Emeralds!

November 9. Day at Sea. Emeralds! I actually took the day off and read, went to Karen's talk on Emeralds and generally did nothing! BUT, I did take notes I'll share with you. Those of you who are not emerald fanatics, move on!

Emeralds are the oldest gemstone dating back five thousands years - and even though she mentioned that Pearls were much older, they are organic so emeralds and pearls don't compete. On the hardness scale emeralds fall behind diamonds (10), sapphires (9) and then emeralds at 7.5, so they aren't as soft as many think them to be.

The largest emerald ever found and cut was the Hooka Emerald, now residing in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Originally owned by a Sultan and it was set as a pin surrounded by diamonds as a clip for his belt and when the Ottoman Empire fell it became available at auction. Janet Hooka purchased it in 1955 for an undisclosed amount and had it remade into a pendant, eventually returned it to it's original setting and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1977.

Karen brought along a number of slides of spectacular emeralds, virtually all set with diamonds and I have to say, there was one that Hubert sold that made my eyes glaze over. Wow! I'll be dreaming about that one for a looooong time!

We learned that there are three emerald mining areas in the world: Colombia with the highest quality; then Brazil and Zambia which mass produce their emeralds... not a bad thing but, just be aware.

I learned that emeralds can be manipulated, either a little or a lot. Most have occlusions that are little imperfections - the emeralds that will hold their value are those which are simply oiled, that does not cheapen the stone; occlusions can be filled, and thirdly, the stones can be colored! Each process, with the exception of oiling, is going to lessen the value of the stone, but so long as you are aware of what you are buying, it's all good. Oh, one more... the Synthetic Hydrothermal Emerald! Quite inexpensive, and my guess is that would finally be in my budget!

Take away lesson is to know what you are buying, either with emeralds, or any gem, get a GIA certification and letter of authenticity and save the receipt; and always remember that a Heineken bottle is the same color as a good emerald!