The endless emerald green colour speaks to the imagination and is certainly the most beautiful and intense green ever created by nature.
For top-quality emeralds, their value could even surpass the value of diamonds. Certainly, those which are unoiled and still have an intense colour are rare and mysterious. The more the colour is intense, the more they are valuable.
Exceptional and contrarily to other precious gemstones, inclusions are tolerated in the gemstone as a proof of origin. Only for emeralds, the inclusions are called “Jardin” or “Garden”, and can even upgrade the value of the gemstone if they are indicating an origin as those from Colombia. The “jardin” is only valuable to the gemstone if it is not too predominant, fading the transparency or disturbing the intense green colour of the gemstone.
Most valuable emeralds are from Colombia, while the oldest ones are originated from Zimbabwe. Other emeralds are mined in Zambia, Brazil, Madagascar, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Russia. The emerald is a very sensitive gemstone due to its fractions and inclusions. It is advised to put off an emerald ring when the wearer is coming in contact with detergents or special cleaning products.
The first emeralds were discovered during the Pharaonic period in Egypt. These mines were later better known as the Cleopatra mines but were very quickly exhausted. Shaped in their natural form these precious gemstones were very fashionable for necklaces and bracelets during the Roman times. The Colombian emeralds were already popular during the pre-Colombian period, where emeralds were mined in Muzo and Chivor. The Indian Maharajas were fascinated by the green gemstone and wore them abundantly, due to its beneficial characteristics.
The colour of the gemstone has also its signification: the holy Islamic colour green makes the emerald desirable in the Middle East and beyond. But also, for the Catholic Church, green is a symbol of most pure and elementary colour.
By knowing this, the visitor or owner will certainly have another approach to this too much unknown gemstone when visiting a museum with old masters, ancient jewellery or even his jeweller. In other words, new dimensions could reveal the most fascinating green on earth…
Text ©World Luxury Jewellers.
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