Naming Beryl, Emerald, and Aquamarine Gems

Coming now to beryl we have first emerald, then aquamarine, then beryls of other colors to consider. There is too often a tendency among dealers to confuse various green stones, and even doublets, under the name emerald. While the price charged usually bears a fair relation to the value of the material furnished, it would be better to offer tourmaline, or peridot (the mineral name of which is olivine), or demantoid garnet (sometimes wrongly called "Olivine"), or "emerald doublets," or emerald or "imitation emerald," as the case might be, under their own names.

There are no true "synthetic" or "scientific" or "reconstructed" emeralds, and none of these terms should be used by the trade. There has been an effort made in some cases to do business upon the good reputation of the scientific rubies and sapphires, but the products offered, when not out and out glass imitations, have usually been doublets or triplets, consisting partly of some pale, inexpensive, natural mineral, such as quartz or beryl, and a layer of deep green glass to give the whole a proper color. All attempts to melt real emerald or beryl have yielded only a beryl glass, softer and lighter than true emerald, and not crystalline, but rather glassy in structure. Hence the names "reconstructed," "synthetic" and "scientific" should never be applied to emerald.