Jewelry

[depglass]

Just got a 5 stone Kagem emerald ring from LC.  Stones are badly included as I expected, but the green is very bright.  Is this a natural attribute of Kagem emeralds or is the stone possibly dyed?

[Kachina624]

@depglass    All you have to do is ask Google.  There's a lot of info about them online. 

"Kagem Zambian emerald ranks 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale of hardness. ... Kagem Zambian emerald is sometimes treated to increase clarity and color through fracture filling and dyeing" 

[SilleeMee]

"Kagem Zambian emerald is sometimes treated to increase clarity and color through fracture filling and dyeing."

Found that on ShopLC's website

[Porcelain]

I just read an article about Kagem emeralds and it says they are naturally that green. There's a lot of chromium in them.

"Although they are the more recent to be discovered, east African emeralds are known to be much older than emeralds from other parts of the world, and get their pure green hue from the presence of chromium, iron and beryllium."

It's from this article: 

"Green light: A look behind the scenes at Zambia's Kagem, the world's largest emerald mine

Is there such a thing as ethical mining? We visit a mine that supplies Gemfields stones to find out"

Seems to me to be a bit of a whitewash article. But mining is usually not a particularly nice process. Anything that can be done to improve it is, I guess, to be commended.

[depglass]

Thank you Kachina624.  (and others who posted after I answered here)  When I buy from that channel I use the phone system so I haven't read whatever they have put online.  I have a couple of their fissure filled rubies.  You can't see the cracks, just minor inclusions.  The emerald's inclusions are pretty obvious.  So keep it or send it back is the question.  

[SilleeMee]

I bought these Zambian emerald studs from SLC last year. Stones are 4x3 and treated with oil, no fissure fill with wax. Although they have some inclusions, their color is so vivid green, the glow is spectacular and the clarity is unreal. Inclusions in emeralds are to be expected but not so much that it makes them opaque.

[songbird]

@SilleeMee  Very pretty emeralds.  They are very green for one thing.  You can get Colombian emeralds cheap if they have that yellow undertone.  I hate that type of green.  Very ugly.  But good emeralds are beautiful.  It's all about the color, inclusions and all.  This is Mother Nature, not lab created.  I appreciate good emeralds even though they are not my type of stone. 

Same thing with my stone (Corundom) Sapphires, rubies, etc.