Site under construction
Nothing here yet.
Plenty on the bench.
This is a stand-in page while the real emeraldz is being put together. The stone is rough-cut, the polishing takes however long it takes, and I'd rather ship it properly than ship it fast.
Plate I
Emerald cut, plan view
- Facet
- Hover the stone
- Ring
- –
- No.
- – / 17
Drawn, not photographed
Scale n/a
01 — Specimen
A green beryl, mostly. Here is what that means.
- Mineral
- Beryl
- Variety
- Emerald
- Formula
- Be3Al2Si6O18
- Colour from
- Chromium, vanadium (trace)
- Crystal system
- Hexagonal
- Hardness
- 7.5–8 Mohs
- Refractive index
- about 1.57–1.58
- Famous flaw
- Inclusions (the “jardin”)
Emeralds are almost always included. Those internal fractures and wisps are so common that gem people call them the stone's garden, and a perfectly clean one is the unusual case.
02 — Hardness
Hard, but not as tough as it sounds.
Emerald
- 1Talc
- 2Gypsum
- 3Calcite
- 4Fluorite
- 5Apatite
- 6Orthoclase
- 7Quartz
- 8Topaz
- 9Corundum
- 10Diamond
Hardness is scratch resistance, not toughness. Emerald scratches little, but all those internal fractures mean it can still chip or crack from a knock, which is why it's usually set in protective mounts.