BLUE TOPAZ
Her eyes twin sparkling pool as deep and crustal as the Blue Topaz.
Her eyes twin sparkling pool as deep and crustal as the Blue Topaz.
Naturally occurring blue topaz is relatively rare and hence is most commonly obtained by heating and irradiation of colourless topaz. Blue Topaz registers 8 on the Mohs scale of hardness, making it almost as hard as Sapphire and tougher than Tanzanite.
The cooling Blue Topaz is the birthstone of December and is supposed to promote good health and a calming mind. It is also know to represent faithfulness and loyalty and as blue is the universal colour that guards against evil, the Blue Topaz is said to do the same. It’s also the US state gemstone of Utah and aids in areas of communication and helps clarify mind and convert ideas into words and actions.
Brazil, Mozambique, Srilanka, India
| Mineral Family Topaz |
Refractive Index 1.619 to 1.627 |
Mohs Hardness 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Birthstone November |
Chemical composition Al2(F,OH)2SiO4 |
Briefringence 0.008 to 0.010 |
| Specific gravity 3.53 |
One of few stones on which we cut almost all shapes and sizes including designer-inspired and contemporary fancy cuts.
Although a range of impurities and treatments can make it occur in wide range of colours, we focus only on the blue variety apart from the colourless white topaz. Three shades of blue typically exist- London, Swiss and Sky. London blue is richly saturated and comes in deep, steel indigo blue with slight grey undernotes. Swiss blue is brighter but softer than the former and is moderately saturated. The lightest of all Sky blue topaz is a pale and a delicate blue and its colour is often compared to lighter shades of aquamarine.
The ones cut at the lapidary are typically free from eye visible inclusions and majority of them are loupe clean.
Naturally occurring blue topaz is rare, hence the colourless variety is treated with radiation produce a blue colour. Being a stable treatment, it is commonly accepted in the market.
The colours achieved after radiation depends upon the kind of radiation it is exposed to.
London and Swiss Topaz are radiated in nuclear facility with neutron radiation. Sky Topaz is radiated with electron radiation or gamma radiation.
The residual radioactivity in all are safe for human exposure and non-hazardous and lower than the acceptable levels set by U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission
