How to Identify Real Emeralds

Many “emeralds” are actually green gems, green glass, or imitations made from a variety of materials. You need to do a lot of testing before you can come to a conclusion whether a gem is real or fake, as the results are not always accurate without specialized gemological equipment. If you have an emerald, you might also want to try to see if it’s a natural or a lab-created synthetic.

Table of Contents

Emerald Review

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Find the gem’s fault through a magnifying glass or jeweler’s magnifying glass. Examine the gem under a magnifying glass, ideally a jeweler’s 10x magnifying glass. Hold the magnifying glass so that the light hits the gem at an oblique angle, preferably in a thin beam if possible. ^{[1] X Research Source} If you observe very small blemishes or irregular patterns, it is likely a real gem – although not an emerald. If the gem is transparent, with almost no “impurities”, it is probably a synthetic emerald (man-made, but real), or not a gem at all.

Air bubbles that occur only in natural emeralds are located near impurities of various shapes. If you only see a cloud of air bubbles without other impurities, the gem is probably glass – but it could also be a synthetic emerald. ^{[2] X Research Source}

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Check out the sparkle effect. Real emeralds will not or very little reflect “flame” i.e. the colorful flashes that appear under light. If your gem is emitting rainbow-colored rays, it is not an emerald. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Observe color. Beryl is only called an emerald if it has a deep green or blue-green color. Lemon yellow beryl is known as heliodor, and bright green beryl is simply called blue beryl. ^{[4] X Research Source} Lemon yellow can also be pivine or green garnet. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

The line between emerald and green beryl is very thin – two jewelers may not agree on the classification of a gem.

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Consider the wear of the sections. Glass and other soft materials wear out quickly. If the edges of the sections look soft and worn, the gem may be fake. ^{[6] X Research Source} Imitation jade often has convex “orange peel” textures and slightly rounded profile edges. ^{[7] X Research Source} Look for the above features with a magnifying glass.

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Check out the classes. The imitation jade “composite stone” is made from two to three layers of different materials, often with a blue layer between the two layers of colorless stone. If the stone has not been attached to the jewelry, you can easily see these layers when immersed in water and viewed from the side. ^{[8] X Research Source} If the stone has been attached to the jewelry it will be a little harder to see, but you can try looking at the surrounding edges for unusual color changes.

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Observe emeralds through dichroic glasses. Some gemstones show different colors when viewed from different directions, but you only need to use a fairly inexpensive tool called a dichroic glass to tell them apart. Place the stone close to one end of the dichroic glass and look through the viewing window. The stone will be illuminated by a strong diffused light source and white like a cloudy sky. ^{[9] X Research Source} Rotate the stone and dichroic glass to observe from all directions. Real emeralds will give off two hues, green-blue when viewed from one angle and lemon-yellow from another. ^{[10] X Research Source}

Strong dichroism (two distinct colors) is a sign of high-quality emeralds. ^{[11] X Research Source}
Results may be irregular due to internal reflections from a surface, to the characteristics of fluorescent light, or to light reaching the viewing cell without passing through the stone. ^{[12] X Research Source} In addition to this, you should use other methods to get accurate results instead of using only one method.

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Beware of cheap stones. If the item looks suspiciously good, trust your intuition. Natural emeralds with a vibrant vivid green color usually cost at least VND 11 million per carat. ^{[13] X Research Source} If the price is unbelievably low, the stone is probably glass or crystal rather than emerald.

Synthetic emeralds are much cheaper than natural emeralds, but not as cheap as most other synthetic stones. ^{[14] X Research Source} A small synthetic emerald costs approximately VND 1.5 million per carat.

Kennon Young

Gemstone Expert

Kennon Young is a GIA graduate gemologist and JA jewelry technician. He received the highest certification in the jewelry appraisal industry, the ASA Gemologist in 2016.

Kennon Young
Gemstone Expert

If the emerald is attached to a piece of jewelry, you need to check the attachment as well. If the gem is attached with glue instead of being held with a set of pins, it is likely a fake. Also, if you see round cross-section seams it’s much more likely that it’s cast stone or plastic.

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Take the stone for inspection. If in doubt, take the stone to a jeweler for a professional assessment. The jeweler has specialized tools to give you the correct answer, along with a detailed description of your stone.

Find a jeweler licensed by a national organization, such as the American Society of Gemstones or the American Gemological Association in the US. A degree in the gem trade is also a plus.
Avoid appraisers that are affiliated with a certain retailer, especially with a retailer looking to sell you the gem you wish to appraise.
Inspection fees often vary considerably and can be per item, hourly or per carat. You should not choose an assessment service that charges a percentage of the value of an emerald. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Get to know synthetic emeralds

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Understanding synthetic emeralds. Synthetic emeralds are created in a laboratory and have the same chemical composition as natural emeralds. They are real emeralds, but are much cheaper due to the lower cost of production. If you suspect someone is trying to sell you a synthetic emerald at an inflated price, use the following tests:

For a solid test, move on to the next step to use an emerald test filter.
If you don’t want to buy filters, you can switch to other tests. These tests still require some equipment, as synthetic emeralds are difficult to discern with the naked eye.

