It's my wife's birthday in April, and it is about time that I took advantage of our location and bought her some emerald jewellery. I know that I could do some research on the internet, but like any good TZer I'll seek advice here first. Actually I'm well aware that there are some members here that really know their gemstones.

I'll be buying locally in Bogotá, and should have little difficulty finding a reputable dealer. Passing off synthetics as the genuine article is very unlikely here, but hiking the price in the assumption that I'm an ill-informed tourist and misdescribing the quality is not.

I'm thinking of buying cut stones, either loose or set in gold (my wife will ultimately make the choice of setting, and that might happen back in the UK).

So I'm after an idea of what the best quality emeralds should look like to my untrained eye, and whether there are any obvious pitfalls to be aware of. Are there preferred cuts that bring out the colour and clarity or are best for the underlying structure of the mineral? I'm sure that it varies immensely but if possible a rough guideline of UK prices for good quality Colombian emeralds would be very useful for comparison.

Thanks, Matthew