• Pantone Color of the Year

Pantone Color of the Year

At the end of 2012, Pantone, the global authority on color, named emerald green as the 2013 color of the year. They stated that Pantone 17-5641 Emerald is "Lively. Radiant. Lush ... A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony."

Here in northeast Indiana, I've not found a lot of emerald green clothing, but you can definitely find it in accessories and home decor items.

Emerald gemstones are a type of beryl. They can range in color from yellow-green to blue-green. A high-quality emerald should be well saturated and bright/vivid green. Only gems in the medium to dark green tone are considered to be emerald; lighter-color gems are known as green beryl.

Emeralds tend to have many inclusions and fissures. Unlike diamonds that are graded on clarity under 10x magnification, emeralds can be graded by eye. If an emerald has no visible inclusions to the eye it is considered flawless. Emeralds that lack breaking fissures are extremely rare and therefore almost all emeralds are treated to enhance their clarity.

To enhance their clarity, emeralds are treated with oil, which is widely accepted in the gem trade. The oil fills in the fissures, strengthening the stone and refracting the appearance of the fissures from the eye. If an emerald has been treated, industry standards require that you be told it has been treated.

Emeralds are mostly mined in Columbia, constituting 50-95 percent of the world production. The worlds second largest emerald producers are located in Zambia. In the United States, emeralds have been found in Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Emeralds are often believed to be more valuable than diamonds. The larger an emerald is, the rarer it is, especially if it's of good quality. An excellent-quality emerald can be worth thousands of dollars per carat.