Why does topaz chip at hardness 8?

Because hardness resists scratching and says nothing about splitting. Topaz has perfect cleavage along one plane, so a sharp knock in that direction takes a clean flat break off the stone regardless of how hard it is. Setters and cutters treat it with particular care, and it should never be cleaned ultrasonically.

Is blue topaz natural?

Almost never. Colourless topaz is abundant and cheap, and irradiating and then heating it produces the sky, Swiss and London blues sold everywhere. The treatment is stable and regulated, with a mandatory holding period before sale in most countries. Natural blue topaz is pale and uncommon.

What is imperial topaz?

The reddish golden to orange material from Ouro Preto in Brazil, coloured by chromium, and essentially the only genuinely rare and valuable natural topaz colour. It has been mined since the eighteenth century and the deposit remains the principal source.

Is smoky topaz a real topaz?

No. Smoky topaz and Madeira topaz are trade names for smoky quartz and citrine, and they are misleading. Genuine topaz in those colours exists but is sold as topaz without a qualifier. If a brown or golden stone is very cheap, it is quartz.

Was ancient topaz this mineral?

Often not. Classical topazos referred to material from Topazios in the Red Sea, now identified as Zabargad, which produced peridot. The name migrated to this mineral later, which means a good deal of what classical and medieval sources say about topaz is actually about peridot.

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The gem silicates · Gold & yellow ray

Topaz

Topaz is the stone that best demonstrates the difference between hardness and toughness. At 8 on the Mohs scale it resists scratching better than almost anything except corundum and diamond, and it has a perfect basal cleavage, which means a knock in the wrong direction takes a clean flat break off it. Nearly all the blue topaz you see was colourless before it was irradiated.

At a glance

Hardness 8 with a perfect cleavage plane, and the most treated common gem in the trade.

Composition: Al₂SiO₄(F,OH)₂
Crystal system: Orthorhombic
Hardness: Mohs 8
Family: The gem silicates
Colour ray: The gold & yellow ray
Main sources: Brazil (Ouro Preto), Pakistan, Russia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka
Care: Hard but splits cleanly along one plane. Never ultrasonic.

Themes

clear intent worth the split the golden stone precision

What it actually is

Aluminium fluorosilicate, Al2SiO4(F,OH)2, orthorhombic, hardness 8, with perfect cleavage in one direction.

That cleavage is the defining practical fact. Topaz will not scratch in normal wear, and it will split cleanly if struck along the basal plane, which is why cutters and setters handle it carefully and why it should never be cleaned ultrasonically.

Natural colours include colourless, pale blue, yellow, brown, orange, pink and the reddish golden imperial topaz. Colour causes vary: imperial topaz owes its colour to chromium, brown and yellow material to colour centres that can fade in light.

The name has a confused history. Classical topazos referred to material from an island in the Red Sea that produced peridot, not this mineral, and the name migrated later.

Topaz is pleochroic, showing different colours from different directions, which cutters take into account.

Where it comes from

Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais, Brazil, is the source of imperial topaz, the genuinely golden to reddish material, and has been worked since the eighteenth century. It remains essentially the only significant source.

Brazil also supplies enormous quantities of colourless topaz, which is the raw material for the blue topaz industry.

Pakistan's Katlang produces pink topaz, Russia's Urals produced historic material, and Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Mexico all contribute.

The Braganza, a stone in the Portuguese crown long believed to be an enormous diamond, is thought to be a colourless topaz, which is a good illustration of how gem identification worked before modern gemmology.

What the traditions claimed

Medieval lapidaries following Marbode credit topaz with cooling boiling water when dropped into it, with calming anger, and with dimming or changing colour in the presence of poison. Those claims were copied for four centuries.

Topaz was also said to strengthen the intellect and to cure madness, and Hildegard of Bingen gives a recipe involving topaz steeped in wine for failing sight.

Because of the ancient name confusion, a considerable amount of what classical and medieval sources say about topaz refers to peridot, and untangling the two is not always possible.

Imperial topaz's association with the Brazilian imperial family, and with the town of Ouro Preto, is comparatively recent and is about supply rather than symbolism.

Modern practice reads topaz as a stone of clear intent and of manifestation, and blue topaz specifically as a communication stone. Both are twentieth-century.

How it is worked with

The precision reading is the useful one, and it follows the stone's physical character: topaz is hard and unforgiving, and it splits along one plane if you approach it wrongly. That is a serviceable image for questions about doing a thing exactly right or not at all.

Imperial topaz is worth seeking out if you want the stone with real history and scarcity behind it. Blue topaz is worth buying if you simply want a durable blue gem cheaply, and knowing it is irradiated should not put you off.

For wear, use a protective setting, keep it away from hard knocks, and never let a jeweller put it in an ultrasonic or steam cleaner.

Brown and some yellow topaz fades in sunlight, so store it in the dark.

Buying it honestly

This is the most treated common gem, and the treatments are worth naming individually.

Blue topaz is irradiated colourless material, then heated. The process is regulated, the stones are held until any induced radioactivity has decayed, and the result is stable. Sky, Swiss and London blue describe increasing depth of colour. Natural blue topaz exists and is pale and uncommon.

Mystic, azotic and rainbow topaz are surface-coated with a thin metallic film. The coating wears at facet edges and can be removed by re-polishing.

Some pink topaz is heat-treated from brown or yellow material.

Glass, synthetic spinel and cubic zirconia are sold as topaz at the low end, and smoky quartz and citrine are sold as topaz under names like smoky topaz and Madeira topaz, which are misleading trade names for quartz.

Handle with care

Perfect cleavage in one direction: a knock can split it cleanly despite hardness 8. Never ultrasonic, never steam. Brown and yellow material fades in sunlight.

Spørsmål til refleksjon

What am I owed that I have not asked for?
What looks solid in my life but would split along one particular line?
Where do I need to do something exactly right rather than approximately?

Follow the thread

🟡

Citrine

What smoky topaz and Madeira topaz actually are

🟢

Peridot

The stone classical writers actually called topaz

🗓️

November

Topaz is the month's traditional birthstone

🪨

The gem silicates

The family this stone belongs to

🟡

The gold & yellow ray

The ray it carries

Frequently asked questions

: Because hardness resists scratching and says nothing about splitting. Topaz has perfect cleavage along one plane, so a sharp knock in that direction takes a clean flat break off the stone regardless of how hard it is. Setters and cutters treat it with particular care, and it should never be cleaned ultrasonically.
: Almost never. Colourless topaz is abundant and cheap, and irradiating and then heating it produces the sky, Swiss and London blues sold everywhere. The treatment is stable and regulated, with a mandatory holding period before sale in most countries. Natural blue topaz is pale and uncommon.
: The reddish golden to orange material from Ouro Preto in Brazil, coloured by chromium, and essentially the only genuinely rare and valuable natural topaz colour. It has been mined since the eighteenth century and the deposit remains the principal source.
: No. Smoky topaz and Madeira topaz are trade names for smoky quartz and citrine, and they are misleading. Genuine topaz in those colours exists but is sold as topaz without a qualifier. If a brown or golden stone is very cheap, it is quartz.
: Often not. Classical topazos referred to material from Topazios in the Red Sea, now identified as Zabargad, which produced peridot. The name migrated to this mineral later, which means a good deal of what classical and medieval sources say about topaz is actually about peridot.

← Peridot

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