Natural emerald ring designs for $299; white gold emerald eternity rings under $260; emerald engagement rings under $400; created emerald ring settings under $230; yellow and white gold emerald ring engagement and wedding sets from $300 to over $1,000; cheap emerald rings and sophisticated designs for less; where to buy emerald ring styles that are unique and how to custom make a design of your own – if you seek emeralds, be they natural or created, Jewelry & Accessories shows you what’s available, where to shop, and how much you can expect to pay.

Shopping For Your Emerald Ring

Emerald ring shopping is not easy if you are on a limited budget because emeralds in general are expensive precious gemstones often much more expensive than diamonds. It’s also a gem that comes in so many quality variations that knowing what to look for is tedious.

For example if you want to buy a diamond engagement ring, you can consult a chart and know the clarity, color and cut and be fairly confident you know what you’re buying, but when it comes to choosing emerald engagement rings, the differences are not so clear. Why? Because emeralds can be filled, colored, enhanced, heat treated, simulated, lab created and altered to such an extent that without expert knowledge it may very difficult to know what you’re buying. Often genuine emerald ring creations are sold alongside treated or created designs that look almost identical and are often marketed simply as an “emerald ring” without exact details of quality being provided.

How To Know If An Emerald Is Good Quality

Price: First, if you’re looking for cheap emerald rings, under $100 or $200, then you can expect to get either a simulated or lab created stone or an inferior quality gem that has been treated, enhanced or filled with resin. If you know nothing about emeralds and do not have the time to learn about how to differentiate a quality gem from an enhanced one, then you’re going to have let price be your guide. You will not get an investment quality emerald, set in gold jewelry designs, for under several hundred dollars. It’s that simple.

Origin: Second, you can know something about a gem based on its origin. High quality emerald ring dealers will state where their gems come from and will offer a certificate of authenticity from a gemological institute.

Colombian Emeralds: The best natural emerald ring creations will have Colombian emeralds. Likely from the most famous Coscuez Mine with the rarest and most valued being the Trapiche emeralds that are singular due to six pointed star-like rays that radiate from a central point within the gem. Colombian emerald ring designs, with the best stones, are very expensive and dealers will clearly advertise this fact.

Brazilian, Zimbabwean and Zambian Emeralds: Knowing the origin of your emerald will be an indication of it’s quality, but not only Colombia has excellent pieces, also Brazil and Zambia have excellent stones with good transparency. The Zambian gems are a darker green than the Columbian ones, which tend to have light green translucence with a bluish tinge. The best African genuine emerald rings with stones from Zimbabwe will likely come from the Sandawana Mine. You will notice the difference because they tend toward having a hint of a yellow undertone instead of blue. The best Brazilian gems will probably come from the Nova Era Mine, although they are less valuable than the Colombian ones. Affordable natural emerald ring designs that are of good quality will often use Zambian, Brazilian or Zimbabwean emeralds.

Emerald Cut: The cut of an emerald can also be an indication of its quality. Why? Because emeralds are notoriously full of inclusions, in other words, emeralds are not perfect but flawed gems, which is part of their beauty, but likewise a weakness that cutters must get around. How? The poorest quality gems with the most inclusions and fissures will likely be cut in a rounded style, or may be shaped like a cabochon or a round bead style. Usually the better quality gems will be cut into the classic emerald cut that is square or rectangular, which requires a larger raw gem of high quality to achieve the shape and brilliance.

Enhancements: Because emeralds are by nature flawed, full of fissures, cracks and imperfections, it has become a standard practice to treat the lower and medium quality gems with resins or oils that seal cracks and fill fissures. The result is that the appearance of the gems is more luminous and smooth, however, they are rendered even more fragile than they are by nature, and may not be subjected to normal jewelry cleaning methods or detergents or household cleaners because these substances will remove the sealants that coat the gems and fill the pores and cracks. Without the resin or oil enhancements, these lower grade emeralds are dull, lifeless stones.

Emerald Ring Price

So you’ve found some beautiful white gold emerald rings and you wonder what’s a fair price.

First of all, if you’ve been focused on finding emerald cut emerald rings, for example, you’ve been looking at the emerald and thinking the ring price is based on the emerald. However, you may be mistaken. A solid 18k white or yellow gold band with no gemstone at all will cost at least $150 to $300. So if you are choosing gold emerald rings under $300, you know that the jeweler or dealer isn’t charging you much for the emerald, and since jewelers don’t give away high quality gems, chances are the emerald isn’t top quality.

The cheapest round cut emerald that’s just .21 carats without a ring setting will cost just over $100 and a low end emerald cut emerald gem, loose, will cost about $200 or more for about .32cts. These small, low quality gems are suitable for making emerald earrings but probably not ideal for your once in a lifetime dream emerald engagement ring. And a very low quality .98 carat emerald that is heavily included and has low brilliance will cost about $240 to $300.

A larger gemstone of a similar quality will cost around $500 if it’s about .58cts. To move into a higher quality gem that’s an emerald cut you’ll have to go to a carat or two in weight, and just the stone itself will be over $1,000 per carat, and it may be Columbian but will not be the finest.

