Colombian emeralds enjoy a very unique place in the world of emeralds, its high clarity and reach green had captivated the eye of the gem lovers.

In Colombia there is two main districts of Production of emeralds that contain similar qualities and supply the market from the last 500 years.

The combination of rich green, deep color, and clean crystals has made Colombian emeralds the most valuable around the world.

Trying to make basic the emerald world, lets said we can use a similar grading as Diamons: Color, Carat Weight, Cut and Clarity. Considering in this case the color as the most important along the four.

As there is not price list for emeralds, the evaluation of the following elements and the advise of an appraisal, gemstone dealer, jeweler or a educated in gemstones can allow you to bring the market price for the emeralds.

Clarity

Clarity of emeralds differs from other gems like ruby, diamonds or shappires, as Type III gems, emerald is the only major gemstone expected to have visible inclusions; in fact, any specimen without them is immediately suspect as a synthetic or an imitation.

Clarity is measured using a jeweler's loupe (a small magnifying glass used to view gemstones) under 10-power magnification. Because each emerald forms under its own, unique circumstances, each individual gemstone is comprised of a combination of trace minerals, which lend a precise color as well as unique identifying marks or inclusions.

``Jardin" or ``gardens" are natural inclusions you see in all the emeralds, at naked eye or with magnification. This allows emeralds to show the mystery and beauty of the most desirable gemstone in history. The wondelful gardens are the birthmark of emeralds that make natural emeralds different from sinthetic emeralds. There is no two emerald internal gardens that match.

The best clarity for emeralds is VVS or i1, minute inclusions to 10x and fine emeralds can start with SI1or i4 clarity scale.

GIA Ours Description
F N/A Flawless, Do not exist in emeralds
IF i0 Internal Flawless
VVS1 i1 Very, very slightly included - Minor inclusion to 10x (Best clarity for emerald)
VSI i2 Very slightly includes - Noticiable to 10x (Lightly Included)
VS2 i3 Eye Clean (minor inclusions to naked eye)
SI1 i4 Slightly included - Ovious to prominent to 10x
SI2 i5 Ovious inclusions to eye naked
I1 i6 Prominent inlcusion to eye naked
I2 i7 Decease - Prominent (moderate affect durability or apparence)

The best clarity let brilliance and live, Clarity is main factor in Emerald Quality. And emerald with good color, cut, carat weight need good clarity to bring live and fire, without will appear to eye very opaque..The poor Clarity could represent durability problems, you must be careful of fissures, or inclusions that reach the surface of the stone, mainly in the table of the Emerald. You most see the score of Polish , if it is fair or poor avoid this emerald.

What is it Clarity Enhancement??

Mean the use of Cedar oil or Resin coloress filling, this acceptable practice used in all emeralds from the last centuries. Cedar oil is the most used enhancement in the industry, as well in the last 20 years to bring durability to the enhancement process the Permanent enhancement, has been used more often.

COLOR
Is the most important, is almost everything, the best color balance is more valuable; Emeralds bring wide rage of colors. The best quality is a combination of Color, Tone and Hue, for it, our scale describe the grade of color starting in poor to Exceptional

The best Color is the pure green in the color spectrum.

TONE

Tone is how dark or light a color appears. Represent the depth of the color, ranging from colorless to black. Medium dark green and deep intense are the best ones, a dark green tone do not mean better quality, since does not show brillance and crystal.

HUE

Hue describes the emerald's basic color, The most valuables and beautiful emeralds exhibit an "Intense Bluish" in addition to their basic green color.

CUT

The design of the faceting on the surface of a gemstone is the cut. Cut is important to its overall appearance. Greater precision produces greater life and sparkle. The best score and scale in the cut rating is a combination of a perfect gem cut, a clean, polished surface free of surface fissures, and an excellent faceted shape.

In all cases, a well-cut emerald is symmetrical and reflects light evenly across the surface. A washed-out area in the center of the emerald is the result of a cut that is either too deep or too shallow. In an emerald with more saturated color, the best cut may be more shallow than average, permitting more light to penetrate the gemstone, while in a less saturated gemstone, the color may benefit from a deeper cut.

Cut grading scale
 AGS Ours Description
0 10 Ideal
1 9 Excellent
2 8,7 Very Good 
3,4 6,5 Good
5,6,7 4,3 Fair
8,9,10 3,2,1 Poor

CARAT WEIGTH

The term "carat" is universally accepted for most gemstones as a measure of weight. (Jade is sometimes an exception as it has been traded for centuries by size). Not to be confused with Karat, which refer to the purity of gold.

Carat is also often confused with size even though it is actually a measure of weight. One carat is equivalent to 200 milligrams. One carat can also be divided into 100 ``points." A .75 carat emerald is the same as a 75-points or 3/4 carat emerald.

A 1-carat emerald costs exactly twice the price of a half-carat diamond, right? Wrong. Since larger emeralds are found less frequently in nature, which places them at the rarest level of the Emerald Quality Pyramid, a 1-carat emerald will cost more than twice a 1/2-carat emerald (assuming color, clarity and cut remain constant)

Since gems are comprised of different chemical elements, they do not all weight the same, therefore, gemologist use weight as one means of identification. With emeralds you get a bigger jewel for the same weight as other major gems. Cut and mounting can make a Emerald appear larger (or smaller) than its actual weight. So shop around and talk to your jeweler to find the right Emerald and setting to optimize the beauty of your stone.

Clean emeralds over three carats with good quality get the best prices of the market, sometimes superior of diamonds.