What tools do you need to buy or sell emeralds?

Any emerald seller or buyer should be equipped with tools that make it easier to evaluate and examine a natural emerald. It may seem obvious, but not many commissioners or emeralds have these elements, not doing so may seem unprofessional.

They are not easily accessible items, in fact they can mostly be bought in a stationery. However, it is necessary to acquire them of the best quality to allow a much more detailed examination of the gems.

Team for emeralds and commissioners

• Lupa: the first element within the tools to buy or sell emeralds is a magnifying glass of ten increases (10x). This magnifying glass should be special to observe stones, as normal magnifiers tend to reflect light and do not allow you to see sometimes see the real colors of a gem.
• Emerald clamps: additionally, all emerald or specialist in precious stones must have emerald tongs, preferably metal. Plastic tweezers are also accepted, however, in these it is much easier for the stone to slide.
• Stone envelopes: in the emerald guild there are white envelopes of cardboard paper, which sometimes come with butter paper inside, in these emeralds are stored in lots or per unit for sale.
• Palas: Shovels are necessary in case of encountering a large emerald lot. This tool will make it easier to pick up the gems in batches and not do it one by one.
• Rubbers or elastic: although this is one of the unprime elements, commissioners often have packages of emeralds divided according to the owners of the same. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the different packages separate in groups with these rubbers so as not to confuse them.

How to use tweezers and magnifying glass correctly

Here are some recommendations for using tools to examine emeralds and not fail in the attempt:

1. The first thing is to clean the stone to prevent the footprints or stains from passing through inclusions that do not exist in the stone.
2. Later, look at the room around it and find the exact spot where the light enters. (It can also be placed under a special gem lamp.)
3. As far as possible visualize the stone on a white surface, or make sure you have a safe table in case the stone slips from the tweezers.
4. He's ready to look inside the emerald. The first thing will be to check the angles and facets of the stone.
5. Once you look closely at the gem's facets, you can proceed to check the color of the stone. Within the color you must contrast the tone, see if it changes color with light and without light, see the transparency, the carbons and the inclusions present.
6. The next thing will be to ask questions about the gem. I mean, ask the seller if this stone is oiled, if any treatment was done, where it comes from, and how much they're asking for the emerald.
7. Finally, having asked the relevant questions he is ready to buy the desired emerald, negotiate the prices if necessary and reach an agreement that satisfies all involved.

Examine emeralds with fingers

Even emerald experts examine most of the gems in their hands and even hold them with their fingers.

This is usually done when the stones are large or when you have a safe surface under the stone in case it slips out of your hands.

The only aspect to take into account in this practice is to clean the stone before, during and after having it in your hands, since many times you usually leave immersed traces on the rock that come to look like inclusions typical of the gem.

Examining stones in this way can sometimes be much better than with tweezers, since if the person has little experience using this tool he could scratch the stone or cause cracks if he does not measure the strength.

Examine emeralds with a microscope

If anything is a fact, it is that you don't need a microscope to buy emeralds. However, if you have the possibility to do so you would have the complete certainty of what is inside the gem.

This methodology under the microscope is much more common when you are buying or selling emeralds of great economic value.

If you want to do a more specialized study of an emerald it is best to go to the gemological laboratory and request a certified gem card where you will specify, weight, provenance, treatments and even the origin.

Paula A. Bonilla 

Social communicator and journalist from Sergio Arboleda University in Colombia. She is also a jeweler and is passionate about constantly learning about precious gems and national high jewelry.

Currently, she is working for one of Bogotá's most important jewelry stores, Emerald by Love. This jewelry store has over 40 years of experience and has 2 physical branches in the capital city of Colombia, located in the city center.