Emerald is known as the ‘gem of spring,’ and is an ideal choice as the birthstone for the month of May. Besides, it is also the gem that marks the twentieth and thirty-fifth wedding anniversaries and makes for a perfect gift.

Ever wondered what makes a particular green tone of emerald so desirable? Gemfields offered us some insight: saturation in an emerald relates to its vividness, brightness or intensity of the color. Sometimes, this is described as the amount of ‘life’ in the gem, with some being referred to as duller, involving greys and browns and are not sought after. The tone describes the lightness or darkness of the emerald. The most desirable emeralds, according to gem experts, have vivid color saturation and tone that’s not too dark.

Often, emeralds are paired with white-colorless diamonds to give a lovely contrast and offset the gem’s beauty. Geneva-based Boghossian, for instance, creates a dramatic asymmetrical parure wrap necklace embellished with 150 carats of pear-shaped emeralds and diamonds.

Some designs have colorful combinations of precious stone, while others have minimal emerald accent. One such design is the Bagha ring from Boucheron’s bestiary, set with a green oval tourmaline, pavé diamonds, black sapphires and two cabochon emeralds that are featured as the eyes.

Piaget’s high jewelry Mediterranean Garden collection is an ode to the glamor of the Riviera, which is why a gorgeous pair of earrings, celebrating the Yves Piaget rose motif, makes it to our list of favorites, as do the splendid emerald creations, unveiled by Chopard as part of its Red Carpet collection at the Cannes film festival. Other emerald pieces that fascinated us include designs by Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, David Morris, De Grisogono, Faberge, Graff and Glenn Spiro.  Pick your favourite!

Smitha Sadanandan