Precious
Emeralds
Green · Bluish Green · Yellowish Green
Varieties
How emeralds are categorised
Trade categories rather than gemological ones — these are the terms a requirement is normally written in.
- Faceted Emerald
- Emerald cut, oval and cushion — the standard commercial supply.
- Cabochon
- For heavily included material and for design work that wants a soft dome.
- Beads & Briolettes
- Drilled goods for strands and drops.
Emeralds in detail
Clarity treatment is the central commercial fact
Almost all emerald on the market has had a clarity enhancer introduced into its surface-reaching fractures. This is long-standing accepted trade practice, and material with no enhancement at all is uncommon enough to be a specification in its own right.
What matters commercially is the degree. Laboratories describe it in bands — commonly none, minor, moderate and significant — and the band affects price materially. A stone described as "oiled" with no degree attached is an incomplete description.
The degree also affects handling. Significantly enhanced stones need to be kept away from ultrasonic cleaners, steam and solvents, and that constraint travels with the finished piece to your customer.
Buying emerald for manufacturing
Emerald is more fragile than corundum, both from its inclusions and from its natural cleavage. For channel setting, tension setting or anything requiring pressure, discuss the specification before ordering rather than after.
Calibrated emerald is available but tolerances are looser than in sapphire and ruby, because cutters lose more weight working around fractures. Expect to accept a wider depth range on the same face-up dimensions.
The emerald cut exists because of this species: the cut corners protect the stone at its most vulnerable points. It remains the highest-yield and lowest-risk outline for emerald, and it is where availability is best.
Colour
Emerald colour runs from yellowish green through pure green to bluish green, and market preference varies by region. Saturation carries the price; a large, pale stone will trade well below a smaller, strongly coloured one.
Fine emerald often shows a soft, slightly velvety appearance from its inclusions. This is characteristic of the species rather than a defect, and buyers coming from a diamond background sometimes need that explained to their own customers.
Treatment
Clarity enhancement of surface-reaching fractures is standard practice across the emerald market and is present in the large majority of stones traded. Where a laboratory has assessed the degree of enhancement we record it. We do not describe any emerald as untreated without a report supporting it.
This describes the market for the species. It is not a statement about any individual stone — disclosure for a specific stone comes from that stone’s own record and documentation. More on laboratory reports.
Buyer questions
Buying emeralds
- Is treated emerald acceptable to sell?
- Yes, provided it is disclosed. Clarity enhancement is accepted trade practice in emerald and the great majority of the market is enhanced. What is not acceptable is selling enhanced material as untreated, or omitting the degree when it is known.
- Can emerald go into an ultrasonic cleaner?
- No. Ultrasonic and steam cleaning can drive enhancers out of the fractures and can worsen existing fractures. This applies at your bench as much as at your customer's jeweller, so it is worth passing the care advice down the chain.
- Do you supply calibrated emerald?
- Yes, though with wider depth tolerances than corundum for the reasons above. Send the face-up millimetre dimensions and the depth range you can work with.