Topaz

Topaz

Colorless topaz is plentiful, and is often treated to give it a blue color.

Topaz

Naturally occurring blue topaz is quite rare. Typically, colorless, gray or pale yellow and blue material is heat treated and irradiated to produce a more desired darker blue.

The natural blue crystals found in Texas and in the Ural Mountains of Russia are not mined in enough quantities to meet the demand for inexpensive transparent blue gems.

This is the largest gem-quality topaz crystal found in North America, a 1,296 gram (just less than three pounds) pale blue crystal from Mason County.

Honey yellow. Fiery orange. Cyclamen pink. Icy blue. In warm or cool tones, topaz is a lustrous and brilliant gem.

Topaz actually has an exceptionally wide color range that, besides brown, includes various tones and saturation's of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple.

Topaz, the state gem of Texas, is found only in Mason County

Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminum and fluorine

This superb reddish purple pear-shaped topaz from Brazil's Capão mine displays the gem’s top color.

Many consumers know topaz as simply an inexpensive blue gem. They’re surprised to learn that its blue color is hardly ever natural: It’s almost always caused by treatment.

They might also be surprised to know that topaz has so many more colors to offer gem lovers, including pinks and purples that rival the finest fancy sapphires.

Some natural topazes are colorless, but they can be coated with metal oxides to produce a variety of metallic colors.

Ouro Prêto

Brazil

In the early days topaz was the only gem of importance found near Ouro Prêto. Honoring Brazilian royalty, the gemstone was frequently referred to as “imperial” topaz. Later some sources called it “precious” topaz. Both terms have endured, partly because gem merchants wish to impart to customers the difference between gem topaz and citrine quartz.

THE RUSSIAN PINK

TOPAZ SUITE

Allochromatic

Topaz

The marriage of the daughter of an emperor required important presents, and this pink topaz set was among them. Maria Pavlovna's father, Tsar Paul, presented her with the set as a wedding gift.

The large pink topazes are surrounded with glittering diamonds, and the set consists of four pieces: a large, impressive necklace, a small round brooch, and a larger, multi-stone brooch with a floral motif. Two of the pendants from the larger brooch can also be detached and worn as earrings. The set is often called a "demi-parure" because it lacks a tiara.

If the set is called the "Russian" suite, why is it in the royal vaults in Sweden? Even though the set is in Bernadotte hands today, its history begins in early nineteenth-century imperial Russia.

The topaz, the versatile birthstone of everyone with a November birthday, comes in varied sizes and colors. Today, let's have a look at one of the most gorgeous topaz sets in any royal collection: the demi-parure of Russian pink topazes that belongs to the Swedish royal family.

The element chromium causes natural pink, red, and violet-to-purple colors in topaz.

Imperfections at the atomic level in topaz crystal structure can cause yellow, brown, and blue color.

Topaz is allochromatic, which means that its color is caused by impurity elements or defects in its crystal structure rather than by an element of its basic chemical composition.

REMEMBER

Culture and Topaz

In the 19th century, pink topaz was discovered in Russia. The gemstone was so coveted that only the Czar, his family, and those he gave it to were allowed ownership.

Imperial topaz is a medium reddish orange to orange-red. This is one of the gem’s most expensive colors.

Already in the ancient world, the Imperial topaz and its orange colored brilliance had been reserved for the emperors because it reminded of the dazzling the sun.

Most authorities agree that the name topaz comes from Topazios, the old Greek name for a small island in the Red Sea, now called Zabargad. (The island never produced topaz, but it was once a source of peridot, which was confused with topaz before the development of modern mineralogy.)

The Greeks believed it had power to increase strength and to make its wearer invisible while the Romans believed it had power to improve eyesight. The Egyptians wore it as an amulet to protect them from injury.

Over time and marriages the Russian topaz ended up in the possession of the Swedish Royal Family

Princess Christina wears the pink topaz suite with the Four Button Tiara at the 1970 Nobel Banquet

The name for imperial topaz originated in nineteenth-century Russia. At the time, the Ural Mountains were topaz’s leading source, and the pink gemstone mined there was named to honor the Russian czar. Ownership of the gem was restricted to the royal family.

Queen Silvia wears the topazes at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria in 2010