A slightly included, but fine Columbian emerald gemstone will cost about $2,500 per carat, and will usually be left large since it’s a shame to cut a good gem into small pieces. Now, remember, that’s just the stone price, it’s not a gold emerald ring yet.

Affordable Genuine Emerald Designs and Created Emerald Ring Options

If you’re despairing over all the price of your dreamy Colombian emerald ring, then you may be very happy to know that there are some alternatives that are affordable and offer a means for less wealthy ladies to own an emerald engagement ring. The first option is to choose a gem that’s lesser quality and has been enhanced or treated. That way at least it’s a genuine stone in a gold setting.

For about $300 you can get a half eternity ring with small, round emeralds that are real and a few small diamonds in a solid 14k band. It’s simple and classic and can be a wedding band match a diamond engagement ring or to pair with a emerald engagement ring.

For about $450 you can have a delicate oval emerald accented with diamonds in a solid 14k gold mounting and pair it with a simple gold wedding band or a diamond eternity ring. You may also choose to match it with an emerald eternity ring that alternates green gems with clear diamonds, for an addition $200 or $300.

The very cheapest emerald engagement ring you’re likely to find will be about $299, set in yellow or white gold and a few accent diamonds. The stones are the lowest quality, almost assuredly treated, but they are real. The cut will likely be round and the weight will be about .2cts, and the gold band will be either 9k or 10k gold to keep the price down.

Where can you buy these pieces? You have many options online and off, but we have featured Angara products in this article. All emerald gems and rings featured are available online and if you order, you have 30 days to decide if it’s right for you, or return it.

Why Choose Emerald Wedding Rings From Angara

Aside from it being really easy to browse and shop online, Angara offers something that few other online jewelry shops offer, and that is the ability to choose a design and then get three alternative recommendations with different gemstone qualities so you can compare them side by side and choose the one that fits into your budget. One of the options almost always includes a created gem.

Let’s take a look at one example:

We select a white gold design that’s the very cheapest possible option which is a delicate emerald heart ring. The created version costs $229.99.

Beside it, appear 3 other genuine gemstone alternatives. The first is Good (which a low quality emerald but in the exact same setting as the simulated one) and costs $249.99, the next is Better (which is a medium grade stone) and costs $349.99, and the last is Best (which has a fine small emerald) and is priced at $499.99.

You can clearly view the difference in stone quality between the first to the last because they appear on the page side by side, so choosing is really easy. Surprisingly, what you’ll notice immediately, is that the simulated or lab created version is the one that most resembles the highest quality genuine stone that’s the most expensive. In our opinion, the two BEST buys are the first and the last options, because the first lab created version is very affordable and looks great and the last really is great, while the two in the middle lack luster and simply look cheap. We show you the two images we’re talking about. It’s difficult to know which is which, isn’t it? Just so you know, the top one is lab created, the lower one is real.

Just so you can see the difference in emerald gemstone ring quality, we also show you the same exact piece, only in the genuine emerald version that’s low quality. Notice how it lacks luster and is a dull green color. In our opinion it is not at all the better or a simulated one, and the one that costs over $100 more doesn’t look much better.

The above example is very simple, and the piece we’ve selected is best suited as promise rings or for emerald birthstone rings gifts, not as wedding jewelry. So what do we recommend as a good buy for an emerald wedding ring or an engagement design that’s affordable?

A Beautiful Created Emerald Wedding Ring Under $300

The piece we’ve selected to feature is the Angara three-stone design, with a central emerald and two diamonds on either side.

In the faux version, for $299.99, you get a solid 10k white gold ring with a .4cts. lab created emerald and 2 simulated diamonds.

The next step up is a low quality genuine emerald and two genuine diamonds in the same 10k setting for exactly $100 more — $399.99.

The Better choice is identical except that the emerald is higher quality as are the diamonds, and the gold band is 14k solid white gold instead of 10k. The price is a big jump — $649.99.

The Best choice is again another big price jump since the emerald is of the finest quality. The cost is about $1,000. The top image you see is the created emerald ring version. Not bad for under $300? The bottom image is the one that costs about $1,000.

There is in fact one more option that’s identical in design but is part of the Heirloom collection. It’s a genuine high-end Colombian emerald ring, and it costs exactly double, in other words, $2,000. That’s the last image you see. The rich green color and translucence is difficult to mistake for a fake. Naturally there are dozens of designs and styles to select from at Angara, these have been just a few select pieces to tempt you a into choosing an emerald ring as at least one part of your wedding set.

For more information on antique emerald rings, or another popular alternative: ruby rings, or an affordable choice for wedding sets like cubic zirconia rings or eternity rings, and lots of other gold jewelry suggestions for bridal jewelry from a variety of companies and in a wide range of prices, please continue browsing our related topics.

Related posts:

1. An Introduction To Emerald Rings
2. Genuine & Created Emerald Earrings
3. Unique Emerald Engagement Rings