Imperial Topaz (rare locality)

Item Description

When it comes to Imperial Topaz crystals, most people are familiar with old the classics from Ouro Preto, Brazil. Going back to 2009, we started seeing these exciting and beautiful Imperial Topaz crystals coming out of Zambia which was an unexpected discovery to say the least. At this year's 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 less than a year ago. They are notably similar to their famous and historic counterparts crystals from Ouro Preto 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 gemminess. This piece is a fine, sharp, lustrous, soft orange color crystal with good overall gemminess (nearly WATER CLEAR in the upper portion). The piece has a classic "chisel"-shaped termination just like the Brazilian crystals. The piece is complete all around with no notably damage. A great thumbnail sized example of these attractive and exciting pieces from this limited discovery..