The Color of an Emerald
Characteristics of color in an emerald.
In standard gemological language, the description of the characteristics of an emerald color is divided into three subsections.
Hue - is the denotation of what many would call the color of the stone. Since an emerald is universally green (whereas for Ruby it would be red), the color can then be divided into the type of green. The presence of blue or yellow tones can be included, leading to descriptions such as "bluish green" or "yellowish green".
Saturation - of a color describes the intensity of the color. From a scientific point of view, this is a measure of the bandwidth of the light that returns to your eye from the stone. Saturation plays a big role in the classification of an emerald.
Emerald tone is a measure of the lightness or darkness of the stone. This is measured by assessing how much the neutral colors of white, gray and black contribute to the overall color. Having the right shade allows the stone to express its saturation and hue at its maximum potential.
