As I sorted through my old magazines and newspapers collection, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia wash over me. I have been a collector for as long as I can remember, and every article and piece of literature held a special place in my heart.
But as I came across an article about the Muzo Emerald Mines in Colombia, I was immediately struck by the mention of the high price of these precious gemstones. According to the article written by the famous gemstone collector David Warren, the Muzo emeralds are some of the most highly sought-after in the world, with a price per carat that can reach tens of thousands of dollars.
I was fascinated by this information and couldn’t help but wonder what could drive the price of these emeralds to such heights. As I continued to read the article, I learned about the rarity and beauty of the Muzo emeralds and the challenges and dangers faced by those in the industry.
As I finished reading the article, I was left with a deep appreciation for the complexity and value of the emerald industry. The high price of the Muzo emeralds reflects the hard work, dedication, and risks involved in their discovery and cultivation. Here’s that article
MUZO: A Treasure Trove of Finest Emeralds in Dark Depths
David Warren has been visiting Colombia for the past 16 years. On his last trip, he went down the world-famous Muzo emerald mine, descending 90 meters underground in 40-degree heat to dig out his own small but perfect emerald crystal. Here is his account of this memorable fruitful mine visit.
Informal Secondary Market:
Emerald is 20 times rarer than diamond; sometimes months can pass without a single good quality emerald being discovered. Consequently, the miners are not paid a salary but receive a share of the profits when they strike the mineral-rich green seems of emerald that is tantalizingly hidden high up in the Northern Andes. Occasionally, the miners find single tiny emeralds, which are normally pocketed. Unlike the diamond industry, they are never searched when leaving the mines. This creates a secondary market of emeralds, traded on the streets of Bogota by affable older men in three-piece suits and young men in denim. It is an accepted part of how business works in Colombia.
168 carats
Muzo, Colombia
Muzo & Chivor -Treasure Troves :
Colombian emeralds are the finest in the world, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the market, with the ancient mines at Muzo and Chivor being by far the most famous. Unfortunately, in the early 1980s, the Medellin and Cali drug cartels wanted to control the emerald business and fought each other for dominance of the mines. The next ten years were turbulent and destructive until the unwanted visitors were finally repelled, and the patriarchs of the emerald business negotiated peace that has lasted ever since.
I was thrilled to have been invited to visit the Muzo, as very few visitors are so privileged. Before air travel, it would have taken about four hard days on horseback to get there from the capital city of Bogota; however, we took only 30 minutes in the comfort of a six-seater plane. There was a problem with the helicopter that was the standard mode of transport, so it meant we had to find somewhere to land, and the little village of Quipama, 11,000 feet high in the Andes, was the only choice.
Emerald – bearing Chickens!
From Quipama village, where the chickens run free and are famous for containing emerald crystals which they eat accidentally! We drove 45 minutes down a rough road through the stunningly beautiful semi-tropical valleys of Boyaca to the primary mine at Muzo. Mine workers, blackened by the coal-like rock that typifies the emerald zone, sat in the sun and chatted. The ancient rusting conveyor- belts lay motionless. There was an overpowering sense of ‘manana.’
Down I went, squashed into a small metal cage with eight others. Intense heat from the mineshaft hits you as you step onto a gently swinging metal platform. To descend ninety meters takes about five minutes, but since I suffer from claustrophobia and to me, the descent was interminably long and painful. When I looked above me at the slowly decreasing circle of light, drips of dirty black water splattered my face.
Very Hard Work:
Once at the bottom, we walked along waterlogged tunnels for about 10 minutes, turning left and right until we felt completely lost. We were still high enough above sea level to feel breathless from the altitude, and it did not help that the tunnels themselves were almost airless. A strong smell of explosives engulfed us as we approached the mine face, where four or five totally black and thoroughly drenched miners were hard at work. And it is hard work. I was instructed to start drilling with a 50lb jackhammer held almost horizontally and within minutes my arms were aching.
I am lucky to have spent over 25 years in the comfort of Christie’s office in London, analysing the merits of some of the world’s most valuable and historic emeralds and now here I was, deep underground in the Muzo -mine dirty, hot, breathless and tired; digging for nature’s treasures. I was almost overcome with excitement.
Rare Find:
Suddenly, miraculously, I found an emerald. Everybody was dumbfounded by my extraordinary luck and was thrilled. My gem was 3.50 carats, a perfect hexagonal prism, and a rich dark green color, typical of the Muzo region. I can hardly imagine the emotions of coming across a significant find as they did at a mine called La Pita in 1998, where production reached a peak of 28,000 carats per day.
No Bounty but Bankruptcy!
Mining these enchanting gemstones is financially risky. Tunneling can cost about $1,000 every 20 feet, and many newcomers run out of finance before making any significant finds. Others may succeed initially, borrow to expand, find nothing and bankrupt themselves. Consequently, it is a business dominated by a handful of well-established families, of which Victor Carranza is the stabilizing factor. The doyen of the emerald trade, he either owns or has an interest in approximately 60% of the Colombian emerald business. He bought as much of the La Pita production as possible, which helped stabilize world prices in 1998 when the vast output adversely affected global markets.
The advent of ‘Treatments’:
Unfortunately, at that exact moment, the emerald market was in deep crisis as a technique for improving emeralds using a plastic resin was revealed at a trade fair in Hong Kong in 1997. It has always been an accepted practice to soak emeralds in oil (called ‘Joban’ in Jaipur) which seeps into the fissures that break the stone’s surface, improving its appearance. This new plastic resin and its use changed the parameters of how to value an emerald and threw trade and private buyers into a state of shock. At the same time, widely reported court cases in America highlighted that most buyers were not informed of this new enhancement, resulting in enormous adverse publicity. Prices dropped by up to 60 percent, causing Colombia’s annual exports to fall from a peak of $456 million in 1995 to a low of $75 million in 2004, throwing the world market into a spin.
