Emeralds have always been a mixed bag when it comes to jewelry. Emerald is one of the few precious stones that are expected to contain wisps, tiny fractures and fissures in the affordable quality and so most consumers had to accept that their emeralds would always have a multitude of inclusions. However, today many consumers of fine emerald jewelry have come to expect clean emeralds ever since 1976 when a very different type of emerald was discovered in Zambia. Stones that were cut from Zambian rough material was so clean that many gem dealers first thought that these emeralds were lab grown. Their saturated greens with a tinge of gray were in stark contrast to the softer and sweeter green colors from Colombian and Brazilian stones.
This Zambian discovery offered the opportunity for genuine emerald jewelry to be accepted not only for color but also for clarity and brilliance. No doubt there was a clash in the market place between these completely different looking type of emeralds and the Zambian gems were often relegated to second place status because they lacked the definitive coloration of The South American emerald and the pedigree of the Colombian Emerald.
However in time they radically changed the expectations of consumers with regard to emerald clarity and ended up taking over a large share of the affordable emerald market. For the first time emerald jewelry sets could be made with emeralds that were not only matched for color but clarity as well. An emerald jewelry set of matching emerald ring, earrings and pendant could be put together without the the difficulty of trying to match for clarity.
Emerald jewelry rings and pendants could now be made with eye clean stones on a regular basis without the pitfalls of Colombian emerald jewelry that although matched for color would often be mismatched because of each stone’s different set of inclusions. No longer was it necessary to forage through antique emerald jewelry on a desperate search to match emerald stones. It also became possible to use small clean Zambian emeralds in silver emerald jewelry because of the lower cost for clean goods and the way the higher luster of these emeralds complimented the soft whiteness of polished silver.
Emerald and diamond jewelry looked better with the higher luster Zambian material because the brilliance of these emeralds complimented the high refractive index of diamond. Emerald diamond jewelry rings in the traditional three stone setup with emerald in the center flanked by a matched pair of diamonds now looked more stunning than ever.