May 4 2018
When you are out to purchase an emerald, you do not need to worry much about technicalities which you need to consider while buying a diamond. A diamond’s brilliance is the major factor which plays an important role in deciding about the value. On the other hand, an emerald’s color is almost everything that buyers need to take into the account. But it doesn’t really mean that buying an emerald is the simplest thing. You still need to be watchful about a number of things in order to make good purchase.
Color
Color is a decisive factor which helps in evaluation of a natural emerald. That’s because when you look at a piece of emerald, the first thing that strikes your vision is its color which can range from dark green to yellowish green dull color. Going a bit further, the color can be broken down into hue, tone and saturation.
Hue basically refers to as the type of green color the emerald has. For instance, an emerald can be yellowish green or bluish green. Most commonly available emeralds in the market are Columbian emeralds which are bluish green.
Tone is another factor which is commonly considered while evaluating an emerald. Tone mainly refers to as a range of color from dark to light. When we talk about emerald tone, we consider a range which starts from very dark to very bright. One thing worth mentioning here is that the tone of emerald is not that significant feature to look at while evaluation.
Saturation of emerald is the last and most important factor. It basically represents the color’s intensity and strength. Now, the emerald’s saturation can range from dull to pure vivid. Now, this is the point where you can realize how saturation can be more important than tone. If an emerald with dull saturation has darker shade, you won’t be excited too much about it. However, a pure vivid emerald with lighter tone is surely going to catch your attention.
Clarity
Alongside color, clarity is another factor which helps us evaluate emerald. Although there is a grading scale for emeralds that helps in determining the real value of this gemstone, this scale is not that clear as the one used for the grading of diamonds.
One of the major reasons is that about 99% of emeralds come with inclusions, also known as imperfections. As a matter of fact, you should be doubtful about the authenticity of an emerald if you don’t see any inclusion in it.
Emerald cut
Emerald is one of the few gemstones whose value also depends upon the way they are cut. As with emerald, the cutting technique can add or reduce the color characteristics, making the emerald less or more valuable.
