Buying An Emerald Ring The 4 Cs

Photo: TK, trying o locate source

Yesterday I popped into Tiffany & Co. to try on a few emerald rings for fun. I wanted to start with heirloom-quality stones to refresh my memory on their appearance and price, and oh boy, did Tiffany deliver! The emeralds are stunning, ultra expensive ... yet small for the price tag. The design and quality of stones are top-notch, making even a 1/4 carat of emerald surrounded by diamonds ring a showstopper. As much as I love looking and trying Tiffany rings on, the price points for tiny stones are beyond what I wish to pay ... and for the purpose of this post I'll assume you, too, want a bigger stone for less money. So today, let's go shopping for emerald rings!

Photo: emcogem

Here are the 4 Cs that determine the value of an emerald, especially vital if you seek a larger stone:

1) Color - The color is the most important characteristic, but it is also the most subjective of the 4. Emeralds are a variety of beryl, a mineral whose green color comes from the impurities of chromium along with vanadium that are determined by where they are mined. Often customers prefer darker greens over lighter stones and a blue-green hue (cool) over yellow-green (warm). It doesn't make one better than the other, yet due to demand does influence price. Coveted Columbian emeralds tend to be bluish-green. (Click here for countries where emeralds are mined.)

When jewelers examine the color of emeralds they also

consider tone and saturation. The tone is the lightness and darkness of the emerald on a scale of 0 (white) to 10 (black). Fine emeralds fall between 2 and 8 on the scale. In this range, ultimately the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As it turns out, customers gravitate to #5, #6 and #7 in color↑. I think of saturation (another name for tone) as the opaqueness or transparency of an emerald. I value opaqueness in leggings, but I desire as much transparency for the $buck$ as I can get in a colored gemstone as it shines more!

The Maximilian emerald 

2) Cut (My 2nd important characteristic is usually listed as 3rd by experts. Trust me: I'm right, and they're wrong!🙂 Let me explain why.) The skill of the cutter determines the beauty and larger-look of the stone. A great cut maximizes the color, size, brilliance and takes note of the inclusions in the emerald. In fact, of the 4 precious gemstones, emeralds are per se a fractured stone. Its fractures/inclusions, called Jardins, are accepted as a natural characteristic and mark of its unique beauty. Emeralds without Jardins are 99.99 out 100 times fake.

3) Clarity - We discussed how an expert cut enhances the clarity of a gem. More light bounces off of it. Unlike diamonds, impurities and inclusions -- Jardins -- in emeralds are common and considered part of its natural beauty. Jewelers say: Each emerald has its own fingerprint of how it was formed by nature billions of years ago. With diamonds (carbon), you want them as clean as possible, yet nature rarely makes an emerald (beryl) clean (without Jardins). In French Jardin means "garden." And if an emerald doesn't have them, have it tested. You're either set for life ... or own a fake! 

Wallis Simpson's ring

4) Size - As with all gemstones, bigger stones are rarer so prices rise exponentially per carat. Each additional carat of the same quality of emerald more than doubles and triples in price. Rats!!!

Just like emeralds, shoppers are all unique, so different strokes for different folks. Personally, I would forget about buying heirloom-quality emeralds. You'll have to pay $8,000+ for 1/4 carat stone surrounded by 1/2 carat of tiny diamonds. Paris Hilton, you can ignore my advice. 

😍Macy's comes through again! What an Effy beauty on a budget!!

Everybody else, if you consider commercial-grade stones, a 2-carat emerald is not cheap either, yet reasonable and doable as a luxury splurge for a working person on a budget (especially during a Macy's jewelry sale)! Moreover, a stone over 2 1/2 carats gets very expensive, what you would pay for a car, or the downpayment of a house.

Every splurge should be worth the money spent! When the verdict is, "I LOVE it," without going broke, it is.💚


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Tanzanite At Tiffany's

Photo: TazaniteJewelryDesign

Some people like to breakfast at Tiffany's. (Know the waiting list is long.) Recently I had a ball perusing Tiffany's fine jewelry collection, my research for THE SAVVY SHOPPER. The first floor of Tiffany's is set up with showcases of one beautiful, flawless stone set in gold after another. Under the glass and lights, diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other fine gems are ultra translucent in all their glory. I like to tell a sales associate that he is selling the stones, I wish I could buy instead of the ring I'm wearing!😍 Unlike some high-end retailers, Tiffany employees are very kind to laugh when I say it. They are well aware that many of us who walk in their door are only lookers. And yet, I often see some high-rollers! Hello serious buyers, pleased to meet you too!🙂

Let's talk about a jewel, which Tiffany & Co. named after the country where it was discovered: Tanzanite, a blue and violet stone, consisting of the mineral zoisite. Unlike my favorite, sapphires💙(which usually require greater heat treatment for clarity), tanzanites tend to be more "eye clean," and, they shine more!

Just like diamonds, tanzanites are valued according to the four "c"s: color, cut, clarity, and carat. The most desirable color is a vivid violet-blue, which is what I saw at Tiffany's. Nothing but!

Photo: Macy's

The gemstone was discovered in 1967 by Manuel de Souza, a part-time gold miner, in the hills of Northern Tanzania, and thus far, it is the only place on earth where the rock is found. The government in Tanzania has taken steps to stop the smuggling of tanzanites out of the mining area of the country. A wall completely surrounding the mines was built by the country's army. With regulations in place, the price of tanzanites per carat which now is lower than diamonds and sapphires is expected to climb in the future.

Photo: Effy Jewelry

Tiffany & Co. takes great care to buy their stones from ethnically minded sources where business is carried out in a humane way, which is to be greatly admired. 

Tanzanite measures a 6.5 - 7 on the Mohs Hardness Scale. (Diamonds are a 10 while pearls rate a 4.) So as with all fine jewelry, caution must be taken not to scratch this brilliant stone.

 

Photo: Effy for Macy's

On my fun day at Tiffany's, I found tanzanites to be as stunning as sapphires, yet glitters like diamonds. The upscale store is also a safe place to gaze at them because all are priced well above my budget. Still, it's eye-opening to behold top-quality jewelry. Thank you, Tiffany & Co., I had a lovely time trying on your beautiful twinkling tanzanites!

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