Emerald Buying guide
LEARN ABOUT OUR UNIQUE COLLECTION OF MUZO EMERALDS IN ALL THEIR VIVID SPLENDOUR.
EMERALDS
Fine quality Colombian emeralds are one of the most highly sought after gemstones in the world. Our GIA Gemologist Hamish Whiting, spent years living in Colombia pursuing his passion for emeralds, while establishing trusted local contacts. All CUSHLA WHITING emeralds are ethically sourced directly from Colombia. We are lucky enough to have a small collection of emeralds from the Muzo emerald mine.
Muzo is the oldest and most revered emerald mine in the world, prized for its high quality emeralds of ideal colour. Muzo emeralds are the standard by which all other emeralds are measured. Furthermore, they are completely mine to market, with the rough being extracted and then cut and polished at the Muzo headquarters. Each Muzo emerald is individually numbered and can be traced back to the ‘rough’ it originated from.
Muzo is recognised as an industry leader in its commitment to social, ethical and environmental responsibility.
TREATMENTS IN EMERALDS
Due to the naturally more fragile nature of emeralds, the vast majority have received some treatment to enhance their appearance and durability. With most emeralds coming from Colombia or Zambia you need to be extremely careful to ensure that you know what treatment the emerald has received as there are many treatments used in these countries that are unstable and can dramatically increase the apparent value of a stone.
Our Gemologist only buys emeralds that have only had minor cedar wood oil treatment. This is a stable treatment and means that the emerald only requires a minor amount of oil, so are naturally already more durable than those which have required more significant amounts of oiling or other treatments such as fracture filling.
EMERALD VALUE
The quality of emeralds can range enormously. Quality, not size, is the major factor in the value of an emerald, the quality being a combination of the intensity of color and the transparency of the crystal.
Origin can also affect value as this largely determines the colour quality, for example, Colombian emeralds are more valuable than African emeralds due to their superior pure green hue. Even the different mines within Colombia produce different quality emeralds which has an effect on price.