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Like aquamarines, emeralds are a part of the beryl family of minerals. Aquamarines get their blue color from iron, whereas emeralds get their green hue from chromium, vanadium, and trace amounts of iron, the latter of which is thought to only...
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Like aquamarines, emeralds are a part of the beryl family of minerals. Aquamarines get their blue color from iron, whereas emeralds get their green hue from chromium, vanadium, and trace amounts of iron, the latter of which is thought to only affect the shade of green in an emerald rather than being primarily responsible for its color. While the first emerald mine is often said to have belonged to Cleopatra (69-30 BC), emeralds in Egypt actually go back to the beginning of Ptolemaic period (about 300 BC). Emeralds were actively mined there until the 16th century, when demand ebbed after Spanish conquistadors stole the high-grade beryl mines that were tended by native South Americans in what is now Columbia. Today, mines in Muzo and Chivor, Columbia, continue to be leading sources of pure-green emeralds, although the industrial methods used to extract the stones is thought to do needless damage to the emeralds themselves. In contrast, Brazilian emeralds are lighter in color than those of Columbia; Zambian emeralds are a deep green. Pakistan is another traditional source of emeralds, as is Afghanistan. More recently, emeralds have been mined in North Carolina, by professionals and tourists alike. With a hardness of at least 7.5 on the Mohs scale (diamond is 10, turquoise is 6), emeralds are often given a step cut—also known as an emerald cut—to limit waste on this expensive gemstone. Because flawless emeralds are the exception rather than the rule, cut stones are usually oiled to hide their imperfections—vintage emeralds can be oiled again to give them a second life. Interestingly, emeralds have about half the specific gravity of rubies and sapphires, which is why emeralds don't feel as heavy on the finger or around the neck as those aforementioned gem varieties of corundum. The birthstone for those born in the month of May, emeralds are spring-green by nature, which is why the word is used to describe everything from islands (Ireland) and cities (Oz,...
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