Imperial Topaz (rare locality)

Item Description

For many decades Imperial Topaz crystals were almost exclusively tied for the famous old locality at Ouro Preto, Brazil. Then starting around 2009, there was a trickle of some new and exciting Imperial Topaz crystals that appeared from Zambia, which was an unexpected discovery to say the least. We were fortunate at this year's Tucson Show to acquire a small parcel of these wonderful crystals 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, yellow-orange color crystal with good overall gemminess and form. The piece has a classic "chisel"-shaped termination just like the Brazilian crystals. The piece is in good condition, with only a few spots of damage. A very nice example of these attractive and alluring pieces from this limited discovery.