I have noticed gem dealers calling green Beryl light green emeralds. I u understand that emeralds are green beryl but is this really a correct nomenclature for all green beryl ie to call them emeralds
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Hi there dear NK1. sa per the reading and study materials available on IGS. 
Mint green Beryl and light green Beryl are closer to the Aquamarine side of things, as in where emeralds have clear distinguishing factors when it comes to their colour saturation and hues, there must be enough Vanadium and Chromium present molecularly to provide the correct hue that we have come to expect from the beloved Emerald Beryl branch of the Beryl family. Therefore if the hue is lower than the hue schedule requires for Emeralds, it is then seen as green Beryl molecularly by the lacking of high content of Vanadium and Chromium heavy metals present, meaning that the elements are present in lower content than needed to produce Emeralds. A key trick that I picked up a long time ago to separate the two is that green Beryl generally has a lessor complex heavy metal composition and it tends to stay more clean in its appearance whereas with Emerald, being more complex and dense in the rear heavy metal content, tends to be more intensely included and colour saturated. It is not to say that you can’t come across large clean Emerald Beryl’s but over a certain size, clarity and colour saturation, it should be lab checked and graded on the specifications for the Beryllite Grading charts by an expert in Gems. Due to the extreme values that Emerald have has come to be expected in the market place today. Please do go and look at Emerald and green Beryl write-ups available in the IGS gem Encyclopaedias available or even try to take the Emerald short course, it will help you understand it better both the mineral and its counter part gems. Best regards jarryed
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jarred Thank you so so much. This is extremely helpful. I am a jeweler and I felt that calling green beryl an emerald was a sales trick. I will not deceive mum clients and I will look to educate them when this comes up. I do hope I can find time for a mini course sometime. thank you again for your clear response
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Its my pleasure sir feel to contact me any time +27 71281 7588.
It’s true. Emeralds has vanadium and ( or) chromium in there formation. The element aluminum is the reason why emerald has so many inclusions in general. Complete correct
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Hi jarreyed,
I want to amplify your response on green beryl vs emerald. It’s only emerald if it within a particular color area of green and blueish green. If it is too light, it isn’t emerald. If it is really, really dark, it isn’t emerald. If it has a yellowish tone, it isn’t emerald. If it has much more than a little blue in with the green, it isn’t emerald. I’m basing this answer on my Gemworld Guide “World of Color” reference material. The Gemworld Guide just doesn’t give a value for beryls which are outside a fairly narrow spectrum of pure green and just slightly bluish green…they just don’t include them in the valuation grid.
It’s somewhat similar with aqua…greenish blue beryl qualifies as aqua, but not blue green, even tho’ you will find a blue green beryl being called “seafoam green aqua” or something similar. I’m not completely sure whether GIA has equally strict definitions or not, but certainly their grading is somewhat similar.
Now just because I say this, it doesn’t mean that gem dealers all over the place will not call beryls emeralds which technically are not or aquamarine when technically they are not. I saw a TV show on a very famous gem selling network where they were selling “white aquamarine” a few years ago, when there is no such thing. They may have since cleaned up their act…I think trying to sell white aqua violates regulations of the Federal Trade Commission, but I’m not completely sure about that. I think doing things like that would definitely get you thrown out of the AGTA. Dealers on Facebook will offer you some good deals on gem rough, but some of them cannot spell the gem names in English, and some persist in calling green spodumene kunzite and calling nearly colorless beryl aquamarine. My point being that many people do these things out of ignorance and others do them by design. So it’s caveat emptor, learn your gemology and use some form of color reference if you want to be exact in your valuations, even though a lot of people, even professional gem cutters and gemologists, sometimes don’t. Best Regards, royjohn
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