It’s November, and the birthstone this month is bright and beautiful topaz. Available in a range of colours and price ranges, there is a topaz for every taste and budget.
The finest topaz is sourced from Brazil, where the famous ‘Imperial topaz’ is obtained. This rare, golden yellow to pink variety is particularly prized, especially when the rarer pink tones are present.
You are most likely to see topaz in high street jewellery stores in a range of blue colours, but it is rare to find blue topaz occurring naturally. Instead, this hue is normally produced by treatments involving a combination of irradiation and heat. The blue colour is stable and attractive, with a variety of bright sky blues through to deep teal blues available.
Blue topaz is often sold with prefixes such as ‘sky blue’, ‘Swiss blue’ or ‘London blue’ to indicate different shades. These stones are generally very affordable, although in large sizes the price can increase dramatically, especially in the deeper, bolder colours.
Topaz has a hardness of 8 on Mohs’ scale, so it is a reasonably hard gem that should be suitable for regular wear. However, it does require some care, especially against sharp knocks, as it is liable to cleave or break in a certain direction due to relative weakness in its crystal structure, so topaz jewellery is best removed for activities such as gardening or going to the gym. Our highly qualified and experienced gemmologists will be happy to advise you further on this.
The beautiful sky blue colours of topaz are perfect for use in multi-gemstone jewellery alongside other similarly affordable, brightly coloured stones. Whether you prefer your topaz to be the centre of attention all on its own or combined with other gems for a colourful display, we have a lovely range of topaz jewellery available to purchase in our showroom, a selection of which can also be viewed on our website.