Topaz With Oriented Edge Effects
Unknown Owner
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A remarkable gem crystal that is even more impressive in person, as the combination of gemminess and ultra high luster is hard to convey in photos. At 770 grams, and with superb glassy luster and windowpane-clear gemminess, this fist-sized gem crystal is already fairly worthy of a major collection of trophy gem crystals. It is complete all around, as near pristine as one could wish for, and just sparkles with both external luster and internal "brightness" to the crystal itself that is so characteristic of the Mogok topazes, and puts them ahead in showiness (to my mind) of comparably sized Pakistani topazes of similar hue. But beyond this sexy exterior, it has a really neat intellectual aspect as well. if you look at the termination, you will see a very unusual pattering, a slight matte or altered surface on part of the face that looks as if it were flat-lapped on with a polisher. This is not the case, and I fact it was to study this peculiar phenomenon in topaz morphology that Dr. Federico Pezzotta of the Museum of Milan travelled here to personally see the deposit when this pocket came out. He suspected that work on these strange differences of topaz surface within a single crystal face here could reveal something more about how the crystals form, and how some topaz has alternating faces of different textures. This is the largest and most dramatic of the specimens from this deposit he tells me that he has seen (and he took it from the mine personally, so we know it has not been tampered with), with the surface effect in question. And it is, on close inspection, a very interesting aberration even I do not understand the mineralogical science behind it - all set upon a crystal that already is a high level for its species and locale. Joe Budd photos
Product details
SpeciesTopaz
SizeSmall Cabinet
Dimensions9.2 x 5.8 x 5.5 cm
Added on10/23/2024
LocalityMyanmar, Mandalay Region, Mogok Valley
Known provenance
| Date | Collector | Acquisition price |
|---|---|---|
| 08/2024 | Unknown Owner | Not disclosed |
| — | The Arkenstone | Not disclosed |
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Mineral guide
Learn about Topaz
hard, glassy orthorhombic crystals from pegmatites and rhyolites; colors range from colorless to pink; sharp terminations aid identification, localitie…Regional guide
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