Emerald represents the beauty and promise of nature in spring. Also called the stone of Venus, the Greek goddess of love. The crown jewels of Iran contain the largest collection of emeralds in the world. Roman Emperor Nero is said to have worn emerald glasses to refresh and soothe his eyes during gladiator fights, green is the easiest color on the eyes. Emeralds were also thought to bring wealth and power and reveal the truth or falsity of a lover's words! The name emerald is of ancient origin. The Latin word smaragdus appears to have referred to the stone we now call emerald. It is the birthstone for May.
The color of emerald is a beautiful distinctive hue of green, colored by chromium and or vanadium. The finest emeralds have an intense medium green to slightly bluish green color. All emeralds contain inclusions, but the finest quality are very faint and not visible to the naked eye. The mines in Columbia, Muzo and Chivor produce the largest most beautiful emeralds. In the last decade, Africa has been producing many fine quality emeralds. Emeralds have a hardness of 7.5 to 8 on the Moh's scale of hardness, but they do tend to be brittle. Emeralds should not be put in ultrasonic machines or be steam cleaned. Avoid rapid temperature changes and any type of chemicals. The best way to keep your emerald jewelry clean is with warm water and a very soft toothbrush. |
