Emeralds are fascinating gemstones. They have the most beautiful, most intense and most radiant green that can possibly be imagined: emerald green. Inclusions are tolerated. In top quality, fine emeralds are even more valuable than diamonds.

The name emerald comes from the Greek smaragdos via the Old French esmeralde, and really just means 'green gemstone'. Innumerable fantastic stories have grown up around this magnificent gem. The Incas and Aztecs of South America, where the best emeralds are still found today, regarded the emerald as a holy gemstone. However, probably the oldest known finds were once made near the Red Sea in Egypt. Having said that, these gemstone mines, already exploited by Egyptian pharaohs between 3000 and 1500 B.C. and later referred to as 'Cleopatra's Mines', had already been exhausted by the time they were rediscovered in the early 19th century.

Cleopatra prized her emeralds more than any other gem The Romans also loved emeralds because, as ancient scholar Pliny said, "nothing greens greener." The Moguls of India loved emeralds so much they inscribed them with sacred text and wore them as talismans.

 Emeralds are cut in Jaipur, India and Tel-Aviv, Israel as well as in the mining countries. Emerald is one of the most difficult gemstones to cut because of the high value of the rough stone and the many inclusions found in crystals. Small changes in orientation can make a large difference in the final appearance of the gem. Skilled craftsman who specialize in cutting emerald can be found in cities around the world for jewelers who insist on having stones perfected for the optimum brilliance.

And one more piece of advice on the purchase of an emerald: whilst diamonds generously scintillate their fire in sizes below 1 carat, you should go for larger dimensions when acquiring a colored gemstone. True, there are some lovely pieces of jewellery with small colored gems to set decorative accents, but emeralds, like other coloured gemstones, do not really begin to show that beautiful glow below a certain size. Really large specimens of top quality are rare. This means that the price of a top-quality emerald may be higher than that of a diamond of the same weight. The fascination exuded by a fine emerald is simply unique.

Alternate Names for Emerald are, Panna, Markat, Samargdos (Greek), Tarkshya (Sanskrit), Zamurrad (Persia), Smarlda(Latin), Esmaurde(Latin).