If you’re considering adding a piece to your jewelry collection and want to add some color, you may look at an emerald. Emeralds have a beautiful green color that will draw everyone’s attention. However, you might also wonder if an emerald is more expensive than a diamond.
When comparing a high-quality emerald and a diamond of the same carat, the emerald will likely be more expensive. Emeralds are much rarer than diamonds and often have more inclusions. Therefore, a near-perfect emerald will cost a fortune, often more than a high-quality diamond.
The price and quality of an emerald or diamond are determined by four factors: cut, clarity, carat weight, and color. We will discuss how these factors determine whether an emerald is more expensive than a diamond and how you should choose a high-quality emerald.
Are Emeralds More Expensive Than Diamonds?
When considering a new jewelry piece or an engagement ring, people often only look at colorless diamonds. However, colored precious gemstones, such as emeralds and rubies, are slowly gaining popularity. Emeralds are a popular choice. These gemstones make a statement, and the beautiful green color will draw your attention.
When you search for an emerald ring or statement piece, you may notice that emeralds are quite expensive. In fact, they are more expensive in some cases than diamonds. So why are emeralds more expensive than diamonds?
It’s mainly because high-quality emeralds are a lot rarer than diamonds. Emeralds are only found in certain parts of the world, with Columbia having the biggest emerald mines worldwide. However, finding a big, high-quality emerald is difficult because emeralds are much softer and more brittle than diamonds.
When considering the supply of diamonds vs. emeralds, you’ll notice that diamonds have a much bigger supply than emeralds. Diamonds account for more than half of all precious gemstone trade. On the contrary, other precious stones, including emeralds, rubies, and blue sapphires, make up the other half of the precious gemstone trade.
As such, there are a lot more diamonds to trade than emeralds. Because of their scarcity, emeralds are extremely expensive. What’s more, finding a big piece of emerald with good clarity is not an easy task. The price of a diamond or emerald is based on four factors: cut, clarity, color, and carat weight. So how do diamonds and emeralds compare in these four aspects?
1. Diamonds Vs. Emeralds In Terms Of Clarity
Emeralds are formed of Beryllium Aluminum Silicate (Beryl), while diamonds are formed of Carbon. Emeralds score a 7.5 on the Ohms scale, while diamonds score a 10. This means that diamonds are much harder than emeralds and, therefore, more durable. Because emeralds aren’t as durable, they often have visible cracks and inclusions.
These cracks and inclusions make an emerald less clear than a diamond. One might assume that this makes a diamond more expensive because it tends to have a higher clarity than emeralds. However, this isn’t always the case.
When determining the value of an emerald, clarity doesn’t play such a significant role. This is because emeralds naturally have more inclusions. These inclusions make each emerald unique and therefore more valuable. In addition, the green color of an emerald hides the inclusions better than the clarity of a diamond.
Therefore, although clarity is a huge determiner of the price of a diamond, it doesn’t affect the price of an emerald as much. For this reason, a diamond with more inclusions is worth less than an emerald with the same inclusions.
2. Diamonds Vs. Emeralds In Terms Of Cut
Diamonds can be cut in various shapes, such as pear, round, cushion, or oval. Cutting a diamond in these shapes allows the jeweler to hide some of the inclusions in the diamond and ensures it sparkles. The bigger the cut diamond is, the bigger the original stone needs to be. Therefore, the diamond will also be more expensive.
However, as big emeralds aren’t as easy to come by as big diamonds, they are mainly cut into one shape, a square or rectangular shape known as the emerald shape. Emeralds don’t shimmer like diamonds. Therefore, changing the shape of an emerald doesn’t affect the emerald as much as it will a diamond.
In addition, since it’s challenging to find large emeralds, most jewelers prefer not to waste too much of the stone’s size by altering the shape.
When comparing an emerald to a diamond’s price, you must consider the size of the stone and how it is cut. Emeralds are mostly cut into one shape, while different shapes of diamonds have different values.
3. Diamond Vs. Emerald In Terms Of Color
As the color of an emerald is its main attraction, you can expect to pay more for an emerald with a dark green finish. An emerald’s color ranges from yellow-green to dark green. The greener the emerald’s color, the more valuable the stone, and the higher the price.
On the contrary, diamonds are valued according to the absence of color. Therefore, a colorless diamond will be more expensive than a diamond with a yellow tint.
When comparing the price of an emerald and a diamond, you must consider the color of both. For example, a deep green AAA-graded emerald may be more expensive than a near-colorless or colorless diamond of the same size. However, other factors also contribute to an emerald’s price compared to a diamond’s.
4. Diamond Vs. Emerald In Terms of Carat Weight
Diamonds and Emeralds are weighed according to the same system. The size of a diamond or emerald depends on its carat weight. When comparing a diamond’s price to an emerald’s, you must consider their carat weight. You can only compare the price of two stones if they have the same carat weight.
Remember that a 1-carat emerald will appear bigger than a 1-carat diamond. This is because the color of an emerald makes it look bigger, and an emerald is less dense than a diamond. Therefore, you might have a visually bigger stone when buying an emerald instead of a diamond.
When comparing the price of an emerald and a diamond of the same carat weight, some emeralds may be more expensive than diamonds, or vice versa. The carat weight plays a vital role in determining the price of a stone. However, the stones’ cut, clarity, and color should also be considered when looking at a diamond and an emerald of the same carat weight.
These are the main factors to consider when buying an emerald or diamond. When comparing the price of the two, you must consider all four factors to determine the quality of the stone. When comparing two stones of the same quality, you may find that the emerald is more expensive because it is much rarer than a diamond of the same quality.
Conclusion
Emeralds are, in some cases, more expensive than diamonds because they are rarer than diamonds. In addition, finding a near flawless emerald of considerable size doesn’t occur as often. Therefore, these emeralds can cost more than a diamond of the same quality.
When comparing the price of a diamond and an emerald, you must consider the cut, clarity, color, and carat weight. If all these factors are the same, you might discover that the emerald is worth more than the diamond.
