Newbie would love advice on Emerald Purchase

[Scarlett1]

Oh God, really didn't mean to cause Drama. Thanks everyone for kind words and advice. Freke, I have emailed Garrett from embassy to see about putting down a deposit and also about inclusions (thanks minousbijoux) and will be chatting to my jeweller tomorrow so if she likes it and think it would work well in my setting I think I'll go for it.
Just in terms of inclusions, what should I be looking for, like what is good and bad. Personally I like them as I think it adds real character to the stone but I don't want something that will diminish in value either.
Thanks again and appreciate all your help and kindness, everyone.

 

[minousbijoux]

You ask some really good questions, and I hope some of our real emerald owners respond (my sum total is the emerald chips in the ring in my avatar, and a pair of emerald earrings I've posted here in the past). In fact, if you do a search here, you will find many threads on emeralds most of which will be educational (in addition to being awesome bling). There was a recent thread - might have even been called "show me your emeralds" - that has photos of everyone's emeralds and talks about what to look for. In the meantime, I'll tell you what I know.

Most emeralds are treated to improve clarity, which makes those with no treatments exceedingly rare - and pricey. Emeralds are, in the parlance of the GIA, Type III stones, meaning inclusions are prevalent and to be expected in the material. In the case of emerald, these eye visible inclusions are known as "jardin" after the French word for garden. Come to think of it, I **think** emeralds are the only stone where their inclusions are given a loving nickname of sorts. Anyway, jardin is common in emeralds. Sometimes, if the inclusions are really fine and hardly visible to the naked eye, they show up as a glow to the emerald - this is emeralds at their best and these are highly sought after. Most of the time, the jardin is a visible mess of stuff, blocking light and causing the emerald to appear opaque in places - or in its entirety. These are far more common and obviously, far cheaper - you can see examples of bad, opaque, emerald everywhere you turn.

Because of their included nature, a long time ago, those in the trade figured out that the clarity of the stone could be improved with certain treatments - from temporary to semi-permanent (or maybe permanent; here is where we need the experts to weigh in). Oils are one of the ways emeralds are improved for clarity, and I think in some of the threads, there are descriptions of how emeralds are oiled. Its not like they just take the stone and rub oil on it; its a process of putting the emerald in oil in a vacuum-sealed environment, so that it really forces the oil into the fissures and cracks. Various types of oil are used including cedar oil. Of course, once an emerald is oiled, it is not like you would know. Its not oily to touch and presumably, unless you did something like put it in a high tech jewelry cleaning device, it would not leak oil. Over time, or in places with little humidity, the oil in emeralds can evaporate so they require delicate care.

Another treatment, Opticon, is more permanent and is considered much more invasive than just oiling. I **believe** opticon is some sort of silicon solution that again, goes into the cracks and fissures of the emerald, attaches to the crystal structure itself, more or less closing them up and improving the clarity. In my mind at least, I see this as pouring concrete into cracks in a sidewalk; you pour it in and it hardens. While it improves the structural integrity of the stone as well as the clarity, it is really introducing a foreign substance into the stone to "glue" it closed and make it prettier. The vast majority of emeralds have been treated in this manner to improve clarity and this is why its important to know and to get a lab report. In the absence of expert eyes on the stone, you wouldn't know (or at least I wouldn't know, lol) whether I was getting a beautiful, natural rare jewel of nature, or a much more commonplace, man-improved stone. The first could cost, depending upon size, clarity and color, thousands per carat; the second treated type, much, much less.

So what I would look for is evenly distributed jardin, not too distracting. Sometimes I personally think jardin looks mysterious and attractive; sometimes it overwhelms the stone and makes it look opaque and ugly. I would want one that looks good in various lighting conditions, and that, if possible, was a saturated, slightly blue, green. I hope that helps; I've probably left out a ton more info!

With any luck, some of the cutters, or one of our emerald lovers like TL will be along to provide more info.

Edited for typos.

