The emerald shines again in eastern markets

Barbara Hutton's legendary Emerald Necklace, consisting of 27 emerald balls from the late Qin imperial palace. (file photo)

Considered the Chinese diamond by westerns, and regarded as the emperor of jades by the Chinese, the emerald has fascinated the world as far back as ancient Egypt in 1500 BC. In recent years, auctions worldwide have witnessed the revival of the emerald that is eclipsing the years-long monopoly of the diamond, reports our Chinese-language sister newspaper the China Times.

The emerald outshined all other jewels in the year 2014, its rocketing prices resulting mainly from the rarity of mines and a shortage of supply. Of its buyers, about 40% are from China, according to Jhu Yan-yi, deputy director of the Department of Jewels of the Hong Kong branch of Sotheby's.

The Burmese government has brought a halt to large-scale mechanical mining in Hpakant, its main sources of emeralds, as well as limiting exports of raw emerald and periodically holding a public price evaluation. The public evaluation is an official and mandatory procedure that decides the lowest market value of an emerald before it enters the market. These two approaches have efficiently raised the average price of over 95% of Burmese emerald imported to Taiwan and China.

The import of Burmese emerald to China can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty about five hundred years ago, yet a general public fever for the precious stone did not develop until the the late Qin dynasty. The separation of Taiwan and China in 1949 led to a separation of tastes over the emerald as well, though basic aesthetic concepts are shared nevertheless shared. In terms of the color, it has to be pure green without mixture; transparency, 70% to 80% is considered best; the brighter the emerald, the better; and finally, the green color has to be evenly distributed throughout the gem. The four basic evaluations can be applied to a variety of emeralds, such as the glassy Old Mine, the highly transparent Ice, and the soft Water.

As supply plummets, emerald dealers in China can only what they have in stock. After that stock is gone, the price has nowhere to go but up, though mid-grade emerald has remained steady and even slightly dipped. China's mass market has pulled up prices at both ends of the quality spectrum.

Lin Yi-he, supervisor of the Taiwan Jewelry Industry Association and person in charge of Ho Gih Gem, was invited to establish China Jewelry Industry Association and open appraisal centers so as to help Chinese buyers pick out the real from the counterfeit. Lin points out that buyers in China tend to bet their luck, and still prefer transparent, unmixed white jade that reflects and refracts under light. Luster is less desired.

Taiwan, on the other hand, came to know the emerald earlier and has developed a unique aesthetic system. Taiwanese emerald dealers have a reputation as good betters on the raw emerald, judging the unpolished raw emerald simply by looking at it. This skill has given them the upper hand over Burma for twenty years since Burma opened its raw emerald mines. Before that, Taiwan had to rely on Hong Kong imports. Nowadays, Taiwanese buyers not only emphasize the quality of the transparency but also the luster and its carving. The most recent trend is a love for antique emerald carvings.

References

Jhu Yan-yi　　朱燕儀

Lin Yi-he　　林宜和

Old Mine　　老坑

Ice　　冰種

Water　　水種

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/the-emerald-shines-again-in-eastern-markets/