Birthstone of the Month: Emerald
May is a beautiful time of year. The new warm sun is inviting, and everything is bursting with life and colors. Spring babies will agree that May is the best time of year. Enji wants to help celebrate with those who were born in this spectacular month. We have found 10 interesting facts about your birthstone.
Emeralds are considered one of the four precious gemstones. The other stones are sapphire, ruby, and diamond.
Not only is Emerald part of the precious gemstone family, but it is also the rarest of them all. This combination gives the emerald its high prices.
Another attribution to Emeralds high prices is the fact that they are only a 7.5/10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness. This means they are vulnerable to chipping and cracking making it difficult to set them into jewelry.
Emeralds are known for their variety of rich green colors. They can range from soft green to a deep forest green, with the deeper color being considered more valuable.
Any stone not dark enough to be considered an Emerald is classified as a Green Beryl.
Not only is the color of Emeralds important, but so is the clarity. Unlike diamonds, imperfections in the emeralds can make them more valuable. Clear emeralds free of imperfections are rare and typically a sign of a synthetic stone, making imperfect emeralds more desirable.
Emerald’s clarity can also be inspected with the naked eye. A diamond’s clarity would have to be examined under 10x magnification.
If you compared a 2-carat diamond next to an emerald, you would notice the emerald is slightly bigger. Due to its density, a 2-carat emerald would be bigger than a diamond.
The first documentation of emerald mining is in Egypt during 1500 BC. They were even Cleopatra's favorite gemstone and her obsession with them was well known.
Emeralds were first discovered and mined in America in 1997 when they were found in the Yukon Territory. However, large Emerald quantities are difficult to find in the United States and further north.
Sources:
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/emerald-facts-2042967
http://www.charlesschwartz.com/10-enchanting-facts-about-mays-birthstone/