, they cull the herd. You may get lucky, but if I am looking for someone to spend the rest of my life with, I will insist on meeting them in person before tying the knot.

Yes, there is love at first sight, and I can cite several happily married couples I know as examples.

And there are others like myself, where love's bloom opens slowly. But in all cases, there was some face-time.

My point is simple: for the purchase of fine gems, the internet is a filter. A useful filter, but nothing more. Now if you are purchasing commercial goods, that is different. But for fine stones, it is simply a search engine.

 

[tonysgeko]

Mr. Hughes, I have a q for you. Why are aquamarines much more free of inclusions than emeralds if they're from the same family? Is this mother natures attempt at sarcasm?

 

[yowahking]

Thank you, as always, Richard. I too am a lover of nice emerald. Most consumers can not appreciate the value of fine emerald because they so rarely get to see nice ones. Once you see a nice one, the fish tank stuff seen on tv becomes apparant, despite the "value certificate" at 10 times what was paid. I am trying to get more jewelers to add a really fantastic colored stone to their case. Whether fantastic because of a rich color, or cutting, or rarity, or size, just to show something great to the normal customer that walks in everyday. Even a watch battery customer loves to see something fantastic. If sales soar at Pala from AZ customers, I will expect a small check in the mail, or at least an autograph on my book.

 

[Mayacamas]

Richard,

I want to say thank you for validating my opinion- I consider the opinion of all green is the same a tough one to overcome. I find the magical silky green of a good/fine emerald like the old quote of pornography, I know it when I see it!!!

I had read your articles on emeralds and visited Pala on what to look for.

For those of us who do not have a kings ransom in gems to view, the internet is more than a screen- its a tool to put us in touch with items that we would otherwise not have access to. I would not buy a gem sight unseen off the net- but I would contanct a vendor and have them send me out some stones..........

For those of us who do not live in a MAJOR city, and are subjected to retail jewelery mall land, it is the tool to leave Zales and find something better.

The internet has been integral in jewelery and stones for me. I was married 10 years ago, and we went to a mall store, paid 6k for a .8 "D,SI1, Pear"- only now after time spent sifting through sites do I understand I bought a G,SI2- retail value now about $1800.

AS a business person, and not a jeweler, I understand that technology is being leveraged to have vendors provide better material for lower prices ( gotta love capitalism) However, I think there are some rules - common sense, to using the net.

Or I will be a Zales captive all my life.............

Set me free!
Mayacamas

 

[canuk-gal]

Hi MMA:

Good luck in your search for that green goblin!

BTW, I posted questions regarding emeralds in my posession on 8/30 (subject heading: Question about Emeralds) on this forum if you are interested in that "conversation".

cheers

Sharon

 

[elmo]

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On 10/8/2004 8:34:11 AM Mayacamas wrote:

the internet is more than a screen- its a tool to put us in touch with items that we would otherwise not have access to. I would not buy a gem sight unseen off the net- but I would contanct a vendor and have them send me out some stones
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I can't agree more. How many small jewelers in the country sell more than a few really top, work-of-art sort of emeralds in their lifetime? How many of those would sell at a fair price not a speculative price, or even know the difference, or from experience can reliably advise you that something is a particularly good combination of quality and value. How many of those could reliably tell the difference between a nice "medium" and an extra-fine stone, and have the breadth of contacts to offer a nice selection of both.

The internet helps cull the jeweler just like the stones

.

 

[valeria101]

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On 10/8/2004 3:54:45 AM yowahking wrote:



Most consumers can not appreciate the value of fine emerald because they so rarely get to see nice ones.
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Sure so... and then, it is an uneasy choice between a fine green garnet and a not so fine emerald priced more for the chemical composition than the look. Below the 'out of this world range' would it be fair to compare these two greens?

The two bottom ups below are emeralds - the deep green priced times more than the lighter one (same size and fine clarity). The others are pics caught on the net - one emerald and one tsavorite.

 

[rubydick]

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On 10/8/2004 12:40:39 AM tonysgeko wrote:

Mr. Hughes, I have a q for you. Why are aquamarines much more free of inclusions than emeralds if they're from the same family? Is this mother natures attempt at sarcasm?----------------

There are a number of possibilities as to why large clean aquas (and sapphires) exist, but not large clean emeralds or rubies. At first, I suspected it might have to do with the ionic radius of the Cr+3 ion that colors both emerald and ruby. But a quick check showed the difference in size between Cr and the iron that colors aqua and sapphire is negligible.

So then I moved on to theory B, that the quantity of Cr in both emerald and ruby was so much larger than the amounts of iron needed to color aqua and sapphire, thus creating stress. My friend John Emmett set me straight. In the lab, large clean crystals of both emerald and ruby can be easily grown, and the ratios of coloring agents have little impact on the perfection the crystals.

Thus it probably has little to do with coloring agents and everything to do with the stressful conditions under which these stones grew. Unlike aquamarine, which grows in pegmatites where it can crystallize in the open spaces of pockets, emeralds often grown in the confined spaces of metamorphic rocks, where conditions are far more stressful, both at the time of growth and after crystals have already formed.