About: Hydrothermal Emerald

One of my most popular purchases is for Hydrothermal Emerald - or Lab Emerald.

This material is primarily grown in Thailand and Russia from laboratories and grown from naturally mined “seeds" which grow in encased chambers to grow a replica crystal.

A fellow gem cutter Justin Prim who has made a variety on incredible videos on different grow methods for various materials visited a factory to show consumers how this material is created. Thank you Justin for your incredible work!

Regarding color, there is typically two colors of Hydrothermal Emerald:
-Columbian: A very bright and vivid blueish green. Looks more teal green in white LED and more bright vivid green in natural sunlight.

-Zambian: A traditional deeper green, and usually darker in appearance.

Both of these colors can be sourced with natural like inclusions or without. But it is typical that most pieces do have potentially one or two very small inclusions.

Below are examples of my Columbian Hydrothermal cuts:

Columbian Hydrothermal Emerald with natural Inclusions

Below are examples of my Zambian Hydrothermal cuts

While Hydrothermal emeralds can come with natural inclusions or not - there is an interesting optical phenomena that can happen where “the finest and rarest emeralds are sometimes said to have an optical effect called gota de aceite (or the Butterfly Effect). This term describes an aspect of emerald clarity that is associated with Colombian emeralds. Unusual irregularities in the internal crystal structure are responsible for the roiled dispersion of light. These microscopic features are apparently the result of irregularities in growth conditions during emerald crystallization that gave rise to both raised hexagonal terminations and geometric depressions.”

You can see in the example above and below this optical phenomenon - where the gemstone looks as if there is flowing fluid on the inside of the gemstone.

While this effect is less obvious to the naked eye, it is very apparent in camera photos and under 10x loupe and gives a very beautiful unique effect.