Another treatment - lasering - involves use of a laser beam to improve appearance of diamonds that have black inclusions or spots. A laser beam is aimed at inclusion. Acid is then forced through a tiny tunnel made by laser beam to remove inclusion. Lasering is permanent and a laser-drilled stone does not require special care.

While a laser-drilled diamond may appear as beautiful as a comparable untreated stone, it may not be as valuable. That's because an untreated stone of same quality is rarer and therefore more valuable. Jewelers should tell you whether diamond you're considering has been laser-drilled.

Imitation diamonds, such as cubic zirconia, resemble diamonds in appearance but are much less costly. Certain laboratory-created gemstones, such as lab-created moissanite, also resemble diamonds and may not be adequately detected by instruments originally used to identify cubic zirconia. Ask your jeweler if he has current testing equipment to distinguish between diamonds and other lab-created stones.

When shopping for diamond jewelry online, apply these tips. 1.Shop with companies you know or do some homework before buying to make sure a company is legitimate before doing business with it. 2.Take advantage of information and referrals from an Internet company you have come to trust. 3.Get details about product, as well as merchant's refund and return policies, before you buy. 4.Look for an address to write to or a phone number to call if you have a question, a problem or need help.

Fine emeralds are generally cut cushion shape with step cutting, and in East are often cut cabochon. Fine emeralds have advanced very rapidly during last few years, both on account of growing demand of fashion for gems and scarcity of really fine specimens.

Many curious legends of gigantic emeralds have been handed down to us, principally culled from narratives of early travelers, who thought every transparent green stone they saw to be an emerald.

The ancients valued emerald highly, not alone for its beauty, but for its supposed occult properties and its marvelous power of healing all diseases of eye—they also believed that if eyes of a serpent met gleam of emerald, it immediately became blind. Moore alludes to this superstition in lines:

Blinded like serpents when they gaze Upon emerald’s virgin blaze.

The Emperor Nero, who was shortsighted, had an eye-glass formed of an emerald, through which he gazed and gloated over cruel sports of arena.

Many interesting stories are told of first emeralds taken by early conquerors of Peru to Spain, and a certain Joseph D’ Acosta is said to have returned to Spain in 1587 with two chests of emeralds, each of which weighed over one hundred pounds. The truth of this story may be questioned, but it is a fact that stones were highly prized and much used by Incas and Aztecs in extraordinary civilization which once existed in Peru. The emerald was highly prized by ancients and by gem lovers of middle ages, and this accounts for many interesting legends and superstitions relating to gem.

As for today, emerald is still very highly valued as one of most precious stones. The emerald is May’s birthstone and is a favorite stone for fine jewelry craftsmen throughout world.