Emerald is a stone of wisdom, love, and wealth, often used to bring loyalty in love into one’s life. Connected with the Goddess Venus and the heart Chakra. With extensive history and lore, Emerald has been a popular stone among royalty for centuries. Emerald was considered a symbol of eternal life in ancient Egypt, and was a favorite jewel of Queen Cleopatra. A healing stone for the heart, both physically and emotionally. Emerald strengthens the eyes, the heart, and the immune system. Emerald has been said to protect one against spells and dark magic, as well as enhance psychic ability and vision.
Emerald is also popular because of its beauty, value, and its resilience to being scratched or cracked when used in jewelry. It has been prized since ancient times by many cultures. Fine emeralds are among the rarest popular gemstones on earth and are estimated to be 20 times rarer than gem diamonds. Emeralds have a great luster and sparkle that makes them look gorgeous when faceted and set in jewelry or even wire wrapped. Emerald as a lapidary material can be both inexpensive or very expensive depending on the clarity and color saturation but even non-gem, extremely opaque stones can add a great splash of characteristic green color to any lapidary project that is usually only seen in softer, easily chipping stones such as apatite or fluorite. Therefore, emerald can be used in jewelry that does not have much protection around the stone. This is exactly why emerald has long been valued as a precious gemstone.
Though emerald has a somewhat limited distribution worldwide, it makes for a great theme to a collection, especially an ‘investment collection’ that would accrue value over time. Emeralds are a finite resource that gets rarer with each passing year, though there have been several recent discoveries of emerald- in Zambia, Madagascar, and the Yukon Territory. With the exception of the Zambia discovery, which is responsible for the construction of a large currently active mine, the other localities generally are not productive.