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View All Gems Find My Gem
View All Gems Find My Gem
Six Sides
Emerald crystals usually are six-sided. These crystals are grouped together.
Flat Top
The tops of emerald crystals are usually flat.
A Garden
Inclusions make the inside of an emerald look like a garden. The name for this garden is called a “jardin” [zhar-dan].
Emerald is the green variety of the mineral beryl. (Beryl also includes aquamarine.) There are small amounts of certain atoms that make the emerald bluish-green to green. The age of the oldest emeralds from South Africa is almost 3 billion years old!
Colors
IMG - Gem Factoid Color - Green
The rich colors of emerald are bluish green to green.
History

4000

Years Ago

Over 4,000 years ago, most of the ancient emerald jewelry came from the Cleopatra mines in Egypt.
Famous Emerald
IMG - Emerald Factoid 104787 200x200
The Atocha Emerald Cross came from a sunken Spanish warship called Nuestra Senora de Atocha.
Robert Weldon, Courtesy of Eileen Weatherbee
what's in a name?
Emerald
[em-er-uhld]
(noun) This name comes from the very old Greek word smaragdus, which means green.

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