A Guide to Emerald

Emeralds have captured people’s imagination for a long time. According to tradition, the term “emerald” originates from an ancient word meaning “green stone.” We can see the influence of the original language in more modern languages, such as French and middle English. In fact, emeralds are so thoroughly associated with this color that we talk about emerald green as a pure, saturated shade. Ireland has grass that’s roughly this color in the spring, earning it the name “the emerald isle.”

However, at Enchanted Disney Fine Jewelry, we have another association for emeralds – Tinker Bell jewelry. As a fairy that helps Peter Pan stay child-like, the color of youth is natural to her. So, many Tinker Bell-themed pieces of jewelry have one or more emerald gemstones in their design. Let’s go over some helpful emerald gemstone information.

What is Emerald?

Emerald is the brilliant green version of beryl, or beryllium aluminum silicate. The mineral gets its color from chromium and vanadium inside the crystal. Like most other silicates, beryl is formed in volcanic rock formations as the magma cools deep in the ground. It has a hardness of 7.5-8, making it relatively hard. However, emerald is a delicate gemstone because of the large number of inclusions and emerald crystal structure. For this reason, most people will want to wear their natural emerald relatively little, and to ensure they protect the stone from hard knocks.

The other thing you need to know about emerald stones is that most of them are oiled regardless of the emerald origin country. This is a process where the cut gem has oil inserted into any cracks or fissures that open to the outside of the gem. Oiling is an important way to improve the look of the gem. If, however, cracks start appearing again then a jeweler can add more oil. Other treatments, including the use of colored oil, are frowned upon. The most important attribute of emeralds is the green color, without which it wouldn’t be an emerald.

If you’re wondering where emeralds can be found, there are several answers. Right now, the biggest producer is Columbia, which has been true for several decades. However, the ancient emerald deposits were in Egypt, where Cleopatra is said to have worn a lot of the gems. Second most important to modern emerald production is Zambia. Several other countries in Africa and south Asia have significant deposits, too.

Many Emerald jewelry collections also feature lab grown emeralds which are stunning in their vivid color, have the same durability as a natural emerald if not better and also come at a fraction of the cost of natural emeralds. Our jewelry collections use lab created emerald to maximize beauty and value.

Emerald Price Factors

Because of their rarity, certain high quality emeralds can be even more expensive than diamonds. This is true even though emeralds are almost always treated, while diamonds are usually untreated. Also, emerald price factors only apply to natural emeralds: although there are many lab created emeralds on the market (arguably many more than the natural ones), these are extremely common.

With that in mind, emeralds are similar to diamonds and other colored gems in that they are evaluated based on the 4cs. Color, the hallmark of emeralds, is multifaceted, including tone, saturation, and shade. Likewise, carat weight is critical to value because larger stones are quite rare. Then, cut and clarity help influence the value of emeralds.

Emerald Jewelry

Of course, there’s a lot more to making the perfect emerald necklace than selecting a gorgeous cut gem. The most common cut for natural emeralds is the emerald cut, because it maximizes color and the carat weight of finished gems after cutting.

Whether a jewelry design includes diamonds or not, at Enchanted Disney Fine Jewelry we use the best materials for our jewelry settings. For these pieces, we use yellow gold, white gold, and sterling silver which feature a combination of gemstones like diamonds and lab created emeralds. Emerald green looks great with either white or yellow metals. In addition, some of our designs have diamonds. Each emerald is handpicked to ensure that it showcases the beauty of the Disney inspiration and the story of the jewelry design.

Once you have emerald jewelry in your home, it’s important to know how to take care of it. Like most gems, you can clean emerald earrings or other jewelry with warm soapy water. Let it soak a bit and use a soft bristle brush if needed. Steaming and the use of ultrasonic cleaners is risky. For any deep cleaning methods it’s best to leave that to a professional. Finally, be sure to store your emerald jewelry in such a way that it won’t scratch or chip. This means placement in a jewelry box where it won’t rub up against other jewelry.

The Enchanted Disney Fine Jewelry collection incorporates emeralds with many design motifs like the magic wand, keys and even several stunning emerald engagement rings. Emeralds in the collections are lab created which ensures that they are ethically sound, affordably priced and vetted for quality.

FAQs

1. Which month has emerald as its gemstone?
Emerald is the birthstone for the month of May, but can be given as a gift any other month of the year.

2. Is emerald a valuable gemstone?
Yes, it’s one of the most expensive colored gemstones and depending on the size and quality; it can be more valuable than all other gemstones.

3. What are some of the Disney inspirations that incorporate emerald into their jewelry?
The sprightly and youthful collection inspired by Tinkerbell uses gorgeous emeralds to showcase the striking green color that is seen throughout Tinkerbell’s story.