The Exotic Topaz

Beautiful exotic Topaz jewels come in many different colours but a natural deep golden yellow and the natural pink varieties are the most sought after and the most valuable.

Natural pink stones are very rare and the majority that you will find in jewelers is more than likely heat treated to turn them pink.

The birthstone for the month of november is a transparent gem which often contains inclusions with cracks and cavities containing liquid and gas bubbles.

Measuring 8 on the Moh scale Topaz Gemstones are hard but they have one perfect cleavage meaning that a knock in the wrong place could cause it to divide.

Good sources of natural pink stones are Brazil, Pakistan and Russia with other countries that add to the world supply of these exotic stones being Afghanistan, Australia and Myanmar with Nigeria and Sri Lanka all offering fine specimens.

Within the United States the exotically named jewel can be found in California and Utah.

Because the gem is often found in volcanic lava flow cavities the only suitable area in Arizona would be in the San Francisco volcanic field just beyond the southern reaches of the Painted Desert near Sunset Crater, although I must stress this area is not a source.

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Three main methods of treatment are used to enhance the gemstone.

Irradiation... because the world has a plentiful supply of colourless rough stones this method is used to turn the stone blue irradiation has largely been responsible for the abundance of blue stones on the market today which has brought the prices down.

Lighter yellow and orange stones are treated in this manner to intensify the colour however the cooling off period can be several months or even years depending on the impurities present to allow radioactivity to fall to a safe level.

Diffusion Treatment... involves using chemical contact to heat the stone over a long period of time, this only affects the surface of the stone the interior remains unaltered this usually creates green and blue green coloured gems.

Heat Treatment... usually a brown coloured gem is partially cut as a gemstone and then heated to around 450 degrees celsius where it completely loses it's colour, as it is slowly cooled it gradually begins to turn pink.

The heating and cooling process is critically controlled or complete loss of colour can occur.

Use of this method is known as pinking and is a legitimate practice so long as no dyes are used to create the pink Topaz and it's colour is stable.

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