Interestingly, the first records of emerald enhancement appear in the ‘Stockholm Papyrus’ written in Egypt in 400 BC, which details the process of enhancing emeralds with clear and colored oils. All emeralds must be cleaned and oiled after the cutting process. Otherwise, they look slightly dull, leaving traces of oil in the fissures, or ‘jardin,’ that occur in almost all emeralds.
I was eager to find out what the industry is doing to resolve the crisis, so I interviewed Daniel de Narvaez, German Sanchez, and Jose Giraldo, the three Presidents of the Colombian Miners, Exporters & Dealers Associations. I also had lunch with Victor Carranza at his Bogota house to discuss his business philosophy. Later, on my return to London, I talked to the directors of the Gubelin Gem Laboratory and the Precious Stone Laboratory, as well as the ICA (International Colored Gemstone Association) and finally with Ray Zajicek of Equatorian Imports, who is a principal importer of Colombian eme
ralds into America and a member of the ICA’s Industry Rules Committee. Here is what I learned:
Consolidating Exports:
How Colombians manage their home market is fundamental to the direction of the international emerald trade. In the past, the various branches of the Colombian industry have yet to work closely together. Still, the crisis has brought the three associations together with Victor Carranza under the umbrella of Pro-Export, the government department that assists export promotions.
The government is establishing a laboratory in Bogota for testing emeralds called CDTEC (Centro de Desarrollo Tecnologico de la Esmeralda Colombiana). Part of an additional 1 percent of the tax on emerald exports will help support their annual running costs. The laboratory will survey all types of emerald enhancement mediums and help establish an international agreement on what is most appropriate and provide certificates for export. Currently, Colombia’s most common enhancement agent is cedarwood oil, which is imported from Germany and England.
In the early 1980s, Shell and other laboratories were experimenting with improvements to the oiling process, particularly various polymer resins. The Hughes Laboratory of America perfected a resin called Opticon, a derivative of Araldite, which is extensively used in emeralds from Brazil. The trick is to find a durable liquid with a refractive index as close to that of an emerald as possible and, under the intense pressure of up to 30,000 psi, to force this deep into the fissures of an emerald, thus making the cracks virtually disappear. This process dramatically improves poorer quality crystals, which is fine so long as the buyer is fully aware that the emerald has been enhanced and the price he pays reflects this.
Multiple Enhancement:
Some emeralds have been enhanced several times with different fillers, polymer resins, and oils. Furthermore, modern-day oils are no longer organic but synthetic products. So most laboratories now only measure the number of foreign substances contained within the emerald as either none, minor, moderate, or significant, with only a few laboratories stating whether the filler is predominantly an oil or a resin. Remarkable as it may seem, an emerald with moderate enhancement contains approximately one-millionth of a part of foreign substance to 1 part of emerald.
Laboratories and dealers worldwide have been discussing the whole basis of the emerald business. Within a few years, there is likely to be widespread agreement that will bring confidence back into this market; indeed, there are signs that the market is turning. Meanwhile, there has always been a better time to buy an emerald. Everybody must understand that emeralds have constantly been enhanced and that the quality and price should be judged more on the number of fissures and degree of enhancement and not on the actual filler.
Fillers Removable :
An emerald with clarity as clear and pure as glass will usually have less filler than one with a misty, ‘sleepy’ look. Imagine holding a dark green wine bottle up to the sun- that is the exact color and clarity of a perfect emerald. A point often overlooked is that all fillers can be removed. Enhancement is thus reversible, unlike the heat-treating sapphires and rubies, which permanently alter their physical state.
Emeralds Greatly Sought After:
Back at Christie’s in London, I am again enjoying looking at an old Muzo mine emerald, a 16-carat gem, the centerpiece of a fabulous tiara made for the wedding of Viscount Harcourt in 1899. It is the finest color and almost entirely free of inclusions, with a soft hint of yellow that alludes to its Muzo origin. The tiara recently sold at Christie’s in London for $1,573,000, thus representing approximately $75,000 per carat for the central emerald, proof that the very finest emeralds are still remarkably sought after.
By complete contrast, I was shown a set of 13 unmounted drop-shaped emeralds that were quite ‘sleepy’ owing to masses of fissures throughout them. Almost certainly, these were inferior quality, unwearable emeralds, but after extensive enhancement, they became an attractive medium Green color. They looked and felt oily. This type of resin-enhanced emerald flooded the market, causing a dramatic price collapse at the end of 1997.
Guidelines for Buying Emeralds :
So, you can follow me back to Colombia to dig out your emeralds, which you know have yet to be enhanced, or apply the following guidelines for buying emeralds.
- The origin, color, clarity, carat, and degree of enhancement are the factors to consider when establishing the value of an emerald.
- Emerald enhancement improves the visual clarity of a stone. The fewer fissures a stone has before enhancement, the better. It is possible to have a stone with many fissures and no enhancement and a stone with one fissure that has significant enhancement. Therefore, the degree of enhancement is only sometimes related to the visual clarity or quality of a stone.
Value Determination :
- The degree of enhancement is crucial in determining value, and one should always ask to see a certificate or report from a central laboratory to check the quantity of enhancement, which is usually graded as:
None-exceedingly rare
Minor-rare
Moderate-reasonably common
Significant-majority of modern emeralds
4 Enhancement agents are colorless or near-colorless. Any emeralds containing traces of colored substances will be noted on the certificate or report, and the emerald will be classified as a treated gem.
5 All enhancement agents are removable, and emeralds can
always be re-enhanced to keep them looking good.