Use filter

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Purchased 3 types of emerald test filters. You can find online a Chelsea filter, a synthetic emerald test filter and a validation filter. The latter two are called “Hanneman filters” and can be sold in pairs. The price of all 3 filters is about 60 USD (about 1.2 million VND) so it may not be worth buying if you only try one stone.

In some cases, you’ll also need a jeweler’s magnifying glass to get a close look. Most emeralds do not need this tool for viewing.

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Look through the Chelsea filter. The first step is to check the emerald through the Chelsea filter: ^{[16] X Research Source}

Place emerald under incandescent light on a flat white background. (Fluorescent lighting can skew results.)
Cover the metal or other stones attached to the emerald with a tissue to prevent the colors from reflecting.
Hold your Chelsea glasses close to your eyes and notice the color you see through the filter from a distance of 25 cm or a little closer.
If the emerald is red when viewed through the Chelsea filter, take the next step to test it through the synthetic filter.
If the emerald is green through the Chelsea filter, you will move on to the test with the confirmation filter.
If the emerald has a red-purple color, it is a synthetic gem. You can confirm the color by looking through both types of filters (synthetic and confirmed) – if the gem is green through both glasses, it is synthetic. If the gem is green through the synthetic glass but red through the confirmation glass, it is a natural gem.

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The next step is to use a composite filter. If an emerald is red or pink when viewed through a Chelsea filter, it contains chromium. Both natural and synthetic emeralds can contain chromium, so you need to distinguish them with a synthetic filter in the test kit: ^{[17] X Research Source}

Hold the emerald about 10 cm away from the light source and observe through the synthetic filter.
If you still see red or pink, the gem is a synthetic emerald made with the flux method.
If you see a green tint this time, it’s a natural emerald, possibly from Cpumbia or Russia.

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Observe the gem through the confirmation filter. This method is only useful if the gem is green through the Chelsea filter. Please follow these steps: ^{[18] X Research Source}

Move the jade about 10 cm away from the light source and observe through the synthetic filter.
If it’s green-blue, lilac, or pink, it’s a hydrothermally synthesized emerald.
If you see that the gem is still green (not cyan), move on to the next step.

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Examine the emerald through a jeweler’s magnifying glass. If there is a green tint through the Chelsea filter and through the confirmation filter, it is likely that the gem is natural or synthetic. Fortunately, synthetic gems that match this description often have characteristics that are different from natural gems. You can observe emeralds through a jeweler’s 10x magnifying glass:

If the gem is transparent and almost free of impurities, it is almost certainly a synthetic hydrothermal emerald.
If the magnifying glass reveals many minor flaws (needle crystals, blotches, etc.) the gem is a natural emerald containing vanadium and/or iron, such as emeralds mined from jade mines in Zambia, Brazil and India.

Other test methods

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Check for impurities. Initially, synthetic emeralds had very few impurities compared to many of the small imperfections found in natural jade. ^{[19] X Sources of Research} Later on, jade synthesis did produce more impurities, but some were found only in natural emeralds. If possible, look for the following features under a jeweler’s microscope or magnifying glass:

If there is an “inclusion” in the gem that includes both air bubbles and crystals, you have a natural emerald. ^{[20] X Research Source} This is called a “three-phase inclusion.”
Some crystals occur only in natural emeralds: bamboo green actinpite filaments, mica flakes, or pyrite crystals. ^{[21] X Research Source}^{[22] X Research Source}^{[23] X Research Source}

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Shine an ultraviolet light on the emerald. For this test method, you will need a “long wavelength” ultraviolet lamp – the cheapest and most widely available. Bring the emerald into a dimly lit or dark room and shine an ultraviolet light on the gem and observe the color of the fluorescence:

Yellow, olive green or magenta fluorescence is a sure sign that it is synthetic. ^{[24] X Research Sources}^{[25] X Research Sources}
If there is no fluorescence at all, the gem may be a natural emerald, although it is uncertain. There is a type of synthetic emerald that also has no fluorescence. ^{[26] X Research Sources}
Earthy pink or red-orange fluorescence may indicate natural or synthetic jade.

Advice

A refractometer is a great tool for identifying gems, but can be expensive and difficult if you haven’t learned how to use it. If you can use a refractometer, check to see if the gem has a refractive index between 1.565 and 1.602; which is about the refractive index of natural emeralds. ^{[27] X Research Source} You also need to check for optical birefringence (double refraction) – around 0.006. Synthetic emeralds have an optical birefringence of about 0.006 or significantly less, and a refractive index usually between 1.561 and 1.564 or possibly as much as 1.579. ^{[28] X Research Source}^{[29] X Research Source}^{[30] X Research Source} If the results fall outside this range, the stone is most likely fake.
A term that sounds like the name of the country of origin (“Cpombia”; “Brazil”) actually refers only to the appearance of the gem. Each region typically produces emeralds of a certain color, and gems matching that description are often named after the region. This is just a general rule, as each region can produce different types of jade. ^{[31] X Research Source}

Warning

Emerald is hard to scratch but its brittleness is enough to break on impact. Hammer is not a good tool for testing gems!

Steps