Emeralds are some of the most beautiful gemstones in the world. The rich green color is incomparable to that of other gemstones.

The finest emeralds are thought to be Columbian and South African, but fairly recently, about 1980 Brazil has become one of the most important suppliers fine color emeralds with virtually no inclusions. Brazil has many deposits of emeralds, the stones are slightly lighter in color than Columbian stones.

The emerald's name is Greek smaragdos, meaning green stone. In ancient times the term applied not only to emeralds, but to most all other green stones. It was thought that green stones could prevent poor eyesight. Also to give one supernatural abilities to foretell the future and to improve memory. Thousands of years ago the Egyptians were making jewelry with emeralds.

Emeralds are a member of the beryl family, with the coloring agent of chrome and sometimes vanadium. Several varieties of colored beryl is used as gemstones. Green beryl is called emerald and the blue variety is aquamarine. All other colors of beryl are called precious beryl. Emeralds are the most precious stones in the beryl family and are 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale.

Only the very finest of emeralds are transparent. Often they are cloudy with inclusions that the experts call jardin French-garden. These inclusions do not mean inferior, but rather means the stones are genuine when compared to synthetics and simulants. Sometimes there are tiny cracks in emeralds and Jewelers will use oil

and resins to hide the inclusions. The color saturation is often irregular; dark green is most desirable, but there are more emeralds with bluish tints being sold today.

Emeralds are found in many countries around the world; Brazil, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Australia,

Russia, Namibia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana, India, Madagascar, Malawi,Pakistan, Tanzania, and the United States  produce quality emeralds.