05 · MayLab-Created Emerald Ring 7×5 mm
Laboratory-grown emerald — cleaner than natural, and labelled as grown.
- Lab-created (synthetic)
- Untreated
- Mohs
- Wear
- 7.5
- Occasional
£135incl. VAT
Section: May
May — Emerald
Emerald — green beryl, and the reason the trade talks about jardin
Occasional wear only, regardless of the hardness figure. A knock on the girdle can extend an existing fracture.
3 pieces in this month, ordered by how often they can sensibly be worn — the most forgiving first.
Mineralogy
Emerald is beryl coloured green by chromium or vanadium. Mohs 7.5 to 8 — but the number is misleading. Emerald grows with a dense network of internal fractures and inclusions, called the jardin, which make it far more fragile than its hardness implies.
What the trade does to it
Fracture filling with oil or resin is near-universal in emerald and has been for centuries. It reduces the visibility of surface-reaching fractures. It is not permanent, it can be disturbed by heat and solvents, and it rules out ultrasonic and steam cleaning. Every natural emerald here is declared fracture-filled.
Documented history
Emerald has held May since 1912. The Cleopatra mines in Egypt's Eastern Desert were worked from at least the Ptolemaic period; Colombian deposits entered European trade in the sixteenth century and remain the reference for fine material.
May pieces
From £135 · all prices include VAT
Nothing in May reaches Mohs 8, so no piece in this month is graded for daily wear. If the piece needs to be worn every day without special care, look at April, July or September instead. We would rather say that than sell you something that will not survive the way you intend to wear it.
05 · May
Wear grades in this month
Suitable for daily wear
0 pieces in May
- Remove before contact sports and heavy manual work
- Remove before swimming pools and hot tubs — chlorine attacks the metal, not the stone
Occasional wear — avoid knocks
3 pieces in May
- Remove before gym equipment, gardening, DIY and washing up
- Do not stack against harder stones, which will abrade this one
- Avoid sudden temperature change
Delicate — special occasions only
0 pieces in May
- Remove before any physical activity — knocks will chip this stone
- Keep away from perfume, hairspray, cosmetics and hand sanitiser
- Avoid sudden temperature change and prolonged dry heat
- No ultrasonic tank, no steam, no soaking