As these crystals grow, one of the 118 chemical elements can creep into the crystal. If a pegmatite dike cools and a number of crystals form, and then the geological powers form more magma that creeps in to the dike, it will cause everything to become molten again and then cool a second time. This time, different crystals can form – before where there was aquamarine and chromium creeped into the area, it may now become emerald! Chromium makes gems green, iron makes them blue, and nitrogen makes them yellow and so on.
This is why the right amount of an element is so important to the color of a crystal. Nature is so wonderful! All of these things have to happen deep in the ground over millennia.
When I have someone bring me an emerald that is beautiful in color with no flaws and sparkles like crazy, I really don’t have a lot to go on except to ask questions. Questions like “how did you acquire this? How much did you pay? Where was it purchased? Usually I get the response “you’re the gemologist, YOU figure it out!” Sometimes, I remind them when you go to the doctor and tell him you are sick, do you tell the doctor “You figure it out!” No, you tell him what hurts and where it hurts, otherwise you can’t make a diagnosis!
One time a woman brought me a clean, top color emerald and made the statement that she has paid a lot of money for the gem. Well, I was sweating bullets because I knew it was a synthetic emerald. I wasn’t sure what to say. I thought and thought and finally I asked, “What did you pay?” She said “$300!” What a relief! I thought for sure she was going to say $30,000.
I have realized, what seems like a lot to some, may not be so much to another.
