Emerald was recorded to have been mined in Egypt as early as 330 B.C. It is well documented that emerald was Cleopatra’s favorite gem, but did you know she loved it so much that she wanted to own every single piece of emerald? To achieve this, she laid claim to every emerald mine in Egypt, and Cleo even went so far as to retake the oldest known emerald mine in the world from the Greeks.

In the 1700s, emerald mines were established in Colombia, which has since made Colombia the world leader in emerald production. Colombia alone is responsible for more than half of all emerald production in the world, but emerald is mined throughout the world including in Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Pakistan, Russia, Zambia and the United States. 

Lab-grown emerald was introduced in 1935, and synthetic emerald has progressed to the point of being almost impossible to distinguish from naturally occurring emerald. Moreover, lab-grown emerald has the same chemical structure and trace elements as mined emerald for a portion of the cost. This makes emerald more accessible to budgets of all sizes.

Emerald’s name comes from the Greek word smaragdos which translates to “green gem.” Wondering how a word that sounds so different turned into emerald? This happened when smaragdos was translated into Latin becoming esmeraude or esmeralde. The latter was adopted into French in the 16th century and finally made its way into English as emerald.

Emerald is said to promote friendship, peace, harmony and domestic bliss by enabling the wearer to both give and receive unconditional love. The stone is also linked with abundance and youth. Ancient folklore says emerald has magical powers; an example of this was the belief that placing an emerald under your tongue would show you the future, and it would reveal if someone is lying and protect you from evil (allegedly).

While emerald is green and a member of the beryl family, that does not mean all green beryl is emerald. Though pretty in its own way, light green beryl is much more common than the deep green of emerald (caused by intense saturation of chromium or vanadium), and this is reflected in green beryl’s value being worth far less. Instead of being emerald, light green beryl is sometimes classified as a subset of heliodor, which also contains greenish-yellow beryl.

Emerald is less dense than diamond, so emerald provides a larger gem for the same amount of weight. This makes emerald a good option to explore if you want a larger gemstone while staying within your budget.

As a type III clarity stone, almost all emeralds have inclusions. This makes the extremely rare and flawless emerald more valuable than diamond. Because imperfections are so common, almost every emerald is treated with oil to improve its clarity and hide flaws. Imperfections in emerald can actually be desirable and is seen as an important part of its character. In emerald, inclusions have been given the special name “jardin” (French for garden) because they resemble moss.