Welcome to the wonderfully wicked world of emeralds, where the grass (and the gems) are always greener on your own side. The undisputed cool girl stone, emeralds shine bright with their velvety, vivid green-blue hues and otherworldly glow. There's a reason a whole mythical crystal city was named after them. So, click your heels three times and read on to become an expert on all things emerald including:
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What is an emerald?
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Emerald meaning
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How to choose an emerald:
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Color
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Clarity
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Cut
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Carat
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Emerald Price
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Emerald Treatments
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Emerald Hardness and Durability
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How to Care for Your Emerald Jewelry
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All Your Emerald Questions Answered
What is an Emerald?
One of the four precious gemstones, emeralds are the most beloved member of the beryl family, the same mineral species that makes aquamarine and morganite. To be considered an emerald, a gemstone has to have a vivid, green-bluish tone - otherwise it's classified as another variety of beryl.
Oval cut emerald ring in bezel setting
Emerald meaning
Known as the stone of truth and love, emeralds align with the heart chakra, encouraging the flow of unconditional love and compassion. They're used to calm the emotions and bring balance and harmony to all types of relationships—romantic, platonic, or professional.
Historically, emeralds were thought to possess protective and healing powers, guarding against leprosy, counteracting poison, and even curing epilepsy. While science has since disproved this, emeralds still radiate an oz-ian charm that feels like a potion for the soul.
How to Choose an Emerald
Emerald Color
Color is the most important emerald quality factor. Emeralds are evaluated for color based on their hue, tone, and saturation and given a grade from C (lowest) to AAA (highest).
Emerald hue
"Hue" is the actual color of the gemstone. All emeralds are green but can have blue, yellow, and even brownish undertones depending on the levels of chromium, vanadium, and iron in the stone. The most valuable and beloved emeralds are pure green to bluish green and have evenly distributed color.
If a stone is too yellowish or bluish, it's no longer considered an emerald, but another type of less expensive green beryl.
Emerald saturation
Saturation measures how vivid and rich a color is. The highest quality and most valuable emeralds have a vivid color saturation. Lower saturation and less valuable stones will have a duller, almost faded look to them.
Emerald Tone
Tone measures how light or dark a gemstone is. The more valuable emeralds have a goldilocks medium dark tone - not too light and not too dark.
Dichroism in Emeralds
Emeralds are dichroic gemstones, meaning they appear blue-green from some angles, and yellow-green from other angles.
Emerald Clarity
Clarity is a measure of imperfections or inclusions in a gemstone - these can look like feathers, bubble, needles, others minerals inside, and more. Read our Complete Guide to Diamond Inclusions for the more on inclusions.
The GIA categorizes gemstones into 3 types depending on their likelihood of containing inclusions:
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Type 1 gems rarely contain inclusions in nature
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Type 2 gems usually contain inclusions
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Type 3 gems are almost always included
Emeralds are type 3 gemstones, and they are one of the most heavily included gemstones in that group. Emerald inclusions are sometimes called 'jardin', the French word for garden, because the inclusions have a mossy, garden-esque look to them. Inclusions are not only universally accepted in emeralds, but they often add to the stone's unique appeal.
Because almost all emerald crystals will have some eye-visible inclusions, the main factor to consider is whether the inclusions affect the color of the emerald, which is the most important quality factor. The second consideration is how much the inclusions affect the transparency of the stone - the rarest and most valuable stones are very transparent.
Emerald Cut
There's a reason the emerald cut was created for emeralds - it's perfectly suited to the six-sided prism shape they naturally form in. Of course, emeralds can be cut in many different shapes, but emerald cut continues to be the most popular.
Emeralds are one of the difficult and complicated gems to cut for a few different reasons:
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Fissures: almost all emeralds have fractures (fissures) which the cutter must work around when cutting the stone.
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Toughness: emeralds are a somewhat brittle stone that can be easily damaged during cutting, polishing, and setting. This is another reason why emerald cut is so popular for emeralds - the cut corners help preventing chipping.
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Color: because color is so important in emeralds, the cutter must be extra careful to select the right orientation, faceting, depth, and proportions to maximize that particular stone's hue, tone, and saturation.
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Dichroism:emeralds have a bluish green to yellowish green dichroism which usually dictates how a cutter will cut the stone to maximize that beloved bluish tint in the stone.
Many cutters find Columbian emeralds to be the most difficult to cut because their color is most intense close to the surface and they require very careful cutting and planning to retain the most vivid color in the final stone.
Emerald Cut Emerald Ring
Emerald Carat Weight and Size
Contrary to popular belief, carat refers to the weightof a gemstone, not its size. This is great news for emerald lovers! Because emeralds are lighter than many other gems—like diamonds—they appear noticeably larger for their carat weight.
Emeralds can be found in a huge range of carat weights from 0.02 to hundreds of carats. As larger stones are much more rare than smaller emeralds, the prices rise dramatically as carat weight increases.
Emerald Price
Emeralds are one of the more expensive gemstones, however the prices range dramatically depending on the quality of the stone. Emeralds are often even more expensive than diamonds, especially high grade color stones with good transparency. The most valuable (and incredibly rare) emeralds are eye-clean with a AAA color grade.
Emerald Treatment
Like most other gemstones, about 99% of all emeralds undergo treatments to improve their color, clarity, and sparkle. Since emeralds are so heavily included, they often need treatments to protect and/or repair naturally formed fractures in the stone, and these treatments can also intensify the emerald's color. Untreated emeralds are extremely rare (about 1% of all emeralds) and generally cost about 10-20x more than treated emeralds if they're high quality.
