Emeralds: The Green Wonders

Emeralds are a kind of crystal made up of beryl.  They are colored by either chromium or vanadium.  Emeralds also have a naturally hexagonal shape.  This makes them refract light in a beautiful way, even in nature.

On a hardness scale, emeralds are a 7-10.  This means they are relatively easy to break, so people judge them by the bare eye, instead of a microscope, because there are often many inclusions.  If an emerald has visible inclusions, it will sometimes be treated with oil to smooth out fissures.  An oil-treated jewel would be less expensive.

Other qualities determining an emerald's value are color, cut, clarity and weight.  Color's three components are hue, saturation and tone.  The best emerald is right in the middle:  medium large, clear but not watery, dark but not black, and cut so it sparkles.

There are different hues of emerald.  Most are green, blue-green or yellow-green; but some are different.  Emeralds may even be aquamarine or red.

Red emeralds are only found in Beaver, Utah.  They are so rare that one red emerald is found per 150,000 diamonds.

I think emeralds are really cool.


Written by Peter in September.  

Information on emeralds found in Wikipedia.