Imperial Topaz (rare locality)

Item Description

Going back to around 2009, there was a discovery of these attractive and fine quality Imperial Topaz crystals from a new locality in Zambia. At the Tucson Show we acquired a small parcel from a good friend who owns a claim in Zambia and is actively mining this material, and literally just took these out of the ground a few months ago. They are notably similar to the famous and historic Imperial Topaz crystals from Ouro Preto, Brazil 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, so we were fortunate to get some pieces like this with excellent gem clarity. This piece is a fine, sharp, lustrous, soft orange color crystal with nearly WATER CLEAR clarity in areas. The piece has a classic "chisel"-shaped termination just like the Brazilian crystals, but if you look closely, you can see some slight graceful forms, almost like it's gently etched. There is a contact on the back of the crystal, so it's not damage free, but it's still a lovely example of these attractive and exciting new crystals.