Colombian emerald
The epitome of green, this classic colored stone dates back to the 16th century, when it was all the rage among the maharajas
The secret to the Colombian emerald’s venerable mystique boils down to a simple fact of chemistry. The stones found in legendary deposits such as Muzo and Chivor have less iron, which tends to shift or dampen the color of other emeralds. Colombian gems, on the other hand, are loaded with chromium and vanadium — the two elements responsible for producing the definitive emerald green.
The market pays dearly for these flukes of nature. It’s a classic case of quality influencing the evolution of taste influencing the market. A top-notch Colombian can fetch upwards of $20,000 per carat at wholesale, well above the per-carat prices achieved by the finest stones from other emerald sources on the gemstone map: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Brazil, Afghanistan and Russia. But iron doesn’t explain everything. The beryl crystals in Colombia grow big enough to facet into 80-carat-plus stones, giving jewelers the ability to create designs of dramatic proportions. Then there’s provenance. Discovered by the Spaniards in the 16th century, Colombian emeralds were coveted by the maharajas of India. It wasn’t long before they gained a reputation as gems favored by royalty. That legacy persists to this day in emeralds known by the term “old mine.” It’s a matter of some debate as to whether it refers to emeralds that were mined in the long-ago past or whether they merely come from a mine — typically Muzo or Chivor — that’s historically been known to produce outstanding crystals, but like many esoteric terms common to gem parlance, it carries a connotation of extreme quality.
“An extraordinary emerald is honey-like — it isn’t crisp like a glass of water but more like a glass of honey,” says retailer and gem expert Richard Wise. “That honey-like transparency, that’s part of the old-mine look.” Despite the value accorded to these stones, it’s rare to find a clean specimen. Most emeralds emerge from the ground riddled with fissures that lend them a gauzy appearance, like cobwebs inside a glass bottle of Sprite. Colombian dealers routinely rub them with cedarwood oil to fill the cracks and improve their clarity, but this traditional technique has evolved over the years to include high-tech resins and epoxy fillers like Opticon. The emerald market has had its share of drama over treatments, especially in the past decade, when consumers discovered that some stones were being sold without proper disclosure. However, traders insist the market has now fully recovered. For the finest emerald dealers in the world — among them a New York-based firm called 4G’s Trading Corp. and the multi-generational Gad family, Afghan Jews who fled Kabul in the late 1950s and established their own Colombian emerald trading network with outposts in New York, Hong Kong, Israel and Bogotá — as well as for the retailers who source from them, the outlook for this classic colored stone is unblemished.
Green is good Art Deco emerald and diamond bracelet in platinum by Cartier, circa 1935, at Camilla Dietz Bergeron, $975’000; Van Cleef & Arpels ’s Sacre du Printemps necklace features 705 Colombian emerald balls totaling 677 carats, price upon request; and natural pearl and emerald bead necklace originally owned by the Maharaja of Jaipur by Kazanjian Bros., $950’000
Loose stone images provided by AGTA
