An Emerald's value is categorized by where it comes from, flaws, color, carats, clarity (luster), and cut.

Flaws: Emeralds are notorious for their tendency towards being flawed. Flaws are conchoidal inclusions, also called "jardines", that are unique to each emerald. The more flaws an emerald has, the less it tends to be worth. Some people, however, prefer a slightly flawed emerald over a flawless emerald because it looks more genuine. Flawless emeralds are so rare that one could easily be suspected of being synthetic.

Colors: The quality of color in an emerald can be seperated into three different catagories: Color, tone, and hue. An emerald's color refers to where its color lies on the color scale. The best color for an emerald is the purest form of green on the color scale. The tone of an emerald lies in how dark or light the coloration is. These range from light to deep intense, with a medium dark green tone being ideal. Hue can be found in how the color appears. You can have a yellowish or bluish hue. The more intense bluish hue is what gemologists look for in a fine emerald.

Carats: The carat of a gemstone refers to its weight. A carat is equal to 200 milligrams. The price of an emerald increases exponentially as size weight increases due to the rarety of the heavier gems. Therefore, an emerald twice the size of another would be worth more than twice the price of the smaller.

Clarity: Clarity is the brilliance and fire that an emerald's unique array of inclusions produce. This array of inclusions is refered to as an emerald's "garden". Clarity is determined using a jeweler's loupe (small magnifying class) at a magnification of 10x. An ideal garden is very, very slightly included to give it the life it needs without being too included.

Cut: The cut of an emerald is fully determinate on how it is processed for jewelry. An emerald's cut is comprised of its shape, brilliance, and polish. The most important aspect of shape is how symmetrical and how deep the cut is. Emerald cuts come in a variety of shapes, including round, princess, oval, marquise, radiant, pear, emerald, heart, square, baguette, and octogan. These shapes determine the brilliance of the cut through the number of facets for each cut. Polishing an emerald smooths facets and defines the edges of facets. Poor polishing can result in streaks or marks on the stone that decreases its value.