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Timeless Topaz a Gemstone Affordable for Everyone
Australia has topaz deposits in five of its six states. Topaz is a mineral in a crystalline form. With a hardness of 8 on the Mohs’ scale of hardness that makes it a good stone for jewelry.Topaz is an exciting gemstone which in its final form can be a number of individual colors such as yellow, blue, and different varieties of blue as well as pink, red orange or brown. It can also be many colors in one stone.
When topaz is in its pure form it is transparent and colorless or lightly colored but sometimes it is colored by traces of other minerals. The color that we see in a piece of topaz gemstone mostly comes from heat treatment of the stone or irradiation.
When yellow topaz is heat treated it often turns into a gorgeous pink or reddish color. When it is irradiated it becomes the blue that we so often see in this gemstone.
My favourite topaz is commonly called mystic topaz and this has been treated by applying a layer of titanium oxide to the stone. These stones look like nothing else and display an array of iridescent colors. There is a limited amount of mystic topaz available and the patenting of the process to make it makes sure that this is the case. So you cannot find it everywhere and some shops won’t even know about it. I guess rainbow coloring might be the best way to describe this to someone who has never seen it. The best part is that although it might look better than an untreated stone it actually costs less to buy one.
Topaz is a stone which allows itself to be faceted. It takes special skills to cut topaz and it can be cut into many interesting designs. Topaz often occurs without inclusions so it makes wonderful jewellery.
Topaz can be used as November’s birthstone is it is yellow and for December if it is blue.
Gary Hocking makes custom jewellery specializing in Australian opals. He has his own website http://www.jewelleryexpress.com.au Feel free to use this article as long as you keep the bio and the live link to his website
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11.08.2006
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