The Emerald is a member of the Beryls family.
The green color of an emerald comes from the presence of chromium in the gem.
Well traditionally it has, but a source of emeralds was found in Brazil which were
colored by vanadium, as recently as 35 years ago.
This find sent shock waves through the gem world.
The first emeralds were believed to be mined from Cleopatras mines in ancient Egypt, some two thousand years BC.
These mines provided the bulk of the worlds emeralds until 1750 when the mines were mined out.
At this time a vast shortage of emeralds occurred in Europe, but new sources were found from the Inca civilizations in
South America.
Columbia still produces the highest quality emeralds in the world, but Brazil, India, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan
and Zimbabwe all produce emeralds.
Even with emeralds coming from all these different regions, there is still a shortage of emeralds.
Emeralds are now manufactured in labs to make up for the short fall between the natural emerald and market demand.
The emerald while being very hard is not shock resistant. They can occasionally be shattered.
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