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Exploring Rarity: No Oil Emeralds


Wednesday 10th April 2024

Exploring Rarity: No Oil Emeralds

Emeralds are one of the most sought after gemstones on today's market, but to find one of quality, is a truly rare feat. The old mines of Colombia were known for producing only the finest quality emeralds. These old mines have long been depleted and the old material, most usually found in antique jewels, is highly sought after, and is regarded as being without equal in terms of colour, clarity, and quality.


Emerald Rough With Surrounding Host Rock

Emeralds today are routinely treated with resins, a practice which has been increasingly common since the 1970s as lesser quality emeralds are mined. This treatment acts to enhance the clarity of the gem, emeralds being naturally a more included stone. These resin filled emeralds simply cannot compare to the emeralds that we see prior to this date, before this treatment became commonplace.

Therefore, there is a premium attached to any emerald which has no resin. Before resin was introduced, the alternative was oil, and these emeralds, hailing from Colombia, are amongst some of the rarest and most beautiful. Rarer still, and accounting for less than 1% of all emeralds, are those which feature no oil at all.


Emerald Polishing 

An emerald so clean, with so few surface reaching fissures, that no oil has penetrated the stone. It is without question the most valuable of all emeralds you will come across today, an investment in a gem which can no longer be found in nature, and is even incredibly rare to find on the market.

Victorian colombian emerald diamond ring berganza hatton garden
Victorian colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring, circa 1900.
Ref: 26462
Antique emerald and diamond cluster ring berganza hatton garden
Edwardian Colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring, circa 1905.
Ref: 26547
Colombian emerald and diamond three stone ring hatton garden
Colombian emerald and diamond three stone ring, circa 1910.
Ref: 27672
Emerald and diamond cluster ring hatton garden
Emerald and diamond cluster ring, circa 1920.
Ref: 27677
Colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring berganza hatton garden
Edwardian Colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring, circa 1910.
Ref: 26096
Colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring hatton garden
Colombian emerald and diamond cluster ring, circa 1970.
Ref: 27795
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Updated 30/10/2024 at 2:14PM

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