Emerald

Emerald is a green variety of the mineral beryl, it is the most famous and valuable green gemstone.

The name Emerald is derived from the French "esmeraude” and the Greek root "smaragdos” which means "green gemstone".

The Deep green color is the most desirable one in Emeralds. The attractive green color to the gem combined with its rarity makes it one of the most expensive gemstones as it's the most valuable gemstone of variety of Beryl. The green color of Emerald is for the most caused by trace amounts of chromium impurities, and sometimes vanadium.

 The majority of Emeralds stones are immersed in oil and that is because they contain usually many cracks and fissures, this act reduces the visibility of the inclusions, and also improves the clarity.

Emeralds are found in many countries, like: Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa and the United States. But the top quality of this gem is found in Columbia. Colombia and Brazil are the major producers of Emeralds.

 Care should be taken when storing, cleaning or using this gem as jewelry because it is a brittle stone, the hardness of Emeralds according to the Mohs scale is 7.5-8.