Just wondering if any members here work for the big labs (GIA, AGL, GUBELIN, SSEF, AIGS, etc) or are experienced gemologists, and their thoughts on the lack of uniformity across the industry on the Vanadium colored Emeralds or Beryl if you prefer…
I did a little digging and found that the AGTA, the GIA, Richard Hughes and the Gem Guide all use color as the determinant of whether a stone is an emerald or not. Green beryl of the right shade or green or bluish green is emerald, no matter what the colorant. This became the practice at least 20 years ago. -royjohn
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I thought that emeralds were only vanadium or chromium. Ferrous and ferric iron are green beryls. Is there a clear distinction of the coloring agents, and not only the color?
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Emeralds have always been about the hue and the saturation. The color can come from Chromium, Vanadium, and/or Iron and usually some combination of these. There is no consensus as to the exact percentages. It’s like some labs will grade a pink-orange as a Padparascha and others as a Pink Sapphire. Same with Ruby and Pink Sapphire. Where is the line…
I will be looking at a sizeable stone this coming week that GRS has certified as an Emerald. Since I live in the USA, I need the GIA to call it an Emerald as well. I know it is irritating and I will get trolled for this but that’s the reality. If they call it a Green Beryl, then kaput!
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Hi Edwin,
Your concern is warranted. I know GIA uses lab-graded comparison stones for their classification determination. They also acknowledge that differences exist between the major labs with establishing the deterministic threshold, per this article:
https://www.gia.edu/emerald-description
Fingers are crossed that your stone passes with flying colors! No pun intended.
Cheers!
-Troy
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Steven,
From what I have read, emeralds can have varying amounts of iron in them and it tends to make the color go towards either yellow or blue…so green with a yellow cast or blue cast. Stones colored only by iron will be a green beryl of a lighter or moderate green color not qualifying as emerald. A definition of emerald that relies on color makes so much more operational sense than one focused on the colorants involved. Can you imagine certifying emeralds if you had to meet certain percentages of vanadium or chromium, when another stone didn’t meet those criteria but had an equally beautiful and saturated color? A similar situation is now taking place with diamonds, where sophisticated instruments are sometimes required to differentiate lab from natural and that benefits no one but the equipment manufacturers. -royjohn
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From what can be found on line:
Nigerian Emerald Find -
The emerald-bearing pegmatites are hosted in very old Precambrian crust—likely hundreds of millions to over a billion years old—reflecting deep geological processes that brought beryllium into contact with chromophores like vanadium and chromium.
Nigerian Nasarawa Eggon emerald/beryl - Pegmatites in Precambrian basement rocks
Likely hundreds of millions to >1 b
illion years (no precise date published)
These Nigerian emeralds/green beryls can show light green to bluish-green colors, often influenced by vanadium and iron, and sometimes exhibit zoning or bicolor effects.
Gem labs and trade sources sometimes describe them as vanadium-colored emeralds.
My Comments: See Attached recent GIA Cert; GRS has a similar cert for same material, but it is twice the size, also described as Emerald. Both described as having NO Treatment, No Fillers, etc. Seems that some new material is being found in Nigeria, as some similar material may have been found in the past and only recently, this new deposit has apparently been found. NOTE the date on the GIA cert – November of 2025, just a few months ago. The GRS cert for the just under 10ct gem is also dated November of 2025 – I believe that both gemstones were submitted by the same dealer to both GIA and GRS…
My understanding is that all emeralds have some small to trace amounts of iron that add to the color. Chromimum and/or Vanadium still must be the major coloring elements. Green Beryls are colored by iron and have little or no Cr or V.. When V colored emeralds from Africa first entered the market, there was controversy as whether they were emeralds. The debate was settled years ago. V emeralds were declared emeralds. I am correct about this?
the assymbly of the supercontinent Gondwana land which was the cause of the Pan African orogeny occurred 800 to 535 million years ago. The major collision was at 530 million. The timespan covered the Proterozoic to Cambrian periods. One billion is Proterozoic, before the assymbly of Gondwana land.Pegmatitie formation occurred. the :”older granite” pegmatites in Malawi were formed C.1 billion. Nigerian Kaduna deposits came much later, during the Mesozoic- 300 -200 million. These were the “younger granites”. the result of volcanic and instrusive activity as the compression relaxed..
Just contact GIA to make that exact inquiry, but that must be the case. Im still waiting to hear back with some other questions I had for them.
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