 

[CollectorExpress]

Scarlett

Honey you didn't cause any drama at all and I am happy that you got what you wanted.
I am kind of having sellers remorse right now for having sold the ring for such a low price ( to another party ) .I had actually paid 100$ to a couple of GIA gemologists ( from the Diamonds Exchange)to examine my emerald ( it took 3 days ) and they found no trace of treatment whatsoever. Not even oiling and my ring was valued at 4700$ .
What I didn't appreciate was the cattiness of some people here who rush to judgment without having any clue about my product .I reacted in such a way because I saw that that it has been done to people before .

All the best to you .May be you could post some pictures once the Emerald is mounted.

 

[Ella]

Enough please. Let the OP have her thread back.

 

[minousbijoux]

Scarlett: its safe to come out now! Please let us know what the vendor says about the stone. Also, I understand they have other emeralds that are not on their website. If I were you, I would explain what you are looking for and ask that before he sends you any one, that he send you pics of a few so you can compare. I know Embassy has done that for others with the outcome of beautiful stones and really happy buyers (who provide amazing pics for us - see where this is ultimately going? ).

I'm looking forward to seeing what your next step brings!

 

[Scarlett1]

Thanks a million minousbijoux, really appreciate all your help and very detailed explanation on inclusions. Well I went to see my jeweller today for the first time. She was recommended by a friend who recently go her engagement ring made by her which is stunning.
So the outcome of the visit was both good and bad. What I had in my head was a reworking of my current setting into an Edwardian twist style ring, but as my diamond is quite small, 4.5mm, she felt that this type of ring just would be too dainty for my hand (big man square hands with short fingers ) as would need a similar sized emerald and wouldn't do the emerald justice.So after a lot of chatting decided to go for a larger reworking, with maybe an oval stone in the center with my diamond and another matching diamond at either side, which I believe will be stunning. Now, my only problem is that an Emerald of that size (over 1ct ) in good quality and colour is WAY over my budget. My jeweller also pointed out that if I was wearing this as an everyday ring, I'd need to be very careful with it, due to it being softer than diamonds. She suggested maybe thinking about a different center stone. So went away to think about it, and my head is now melted .
I actually love pale blue/green sapphires and maybe this might be an option or else that lovely electric blue (really don't think that is the right term) sapphire, but for all I know these are more expensive. So should I save and get the Emerald or get an equally beautiful more practical stone as my remodelled engagement ring and save the emerald for a right hand ring at a future date. Would really appreciate any advice or ideas you might have on my reworking project
Thanks again,
Scarlett

 

[Scarlett1]

Sorry for big sideways pic

 

[minousbijoux]

You are not going to like my advice, I think, because you are now at the most difficult point - where you need to decide what your preference is. As much as we might share our opinions, you are ultimately designing the ring for you and need to decide what you want.

I'm afraid to say that an "electric blue" sapphire (good description by the way) is at the top of the food chain and will be hugely expensive. Then again, I'm not sure that my idea of such a blue and yours would be the same. You would have it easier finding a sapphire within your budget in the first category you mentioned, the pale blue/green. As you may have seen in another current thread where the OP is looking for a peach sapphire, PSers are amazing at tracking down stones and providing options, but I urge you to decide first, because your head will spin with options if you don't.

Can you take a little time and think about it? I'm sure people here will be happy to post some ideas for you if you like...

 

[peacechick]

Second minousbijoux's thoughts completely. It's true what your jeweler tells you about emeralds so you have to think about it. But you should also think about whether a sapphire would make you as happy. Maybe you need to sapphire hunt for a while and see if you fall in love with a gem. Good luck!

 

[minousbijoux]

...and people DO have emerald rings and wear them with no trouble - I guess it depends on how often you plan on wearing it and under what circumstances. If its an everyday ring and/or if you are hard on your rings, then rule it out; if you wear it often but not all the time and you are gentle - no flinging your hands into walls, sudden urge to garden with your rings on, or wash dishes - you should not have a problem.

 

[Scarlett1]

Thanks again ladies for advice. The thing is I wear my rings all the time, and would say I'm not the most careful person. This ring project is for my seventh anniversary so might keep the emerald project as an occasional ring for my 10th, will have a bigger budget then too
Have had a good look at sapphires and think these might be a good option for an everyday ring. So the hunt is on