QUALITY ROUGH EMERALD CRYSTAL SPECIMEN This is natural untreated emerald crystals with vibrant colours Columbian emeralds are known for.The Emerald is in its host rock and it makes a great specimen.

Emeralds are a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale The wonderful green color of emerald is unparalleled in the gem kingdom. Emerald’s precious green color is caused by small amounts of chromium and enhanced by traces of iron. Unlike other beryls, emeralds often contain inclusions and other flaws. These flaws are not looked on as negative aspects for emerald like they would be for other gemstones. Indeed, these flaws are considered part of the character of the stone and are used to assure the purchaser of a natural stone.  However, fractures and inclusions are so common in emeralds that their toughness is affected - emeralds tend to break more easily than other beryls. Emerald tends to have numerous inclusions and surface breaking fissures. Unlike diamond, where the loupe standard, i.e. 10X magnification, is used to grade clarity, emerald is graded by eye. Thus, if an emerald has no visible inclusions to the eye (assuming normal visual acuity) it is considered flawless. Stones that lack surface breaking fissures are extremely rare and therefore almost all emeralds are treated, “oiled”, to enhance the apparent clarity. Eye-clean stones of a vivid primary green hue (as described above) with no more than 15% of any secondary hue or combination (either blue or yellow) of a medium-dark tone command the highest prices.