The standard emerald treatment is called oiling,where the stone is soaked in hot cedar oil. The hot oil soaks in and fills in any fractures, cracks, or fissures. Then, once cooled, the cedar oil solidifies and results in better clarity, a more vivid color, extra sparkle, and a more structurally sound stone.
Less common treatments include dyeing, lasering, and irradiating. Any emerald treatments should be disclosed to the buyer.
Emerald Hardness & Durability
Gemstones are rated in four areas for durability:
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Hardness – resistance to scratches. With a hardness of 7.5-8, emeralds are fairly hard, but can be scratched by materials harder than them. They should be worn with care, placed in a protective setting, and stored away from other jewelry.
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Toughness – resistance to breakage. Emerald has 'fair to good' toughness, meaning it can be chipped or cracked with rough handling or any significant impact. Because of their high level of inclusions, they're more brittle than other varieties of beryl like aquamarine or morganite.
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Cleavage - like a wood's grain, these are the points where a stone can smoothly split. Emeralds have imperfect cleavage along the basal plane (perpendicular to the crystal's length). This means they can split along specific planes when subjected to force.
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Stability - how well a gemstone can withstand light, temperature, humidity, and chemicals. Emerald is not the most stable gemstone - extreme heat can damage the stone, especially if it has existing fractures. Chemicals and very bright light can also affect the oils, resins, or polymers used to treat the stone.
If you're looking for a more durable green gemstone, consider green sapphires which are rated a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, have excellent toughness, great stability, and come in all shades of green from a pale moss to teal, forest green, and everything in between. Green sapphires are our preferred green gem for last-forever engagement rings. Read our blog onGreen Sapphires to learn more!
Emerald cut emerald ring with diamond side stones
How to Care for Emerald Jewelry
Because most emeralds are treated, they have to be cleaned and cared for carefully.
First, avoid all jewelry cleaning machines, chemicals, and steam cleaning. The best way to clean your emerald rings and jewelry is with warm water, mild dishsoap, and a soft bristle toothbrush. Clean both on top and beneath the stone to remove all dirt and debris and restore its sparkle and shine.
Additionally, take your emerald jewelry off before swimming in pools and hot tubs, and for any potentially damaging activities - any significant impact could damage your emerald.
Natural Emeralds vs Laboratory Grown Emeralds
Most natural emeralds will have eye-visible inclusions and be dichroic (show different colors depending on the angle they're viewed from), whereas laboratory created emeralds or synthetic emeralds won't have inclusions or dichroism.
Emerald Origins
Today, most emeralds are sourced from Colombia, Zambia and Brazil. Generally, Colombian Emeralds are known for their vivid, deeply saturated blue-green hues, whereas Brazilian Emeralds are a lighter, brighter green.
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The first known emerald mines were in Egypt in about 330 BC
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The oldest emeralds are thought to be 97 billion years old
All your emerald questions answered
Are emeralds worth more than diamonds?
Emeralds often cost more than diamonds as they're 20x rarer and in high demand. They do look noticeably larger for their carat weight though, so it all balances out.
Is emerald very expensive?
Emeralds are one of the more expensive stones, beating out even diamonds in many cases. The price depends on the quality of the stone, however - lower-quality stones are much more affordable than high-quality stones.
What does an emerald symbolize?
Emeralds symbolize unconditional love and truth - they help open and unblock the heart chakra so the wearer can give and receive love to themselves and others.
What color emerald is most valuable?
The most valuable emerald color is a pure green to bluish green - it should have high saturation, a medium tone, no visible color zoning, and be highly transparent.
Are darker or lighter emeralds more expensive?
Richly saturated, medium toned emeralds are the most valuable. Very light green "emeralds" are actually not considered emeralds, but simply green beryl.
Emerald and tsavorite garnet band
How to tell if an emerald is real?
The easiest way to spot a genuine, natural emerald is to look at it through a jeweler's loupe. A real emerald will have inclusions, whereas synthetic emeralds usually will not. You can also hold the stone up to a beam of light - if the gem gives off a rainbow or bright flashes of light, it's not an emerald but another type of stone.
What are the two birthstones for May?
Emerald is May's birthstone, along with agate which was added as an alternative birthstone more recently.
What does it mean to wear an emerald ring?
As the stone of love, truth, and hope, emerald rings are powerful talismans of unconditional love, both for yourself and for others. It brings harmony to relationship and instills hope for the future - a very high-vibe ring to buy for yourself or your amor.
Is it ok to wear an emerald ring every day?
It's ok to wear an emerald ring every day as long it's cared for carefully - that includes removing it for any potentially damaging activity and protecting it from impacts.
Where to buy EMERALD RINGS
If you're a Gem Breakfast diner, you've been tantalized by many an emerald treat. Between one-of-a-kind emerald rings created by our roster of independent female designers and our custom and OOAK emerald rings and earrings created by our in-house line, Made by Gem Breakfast, there's a emerald entrée for every taste.
Thinking of treating yourself (or your partner) to an emerald ring? Browse our selection of one-of-a-kind gemstone rings or book a free consultation to chat about creating something custom. Keep in mind, there's no up-charge to creating custom, so if you see something you like on the site, we can usually recreate that recipe for around the same price.