BLUE TOPAZ

Hello!

Is it actually possible to find naturally blue topaz or is always irradiated to get the colour?

Thanks in advance

Amanda

Natural blue topaz does occur, but it is usually much paler than the irradiated common kinds. A search through a kilo of alluvial Brazilian topaz pebbles usually finds a few. Also Russia and Nigeria produce blues. The mindat topaz photos should have a number of blues.

Mason Co., Texas produces some pale blue topaz - the darkest I've seen has been close to clear-sky blue from just west of the town of Mason.

Don

Don't forget the Little Three Mine in Ramona, California! Also, here in Montana's Boulder Batholith, topaz is uncommon, but at least one pocket had been exposed subaerially, and crystals that were once pale sherry color had been naturally irradiated to pale blue.

William C. (CHRIS) van Laer: "I'm using the chicken to measure it..."

Pale blue Topaz is to be found in Norway also, I have two really good ones from the Svelvik area.

A natural Blue Topaz from New Hampshire, USA
New Hampshire Blue Topaz

Wayne, that NH topaz is a beauty!! The color is comparable to the darkest I've seen from Texas....

Don

There is the Zapot claim in Nevada that produced some nice blue topaz crystals.

Rick
I know I am in my own little world, but everyone knows me here.

Blue topaz in Colorado as well

Loads of places! Let's not forget Mongolia, Zimbabwe, Spain, Ukraine, Australia, Finland and Maine!

It is possible to color topaz any shade between green and blue with simple heat treatment with appropriate chemical infusion - but the color added in this case will be only skin deep, as the infusion only impacts the outer surface of the crystal, so can only be done to a finished product.

Hi Tony,

Yes,but how much of the blue topaz on the market from worldwide locations is natural color? Colorless just doesn't
have a good market value.

Cliff

Cliff you are right and I expect that loads of cut material will be treated - I would guess at 80% or so will have been treated (that's a guess!). However I also think that far less mineral specimens or crystals currently on the market have been treated, you just don't see the same numbers of them in the same tones as their faceted versions (I collect topaz) if you know the localities then you can pretty much know what colours to expect. If a deep colour turns up you should also be careful. Actually there seems to be topaz from Pakistan with a deep Sherry colour hitting the market at the moment, if these are associated with quartz which appear black or quite dark then I would treat these with caution. I once saw an amazing neon blue topaz from Pakistan for sale by Rob Lavinsky - which he confirms has been irradiated, see below. You dont often see blue crystals like this, especially for crystals from Pakistan (the odd ones turn up on ebay from the same dealer). The locality should give a clue to this.

[www.mindat.org]

Amanda,

I would say that the vast majority of blue topaz that are cut for commercial purposes are treated in some way, probably more like 99%. Please note that it can be called "natural" and still be treated as this is allowed. You need to have the seller specify that it is untreated.

A quick search on ebay returned 8,544 listings for "natural" blue topaz, and only 4 listings for "untreated" blue topaz.

By far the untreated blue topaz will be pale blue as noted above, therefore these are more for collectors, as most people want a deeper blue shade for jewellery.

Now it depends if you want matrix specimens or cut stones, matrix specimens might be easier to obtain than cut stones, but they are still scarce.

regards,
stephanie

Similar irradiation processes do occur naturally. So the occurrence of natural blue topaz does occur. It rarely
does get the depth of colour of Swiss blue, and I have never seen a natural topaz with the depth of colour of
London blue. Processes mimicked in the laboratory often have a basis to natural. Gueda sapphires are heat
treated to remove small crystals