DMN Jewellery - Topaz History
Topaz derives its name from one of two sources--it might be derived from the Sankrit word tapas meaning fire, or from the Island of Topazos in the Red Sea. In ancient times, a figure of a falcon was carved on a topaz was thought to help aquire the goodwill of kings, princes and magnates.
The Egyptians said that topaz was colored with the golden glow of the mighty sun god Ra. This made topaz a very powerful amulet that protected the faithful against harm. The Romans associated topaz with Jupiter, who also is the god of the sun. Topaz sometimes has the amber gold of fine cognac or the blush of a peach and all the beautiful warm browns and oranges in-between. Some rare and exceptional topaz are pale pink to a sherry red.
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.ions.
Legend has it that it dispels all enchantment and helps to improve eyesight as well. The ancient Greeks believed that it had the power to increase strength and make its wearer invisible in times of emergency. Topaz was also said to change color in the presence of poisoned food or drink. Its mystical curative powers waxed and waned with the phases of the moon: it was said to cure insomnia, asthma, and hemorrhages. Perhaps the most famous topaz is a giant specimen set in the Portuguese Crown, the Braganza, which was first thought to be a diamond. There is also a beautiful topaz set in the Green Vault in Dresden, one of the world's important gem collect Topaz is the birthstone of November (yellow topaz) and December (blue topaz), it is a talisman for the sign of Sagittarius and the suggested anniversary gemstone for the 4th, 19th or 23rd year of marriage. See the birthstone tables for additional references to this stone.
The name topaz comes from the Sanskrit and means fire.
Topaz occurs in a wide range of colors including red, orange, peach, pink, gold, yellow, brown and clear and is found in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Russia. Naturally pale to medium blue topaz is enhanced by irradiation to produce a more intense blue color.
Red and pink topaz gems were used in the jewelry of the 18th and 19th Century Russian Czarinas and is why topaz is sometimes called "Imperial Topaz".
The most famous topaz is actually a colorless topaz that was originally thought to be a diamond. It is a 1680 carat stone known as the "Braganza Diamond" set in the Portuguese Crown Jewels. Another beautiful topaz is in the Green Vault in Dresden which has one of the world's most important gem collections.
Although topaz is a very hard gemstone, an 8 on the Mohs scale of hardness, it can be split with a single blow and should be protected from hard knocks.
During the Middle Ages topaz was thought to heal both physical and mental disorders and prevent death.
Yellow is the colour generally associated with the topaz, yet topaz is sometimes colourless, or may present almost any colour, and beautiful specimens of other colours are often supposed to be some other mineral, so thoroughly identified is this stone with the colour yellow. The sometime popularity of topaz has of late years declined, and a probable reason is the common substitution of other stones for it. Topaz takes its name from Topazios, meaning "to seek"; because the earliest known locality from whence it came was an island in the Red Sea which was often surrounded by fog, and therefore difficult for the local mariners to find.
The name of topaz in mineralogical science is Topaz rhombicus, and, like the opal, it belongs to the order Hyalina. The primary form of topaz in crystallography is a right rhombic prism. Its cleavage is parallel to its basal plane, almost perfect, and it cleaves so easily that a cut topaz, if dropped, might be easily cracked or broken. The crystallisation of topaz is imperfect; structure, columnar; lustre, vitreous; streak, white. Topaz is either transparent or translucent; the colours of topaz including wine, amber, honey, and straw-yellow, pale blue to pale green of many shades, greyish, reddish, and white. Rolled pebbles of limpid colourless topaz are called by Brazilians "pingas d'agoa," and by the French, "gouttes d'eau," both meaning drops of water. The coloured varieties show marked pleochroism. The fracture of this mineral is conchoidal and uneven.
True topaz is a silicate of alumina, containing hydroxl and fluorine; hardness, 8; specific gravity, 3.4 to 3.6. Being three and one half times as heavy as water, topaz can be readily distinguished from other stones resembling it by those accustomed to handling them. Topaz cannot be fused on charcoal before the blowpipe, but it is partially decomposed by sulphuric acid. Its hardness enables it to take a high polish, and the colourless variety has been cut in brilliant or rose form so as to resemble the diamond, for which it might readily pass in day-light. However, it is but weakly doubly refractive and dispersive, and its comparative softness makes its distinction from the diamond a simple matter. Although infusible, when sufficiently heated, the faces of crystallisation of topaz become covered with small blisters which crack as soon as formed; and with borax it slowly forms a clear glass. Some varieties assume a wine yellow or pink tinge when heated. The rose-pink topaz sometimes appearing mounted in jewelry, is not natural; the delicate tint of this gem with an artificial complexion results from a simple process called "pinking," applied to yellow or brown kinds. A topaz selected to be "pinked" is packed in magnesia, asbestos, or lime, and carefully and gradually heated to a low red heat; the stone then being slowly cooled. If the temperature attained has not been sufficiently high, the desired rose-petal tint is not obtained and a salmon tint appears; if the temperature rises too high, or is too long continued, the colour completely disappears. Pulverised topaz changes to green the blue solution of violets. Topaz generally becomes electric by heat, and if both terminations of the subject specimen are perfect, polarity will be developed; transparent varieties are susceptible to electrical excitation by friction.
Several minerals are commonly called topaz; yellow sapphire is called "Oriental topaz"; and varieties of quartz are called "Saxon," "Scotch," "Spanish," "Smoky," and "False" topaz. The hardness, weight, and power of developing frictional electricity, possessed by the true topaz, enable investigators to distinguish real topaz from these nominal varieties.
Topaz commonly occurs in gneiss or granite, associated with tourmaline, mica, or beryl, and occasionally with apatite, fluor-spar, and tin. The purest variety of topaz, perfectly colourless and pellucid, is not uncommon; as crystals it is found in Miask, in the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and, abundantly, as water-worn pebbles, in the river and creek beds of Diamantina and Minas Novas in the state of Minas Geraes, Brazil. Mineralogists regard the "Braganza," a gem claimed to be a diamond, included in the crown jewels of Portugal, and weighing 1680 carats, as one of these pebbles; probably one of the finest ever found. A sobriquet for these clear colourless topazes is "slave's diamonds." Blue topaz from Brazil is sometimes termed "Brazilian sapphire." A fine saffron-yellow variety, called "Indian topaz," occurs infrequently in Ceylon, and rarely, in Brazil; the golden yellow tinted variety from Brazil is the kind distinguished in the jewelry trade as "Brazilian topaz." Schneckenstein, near Gottesberg, in the vicinity of Auerbach, Voigtland, Kingdom of Saxony, is said, by Dr. Max Bauer, to be the most important European locality producing topaz; it is there imbedded in a steep wall of rock, and occurs in small fragments of schists rich in tourmaline, cemented firmly into a hard mass by quartz and topaz. Brazil is the main source of topaz, and a review of the localities, association, and varieties of its established occurrence there would require an extensive space.
In North America topaz is found to an extent of small commercial importance in Mexico. In the United States it occurs more abundantly, although gem-quality is rare. Colorado has yielded the best specimens from localities in Chaffee County and El Paso County, on Cheyenne Mountain and elsewhere in the region of Pike's Peak. Small but brilliant crystals have been found at Thomas Mountain, Sevier County, Utah. At Bald Mountain, North Chatham, New Hampshire, topaz occurs, with phenacite, in crystals.