Emeralds are among the most covetable gemstones today. Learn everything you need to know about mesmerizing emerald gemstones.
While colorful gemstones are always in style, emeralds are currently having a moment. Known for their rich green hue, emeralds have deep roots in cultures across the globe. In ancient times, people were just as captivated by their beauty as by the mythology surrounding their healing properties. Athough emerald is no longer attributed with mystical powers, society’s fascination with the gemstone and emerald jewelry endures today. This guide will teach you important facts about emeralds, where the green gem comes from, and what factors determine its color. It also includes a roundup of the largest and most fabulous emerald gemstones in the world.
Emerald Gemstone Facts

- Emerald is the birthstone of May. If you’re not sure what your birthstone is, check out our birthstone chart.
- It is the traditional gift for a 20th and 35th wedding anniversary.
- Emerald is one of the Big Three, a trio of the most desirable colored gemstones in the world, along with sapphire and ruby.
- Emerald is a variety of the beryl species, a mineral that is naturally colorless unless it contains chemical impurities, which color the stone. The mineral beryl comes in a wide variety of colors such as red, pink, blue, and yellow depending on its trace elements. However, only the most precious of these have a proper title, including emerald and aquamarine. This is similar to sapphire and ruby, which are both varieties of the mineral corundum, but reflect different colors due to their varying trace elements and chemical structures. In the case of emerald, the beryl receives its green color from trace amounts of chromium or vanadium.
- The first emeralds were mined in Egypt between 3500 and 330 BCE, although some experts believe the oldest emeralds are 2.97 billion years old. At the time, miners could only unearth tiny emeralds with countless inclusions. Even so, ancient Egyptian society still prized emeralds, which were exclusive to the noble classes.
- In ancient times, people believed that emeralds had supernatural capabilities. These powers included the ability to enhance fertility and ward off evil spells. Emeralds were also thought to guard against memory loss and enhance intuition.
Where Do Emeralds Come From?

In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors found emeralds in the Chivor and Muzo mines in Colombia, which belonged to the indigenous people of the land, as part of their search for riches in South America. This sparked a widespan emerald mining effort and Muzo is still considered a top source for high-quality emeralds today. Emeralds then slowly funneled into India, where cutters mastered the art of unleashing an emerald’s beauty.
In the 1960s, miners discovered green beryls in Bahia, Brazil, and thought they were emeralds. However, in addition to chromium, they were colored by vanadium — a trace element that wasn’t included in the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA’s) definition of emerald. This led to confusion about whether these gemstones classify as emeralds. Ultimately, after the boom of this beryl variety in Brazil and South Africa, the GIA decided to include them in the category of emeralds. However, some experts still don’t recognize this type of green beryl as emerald.
The best and biggest emeralds originate from Colombia, so it is the most desirable provenance and commands a higher price than emeralds from other countries. Each year, 60% of the emeralds mined globally come from Colombia. Most of them come from the Puerto Arturo mine in Colombia, the oldest of the Muzo mines. Other emerald sources include Brazil, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Madagascar.
Characteristics of Emerald Gemstones

Emeralds usually have jardins, or “garden” in French, referring to their natural inclusions that resemble moss or plant foliage. These inclusions result from the geological conditions they grow in, creating the appearance of cloudiness. Since emeralds with no inclusions are extremely rare, most emeralds sold today are treated to improve their clarity. Unlike sapphires and rubies, which are treated by heat, emeralds are enhanced using oils or polymer resins. To reduce the appearance of surface breaks, an expert immerses an emerald in oil or resin, which fills in any crevices. This process also improves the overall clarity and color of emeralds.
Treated emeralds are gorgeous and certainly valuable, although natural emeralds free of fissures are more desirable in the industry. “Collectors are always on a hunt for bright vivid green emeralds with exceptional clarity — as always, the larger the stone, the more difficult it is to find in an exceptional quality,” says Marco Hadjibay, creative director of Bayco Jewels, a high-jewelry brand that specializes in rare colored gemstones. Hadjibay also calls highly transparent emeralds “an anomaly of nature,” underscoring the rarity of “clean” emeralds.
Emerald Gemstone Colors

