9 Carat Yellow Gold 6x4mm Oval Emerald Stud Earrings

Specifications
Earring Metal - 9 carat yellow gold
Earring Fasten - Post and butterfly
Post length - 9.5mm
Stone dimensions - 6x4mm
 
Care and Cleaning
Emerald is probably the most well known member of the beryl mineral family and is one of the most famous and historically important gemstones in the world, along with sapphire, ruby, and diamond. Pliny the Elder famously wrote ‘nothing greens greener’ when he described emerald and even today you’ll be hard pushed to find a gemstone (natural of synthetic) that can compete with the striking hue of a fine quality emerald. 
 
Though emerald is a popular and important gemstone, it comes with some durability issues. Most emeralds are heavily fractures and it is common practice these days to treat emerald to make it durable enough to be used in jewellery. Experts estimate that 95% of all emeralds on the market are clarity / durability enhanced. Without these treatments there would be a much lower supply of gem-quality emeralds on the open market and the few that would be desirable and durable enough to be used in jewellery without treatment would be extremely expensive and not available to the majority of consumers. 
For these reasons we except treatments in emeralds as an essential part of their fashioning process, provided that any treatment is disclosed. 
 
The most common type of emerald treatment is oiling. Using a synthetic or natural oil, treaters fill surface reaching cavities or fractures and ‘heal them with the oil. This improves not only durability but apparent clarity and colour as well. Resins and polymers are also sometimes used for the same purpose. 
As useful as these treatments are, they are not permanent. Oils, resins and polymers can scratch, discolour and even fall out or be removed by heat and chemicals over time. 
Emeralds that have undergone these kinds of clarity enhancements should never be ultrasonic or steam cleaned, exposed to high temperatures, household chemicals or direct sunlight for long periods of time. 
To clean your jewellery at home we recommend a soft jewellery cloth or warm water and a soft brush, but avoid vigorous scrubbing.  
We do not recommend that emerald jewellery been worn everyday. 
 
Lead glass filling in emerald is slightly less common but is something you may come across from time to time. The lead glass is melted and pressed into surface reaching fractures to make the stone usable in jewellery and the same durability issues and special care requirements apply to lead glass fillers as oil, resin and polymer fillers. 
 
Always assume an emerald has been treated in some way to improve durability and appearance. Oiling and cavity filling with resin or polymer isn’t always directly disclosed but always assume it is there unless it is stated and proven otherwise. 
Lead glass filling should always be disclosed separately and any of our emeralds that contain lead glass will be disclosed below. 
 
To prolog the life of the stone, and any treatment on the surface of the stone, we always recommend putting your emerald jewellery on after any hair products, makeup, lotions, or perfumes are applied. 
 
Education
If you would like to learn more about gemstone treatments, what these treatments are and what they do, as well as which treatments are stable and how to look after gemstones with unstable treatments, please visit our education page.