I just got one of those scratchcards. (you probably know the ones, you have to call a number at premium rate to claim a prize.) However all the possible prizes seem worth a lot more than the £5 it would cost, only I don’t know how much a 1 carat emerald is worth. Could someone with knowledge of gems tell me the rough value of a 1 carat Emerald as it seems to me that it must be worth at least a fiver, but maybe I’m wrong.
Thanks.
Gemstones vary wildly. Without inspecting the stone, no-one can help you.
It might actually not be worth the fiver!
Check the fine print too. It might enlighten you.
EJsGirl is correct. Merely stating that you have a one carat emerald is not enough to put a value to it.
Remember the 4 C’s:
Cut
Color
Clarity
Carat
All of those in combination determine the fifth C…Cost.
That said this site lists 100 carats worth of mixed emeralds (different sizes and so on) for $799 which would puts the per carat price at about $8. Today £5 equals about $7.25 US so that’s pretty close.
So, you get more value than a fiver but remember if you tried to sell the emerald you’d wouldn’t get retail price for it. For example, your wife leaves you but she leaves her engagement ring with its $1,000 diamond in it behind. In no mood to keep looking at it you decide to sell it. You’d be lucky to get $600 for the diamond that cost you $1,000 (afterall…the person who buys it from you wants to resell it for a profit at $1,000 again). Your $8 emerald might get you $5 or less if you tried to sell it.
So…I say take the cash. It looks like a better deal.
After I said you can’t determine the value of an emerald just by the weight I go ahead and try and do so anyway.
This site has a 1.26 carat emerald for sale at $1,209 which puts the value near $960/carat (or about £663/carat).
It just goes to show that weight doesn’t tell the whole story.
I should have done this in my previous post but just to drive home that the weight alone isn’t a reliable guide to cost comes the following emerald from the same site I linked above.
This emerald weighs in at 1.6 carats and costs $12,600 US or $7,875/carat (£5,434/carat).
The difference in prices are all in the 4 C’s which determine the gems overall rarity and value.
Damn, that’s a nice emerald! I wish I didn’t feel so guilty about buying them!
Not that I’d be buying that one or anything… 
…synthetic emeralds are fairly easy to make and don’t seem to cost that much. And in case they try to pawn off an “Indian Emerald,” check here to see that you’re getting green-dyed quartz.
Its probably a real emerald but a cloudy piece of crap. I have seen them.
If you want a real one you can order one directly from the miners comp in South America, which might have an office in a US territory like Virgin Is.