It's been wonderful to work in the gem and jewelry business since 1984, much of it as a Graduate Gemologist. Since 2006 it's been my honor to facet and share Mason County topaz with America. I've seen a lot of topaz in that time. Gem faceters and rockhounds have shown me their topaz collections, and sometimes I bought them. Ranchers quietly showed me what they've found on their land. I've studied the collections of Mason County topaz in museums.
Then some scientists approached me, and I got to share all the years of knowledge I had gathered about topaz from Texas. We spent a year studying and comparing Texas topaz with topaz from lots of locations from around the world. We learned a lot. While there was no test developed to prove it's origin, we learned Texas topaz has unique characteristics, which it shares with only a few other locations. All of this was published in Gems & Gemology, winter 2023.
What the scientists, rockhounds, Texas gem faceters agree on, is that our natural blue topaz is rare, and other colors even more rare. My experience is the same. The vast majority of topaz from Texas is colorless. That rarity is what drives the value of natural blue Mason County topaz. Most blue Texas topaz is pale blue in color. As the color deepens in saturation, the rarity goes up very quickly. At this time we are beginning to offer saturations of color we have not offered before. The prices reflect other rare natural color topaz prices in the world market.
Topaz is the Texas state gemstone as well as the birthstone for the month of November. It occurs naturally in many colors including blue, orange, brown, green, pink, beige and red. Colorless topaz, a the most common variation, can be treated by irradiation to produce a wide range of shades of blue.
Blue topaz was adopted as the state gemstone as the result of legislation approved March 26, 1969. The same legislation also named petrified palm wood as the state stone. It occurs naturally in many colors including blue, orange, brown, green, pink, beige and red. It is especially common in the East Texas Piney Woods region and along the Gulf Coast.
Topaz has fascinated human cultures for hundreds of years. It occurs in many colors, not just blue, and is used in jewelry because of its hardness and beauty.
The intense blue color of this topaz specimen is natural. Many times it also has inclusions, or imperfections, inside the gem. Look closely at this specimen, and you'll see clear through to the other side. It is very rare to find a large topaz like this one so clear, and with natural blue color! Blue topaz is found in Mason County, though not all topaz locations have blue.
This hard gem is an aluminum fluorisilicate Al2[F/OH2/SiO4] and is next in hardness to carborundum and diamonds (two of the hardest natural minerals around). Until the 1950s, topaz was generally known as a yellow or golden gemstone. Since then, routine radiation and heat treatment of pale-colored topaz to turn it blue has changed the modern public's perception of this gem. Constructed of atoms of aluminum, silicon, fluorine, and oxygen, topaz usually is colorless to pale blue or yellow -- although pink stones can be produced by heating the golden brown topaz from Ouro Preto, Brazil.
Thomas Range topaz obtained their color from natural radiation during their formation in vent pipes which trapped volatile gases in cavities within the host rhyolites. When unearthed they glow with a vibrant sherry color and with exposure to direct sunlight for awhile will generally turn clear. The sunlight (also UV radiation) reacts with the color centers in the topaz crystal structure displacing electrons which in turn change the color. However, some locations do produce topaz that fade to a beautiful pink color. Some topaz are "tougher" than others and do not have as weak a cleavage plane as the Thomas Range topaz which usually they cleave with a flat top. A favorite location for the mineral collectors and rock hounds is called "The Cove" on the southern end of the Thomas Range.
Wear topaz only if you wish to be clear-sighted: legend has it that it dispels all enchantment and helps to improve eyesight as well! The ancient Greeks believed that it had the power to increase strength and make its wearer invisible in times of emergency. Topaz was also said to change color in the presence of poisoned food or drink. Its mystical curative powers waxed and waned with the phases of the moon: it was said to cure insomnia, asthma, and hemorrhages. Topaz is the birthstone of November.
