Imperial Topaz (rare locality)

Item Description

Imperial Topaz is the orange variety of Topaz, that are typically seen in narrow prismatic crystals with steep pyramidal terminations. The most well-known crystals are the excellent examples from Ouro Preto, Brazil. For a long time there were no other major localities that produced much in the way of Imperial Topaz, but circa 2009, there was a discovery of some attractive and fine quality crystals from a new locality in Zambia. We got a good parcel of these attractive new crystals from our friend in Tucson, who is personally collecting them. They are notably similar to the Brazilian crystals in both color and habit, but I can say that some of these Zambian crystals are actually gemmier than many I've seen from Brazil. The reason you don't see any many gem quality Brazilian crystals is because a large percentage of them are faceted into gemstones, but our friend in Zambian didn't want to butcher good crystals. This piece is a fine, sharp, lustrous, light orange color crystal with decent internal gemminess areas. The piece has a classic "chisel"-shaped termination just like the Brazilian crystals. No damage that I can find, save the bottom where it detached from the pocket wall, and it's a very nice example of these attractive and exciting new crystals. Specimen weight is 2.9 grams.