Topaz (GEM quality) (ex David Burgess Collection)

Item Description

Katlang is one of the premier Topaz localities in the world, and I would say that it might be the most famous Topaz locality in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The crystals from Katlang are iconic for their superb coloring with some of the richest natural orange, red and purple hues seen for the species. They compare easily to the famous 'Imperial' Topaz crystals from Brazil, but they are not as common on the market, and they are often found ON MATRIX, which is virtually impossible to find in a Brazilian Imperial crystal. This is a lovely miniature which hosts a WATER CLEAR, sharp, lustrous, prismatic peachy-orange colored crystal of Topaz measuring 1.6 cm long sitting on matrix. The modified pyramidal termination is in superb condition, and looks beautiful up close. It's honestly rare to find Topaz crystals with this kind of color on matrix, and I think the Katlang pieces deserve more attention / respect than they get because if we had 'Imperial' crystals like this on matrix from Brazil, they would sell for big money. Valued in the inventory at $400. From the worldwide collection of David Burgess (1951-2016). David was a prolific species collector from Newington, Connecticut, and the namesake for the extremely rare cobalt arsenate species Burgessite, which he discovered.