Two key factors that determine an emerald’s value are color and saturation. The ideal emerald isn’t too light or dark in color, is highly saturated, and is highly transparent. Even if it’s highly saturated, an emerald that’s too dark will be lower in value. If the color is too light, experts consider it just green beryl.
The amount of trace elements such as chromium, vanadium, and iron determines the color of an emerald, along with other geological factors. Chromium and vanadium are responsible for the vivid green color of emeralds. Iron, on the other hand, gives emeralds a bluish tint. Since emeralds can contain more than one trace element, they project different colors in many directions, otherwise known as pleochroism. The main hues they reflect are pure green, bluish-green, and yellowish-green. The color nuances of emeralds are not always apparent to the naked eye, so experts must use special equipment to correctly identify an emerald’s hue. Here are the main color categories and the trace elements that determine them.
Pure Green and Bluish-green Emeralds
The most valuable emeralds are pure green and bluish-green. Some people claim that Colombian emeralds have a more intense green color, while Zambian emeralds are cooler-toned with hints of blue. However, an emerald’s trace elements and therefore color are not necessarily tied to its origin. In fact, there are cases of bluish-green emeralds from Colombia and pure green emeralds from Zambia that debunk this theory.
Yellowish-green Emeralds
This type of emerald is the least valuable, although many people still find its yellowish-green color alluring. It comes in various shades, ranging from olive to grass green. The yellow overtones that compete with emerald’s green color result from natural radiation that occurs while emeralds are beneath the earth’s surface. That said, if an emerald is too yellow, there is a possibility that it’s actually heliodor — a category of beryl that ranges from greenish-yellow to orangish-yellow.
Emerald Gemstone Chart

Best Quality Emerald Gemstones
The most famous emeralds are exceptionally large and have interesting provenances. Here are a few examples of notable pieces that feature the highest-quality emeralds.
Elizabeth Taylor’s Bulgari Emerald Pendant Necklace
An engagement gift from her then-fiancé Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor had a collection of breathtaking Bulgari emeralds. The suite includes an emerald and diamond pendant necklace made of 16 step-cut octagonal Colombian emeralds. The necklace’s pendant was removable, allowing Taylor to also wear it as a brooch. It features a 23.44-carat Colombian emerald surrounded by 12 pear-shaped diamonds. The brooch sold for $6.5 million at a Christie’s auction in December 2011. This means the winning bidder paid a jaw-dropping $280,000 per carat — a significantly inflated price due to the suite’s provenance. If you’re curious about how provenance can raise the value of gemstones, check out our roundup of the world’s most expensive jewelry.
The Rockefeller Emerald

In 1930, American business mogul John D. Rockefeller purchased an emerald brooch for his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. When she passed away in 1948, he asked Raymond Carter Yard, a renowned American jeweler, to take the brooch apart so he could share the emeralds with his children. He gifted the brooch’s center diamond, weighing a staggering 18.04 carats, to his youngest son, David Rockefeller. Per David’s request, Yard mounted it in a platinum setting with trapezoid and brilliant-cut diamonds on its sides. This ring sold for $5.5 million at a Christie’s auction in June 2017.
The Chalk Emerald

When it comes to the finest Colombian emerald in the world, the Chalk Emerald usually comes to experts’ minds. It is a step-cut emerald that weighs an impressive 37.82 carats and boasts an intense, vivid green color. Some speculate that the Spanish shipped this emerald from Muzo to Mughal, India in the 16th or 17th century for cutting, and that it was never traded back to Europe. Legend also has it that the gemstone was part of an emerald and diamond necklace worn by Indira Devi the Maharani, or Hindu princess, of the former state of Baroda, India.
In 1959, a British gemstone trader purchased the emerald from Jagaddipendra Narayan, Devi’s son. Eventually, iconic jeweler Harry Winston purchased the emerald and recut it from its original carat weight of 38.4 to 37.82 carats. He then mounted the emerald into a platinum ring with a gold setting, featuring 60 pear-shaped diamonds totaling a whopping 15.62 carats. The ring is named after Oscar Roy Chalk, a New York entrepreneur who purchased it in 1962 for his wife. Today, it is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
The Imperial Emerald of Grand Duchess Vladimir of Russia

This 75.61-carat pear-shaped emerald was originally part of the Russian Imperial collection. In 1874, Tsar Alexander II of Russia gifted this precious gemstone, mounted in a brooch, to his daughter-in-law Grand Duchess Vladimir. After her passing in 1920, her son Grand Duke Boris inherited the emerald and sold it to Pierre Cartier in 1922. Cartier disassembled the brooch and used its elements to create a necklace for Edith Rockefeller McCormick, daughter of John D. Rockefeller. The necklace passed through several hands and eventually sold for CHF 4,335,000 ($4,301,018) at a Christie’s auction in May 2019.
Princess Faiza’s Emerald and Diamond Necklace

This stunning, Art Deco-inspired emerald and diamond necklace belonged to Princess Faiza of Egypt, sister of King Farouk. She purchased it in 1947 at a Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in Paris. The necklace has baguette-cut and epaulet-shaped diamonds with scalloped links. However, the main draw of this piece is the nine graduated drop-shaped emeralds suspended from it. It also features an emerald at the yoke of the necklace. These emeralds are Colombian and treated minimally with oil. It sold for CHF 3,861,000 ($4.1 million) at a Christie’s auction in November 2013.