Emerald - Fabulous and Flawed

At times beauty is so concentrated and lush that it is captivating to the extent of mesmerizing. Such is the charisma of Emerald. As an epitome of candid splendor, Emerald has been the stone of royal indicant. Emerald is among those rare gemstones that are cherished with flaws as they commonly come with inclusions due to their natural occurrence. Therefore color is the most prominent factor while judging the quality of Emerald. Nothing can be more gorgeous and flaunting than emerald green to emphasize your dress wear.

The love and passion for Emeralds dates back to 4000 years when they were first mined in south of Cairo near the Aswan Dam. Eventually they became a sign of royalty due to their distinctively rich color and rarity. In ancient times Emerald was believed to have healing power and was known to be one of the precious stone in the breastplate of Jewish high priest. In modern days Emerald is regarded as the traditional birthstone for May and astrological signs of Taurus, Cancer and sometimes Gemini.

Belonging to the family of mineral beryl, emeralds range from yellowish green to bluish green in color. The tone, saturation and vividness of green base are used to judge the quality of emeralds. It's very rare to find emeralds free from inclusions but the ones that have few or no inclusions are obviously the ones priced extremely high. Unlike diamonds eye-clean emeralds are considered to be flawless.

Colombian Emeralds are the finest quality emeralds bearing intense green hue in medium to dark tone. Colombia is also the home of Trapiche emerald which is the most rarified type exhibiting the exotic star pattern. Emeralds coming from Brazil fall next to Colombian emeralds in terms of value. Other locations of emerald mines include countries like Afghanistan, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Somaliland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, United States, Zambia and Zimbabwe. While Zambia is well known for cryptic deep colored emeralds with bluish tinge, Emeralds from Zimbabwe produce yellowish green hue like sun's ray praising prosperity of grass.

Because of high value of raw crystal great care has to be taken while cutting and faceting emerald so they don't loose much weight. They are also among the pleochroic gems so while purchasing dual color emeralds one should examine whether the shape and cut of gem has been enhanced to maximize the effect or not.

Settings play an important role in selecting emerald jewelry. Due to their crystal structure and inclusions emeralds are prone to cleavaging and fracture. Therefore one should go for safe settings and make sure that inclusions don't go too deep. Try and choose safe settings when going for custom jewelry.