Zambian Emerald Parcel, 2 to 8 cts

Buying this parcel

Where it came from, what its weight band is for, and what to check before any money changes hands.

The deposit

Zambian rough is sorted and graded at source before any of it reaches a cutter, which is unusual among coloured stones and is the reason a parcel like this holds together at all. Material leaves the Kafubu field already separated by size and grade, so a lot assembled downstream still carries that sorting, and the stones in it are siblings rather than strangers. Buy the same weights one at a time from three dealers and you will get three colours. That consistency, not the individual stones, is what a buyer is paying for at parcel prices.

This parcel

Two to eight carats is deliberately a wide band, and it is the band you want when you are building around something. If you already hold a centre stone, this is where the matching side stones come from, because it reaches low enough to supply a graduated row and high enough to supply a second stone of real presence. A narrow band cannot do that job. The cost of the width is that colour and clarity vary more across this parcel than across a tight one, so it is selected from rather than bought whole. Tell us the centre stone you are matching and we will pull against it.

Treatment

Sold unheated and untreated, across the parcel and not just the best pieces in it. That distinction matters more for a parcel than for a single stone: a treatment disclosure that covers only what you were shown is not a disclosure. Zambian rough generally needs less filling than Colombian to reach a saleable clarity, which is why an untreated Zambian parcel in this range is a realistic proposition where an untreated Colombian one at the same price would not be. Nothing in it has been oiled, resined or dyed.

The report

No report is held for this 2 to 8 cts emerald parcel yet, and we would rather say that than name a laboratory that has not seen it. We will submit whatever you select to IGI or IIGJ before purchase on request.

Before you pay

• Select in the light you will wear the stones in. Emerald shifts more between daylight and warm indoor light than most buyers expect.
• Lay candidates against the centre stone you are matching, not against each other, or you will match the parcel to itself.
• Ask for the low end and the high end of the band to be shown together, so you can see the full spread before you select.

Read next

Panna, the emerald covers the material itself and what gets sold in its place. How to buy a coloured stone covers pricing, treatment and reports.

Written by Kamal Kishore Agarwal, founder and gemmologist, Gem-A qualified, buying in Johari Bazaar since 2008.