Selling emerald earrings in Miami can be a daunting task. You may have gotten your earrings as a gift or inherited them and not know their value. As with everything else, you need to find a trustworthy jeweler to evaluate your emerald earrings. It is not easy to find an expert you can trust in Miami. It seems as though very few know what they are talking about regarding emeralds and even fewer can be trusted. Regent Jewelers has been at the same location since 1997. We are experts in emeralds and have several untreated, very rare and very fine emeralds in our collection.

The process of valuing emeralds is not as well defined as valuing diamonds, as there is no established trading platform for emeralds, and there is no reliable market analysis available to the trade. Therefore, experience and current market contacts are required to properly value an emerald. Emeralds should be valued based on the following five things:

• Provenance: Provenance is very important when valuing emeralds. The origin of an emerald establishes a base value from which to start the valuation. For example, Colombia is famous for producing some of the world’s most beautiful and valuable emeralds. One of the most expensive emeralds, the Rockefeller Emerald was purchased by Harry Winston for 5.5 million dollars or $305,000 per carat in 2017 at Christies New York Auction. Provenance can be determined by studying the internal qualities of the emerald under a microscope and using other gemological tools such as light filters and laboratory equipment. To establish the true value of a fine emerald, a gemological laboratory should be consulted and a grading report provided. Most very fine emeralds are accompanied by gemological reports from two different laboratories.
• Color: Color plays a big part in valuing an emerald as fine emeralds have a rich, deep green color. Fine emeralds have a beautiful green color which saturates the stone evenly. Colombian emeralds have long been held in high esteem for their rich green color. Emeralds have been valued by kings and queens since the time of Cleopatra. When the conquistadors returned to Europe with Colombian emeralds the standards used to measure emerald quality were abruptly changed as these large beautiful gemstones outshined many in royal collections.
• Inclusions: Inclusions are naturally occurring imperfections inside emeralds, which give them characteristics which can identify their provenance and affect their beauty. Even the most expensive emeralds have inclusions which can help us determine their origin. Colombian emeralds have small jagged fluid inclusions which can, together with other aspects, help us identify them under microscopic examination. If inclusions become too concentrated and cause visually obvious clusters, they lower the value of the emerald.
• Treatment: Treatment of emeralds has been going on since the first emeralds were mined. Emeralds are made up of small cavities and crystals that create an imperfect surface when the emerald is polished. In order to make the emerald look better and have a deeper, cleaner look, these voids are filled with a substance to make them look less obvious. The oldest method of treatment is to fill the microscopic pores in an emerald’s surface with cedar oil. This is accomplished today by placing the finished emerald in a pressure cooker type of device which forces cedar oil into its cavities. Modern treatment processes use polymers and other substances to make emeralds look better. Treatment of all kinds lower the value of emeralds, with cedar oil being the less impactful on value.
• Cut: In emeralds, cut refers to the ability of the lapidary artist who polished the emerald to bring out its beauty through the use of proportion, shape and most important the original orientation of the shape to its X axis. While there are many technical aspects of cutting an emerald, the most important thing to remember is that there is only one way in which the emerald comes out with the most color and most beautiful. An emerald which is cut properly will be even colored, symmetrical and full of life.

There are many valuable emeralds which come from other parts of the world, most notably Zambia. Zambian emeralds have a different hue of green than Colombian emeralds and are beautiful but not as valuable as emeralds of same color saturation and clarity that originate in Colombia. China has also produced high quality emeralds, but once again their value is not the same as Colombian emeralds.

Overall beauty and color are very important when valuing fine emeralds. Even emeralds with gemological laboratory reports stating their non-treated state and their origins cannot create a complete picture of the value of the emerald. It has been said that papers tell but beauty sells.  Emerald earrings made with fine emeralds can be quite beautiful and valuable. Matched fine emeralds can command a higher price than individual emeralds and their rarity is appreciated by collectors world- wide.

Regent Jewelers appreciates how difficult it can be to sell jewelry that has been inherited and has sentimental value. We specialize in fine emeralds and can provide a realistic market value for your emerald earrings on the spot. Regent Jewelers endeavors to keep abreast of the world emerald market and is always seeking to purchase fine emeralds in Miami. If you have a pair of emerald earrings and would like to sell them or learn their value, please call us to make an appointment.