Green Heat, Green Sugar: Emerald Quiz

Answer: They are green in color.

The stone name "smaragdus" is probably a synonym for green. It has been used for green microcline feldspar (amazonite), peridot, green tourmaline, jade, and green garnets! More recently, the name has been restricted to beryls of a sufficiently intense green.

Answer: Zimbabwe

Very fine-colored emeralds have been mined in Zambia in recent years. Although the stones tend to be small, they can have superb brilliance and clarity. Other parts of Africa have yielded good emeralds also, but political instability has hampered the large-scale development of many areas.

Answer: Either chromium or vanadium

Many traditional gemologists still hold that chromium is the only coloring agent acceptable in genuine emerald, describing stones with primarily vanadium coloring only as green beryl. Others point out that emeralds can have varying proportions of both elements, and that the gems can be indistinguishable to the eye.

The GIA started certifying vanadium-colored gems as "natural emerald" in 1963.

Answer: Beryl

Other beryls are aquamarine, heliodor (golden to golden-green in color), morganite (recently and tentatively sometimes called pink aquamarine), and goshenite (which I haven't yet seen called white aquamarine, but won't be surprised when I do!)

Answer: Iron

Stones called simply "beryl" are usually pale greenish and clear. When a more definite green, blue-green, or light blue is present, the gem is called aquamarine.

Answer: Chrysoberyl

Chrysoberyl is worn as faceted golden-to-green transparent gems and as the precious catseye. It sometimes has the ability to change color from greenish under natural light to pinkish, orange, or purplish in artificial light. When this change is a dramatic one, the gem is called alexandrite. The mineral composition of the chrysoberyl is different from that of beryl, however.

Answer: Sexual passion

Emeralds have been said to fracture when worn by unchaste people. An emerald ring on the hand of one King Bela of Hungary is supposed to have shattered even though the lady he kissed was his own lawful wife! Common beryls were believed to rekindle and keep fresh the love between spouses, however.

Answer: Darker and more intense in color

The chromium atoms responsible for emerald color fit awkwardly into its crystal structure, rendering the stone cloudy and fragile. This also makes the emerald more difficult to polish and set. The depth and intensity of emerald green transcends these drawbacks.

Answer: Bixbite is not green.

Red emerald? That's as absurd as a pink sapphire or a blue topaz....oh. Bixbites have fresh bright color ranging from bright pink to incredibly deep raspberry and fuchsia. Like emeralds, they tend to be cloudy and heavily included, and are somewhat fragile and tricky to cut. "Red emerald" gives the gem its place in a family of noble gemstones.

It is undeniably more pleasant to hear than "bixbite." This controversy seems unlikely to be settled soon.

Answer: Chelsea filter

Not always definitive, but still a useful test. Natural emeralds appear red when viewed through this filter, although emeralds with significantly high vanadium levels may appear darker or even inert. The first successful laboratory emerald was the Chatham (TM) emerald, a beautiful product very difficult to distinguish from natural gems without microscopic study.

The filter does provide a good clue, however. Inventor Carroll Chatham probably used only chromium as a colorant. When viewed through a Chelsea filter, they flame brighter red than any stones mined in nature!