The team at Elizabeth Sarah Collections wants to introduce you to our Gemstone of the Week blog. We feel it's important not only to educate ourselves about the materials we use, but also our clients and those who support us. In these blogs, we will be featuring a different gemstone from our collection every week. All of the semi-precious and precious gemstones we use in our collection come from places all over globe and have a deep history within these regions and with the cultures that have been mining them for decades and even centuries. Being knowledgeable about the properties of these gemstones will help in the understanding of which gems we use, their varieties, treatment, cuts and colors.
Blue topaz is a gemstone we use in many of our pieces, as Elizabeth draws her inspiration from the colors that surround her. Currently living on the east coast of Florida, the deeper hues of blue topaz remind her of the ocean, and the lighter hues represent the endless Colorado sky as it meets the mountain tops that she could see from her old backyard. Topaz naturally comes in a variety of colors such as yellow, orange, red-brown, blue, pink, red, violet, light green and colorless (white). The most popular color for topaz is blue, but in nature, blue topaz is usually a pale blue rather than bright or deep blue. Blue topaz is often enhanced through artificial means to produce these deep, brilliant blue hues. The topaz is exposed to radiation (a process known as irradiation) and then heated, to produce the striking blue colors. A deep blue enhanced topaz is known as "London Blue"; medium blue is called "Swiss Blue" and light-blue is termed "Sky Blue". These three varieties of blue topaz can be found in our current collection.
Although we typically stick to the blue color palette, we sometimes use other varieties of topaz, depending on the piece of jewelry we are making. One variety we feature is Mystic Pink Topaz. This stone differs from other colors of topaz due to the treatment used to enhance it's color. By applying a thin coating of titanium dioxide vapor to topaz stones, the stone turns iridescent and is known as "mystic topaz".
Although topaz is thought to have been discovered and primarily used by the ancient Egyptians, deposits of topaz have been found in Brazil, Afghanistan, Australia, Myanmar, China, Germany, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Ireland, USA and the UK.
The history of topaz goes far beyond the ancient Egyptians, although Egyptians believed that yellow topaz received its golden hue from the Sun God, Ra. Some believe that "topaz" is a Middle English word, which was derived from the Old French word "Topace" and Latin "Topazus", the root of which is in the Greek word "Topazios" or "Topazion"; the ancient name of an island in The Red Sea where the ancient Greeks mined a yellow gem that they believed to be topaz. The word "topaz" could also have stemmed from the Sanskrit word, "tapas", which means "fire".
Beyond these translations and different meanings for the origin of the word "topaz" one thing it has in common is that it is the birthstone for November (yelllow topaz) and December (blue topaz). The mythical or healing properties of topaz are thought to be beneficial to artists, writers, public speakers and others who are concerned with self-expression. In hindsight, this is probably a great reason behind why we love topaz!
What gemstones are your favorite and that you would like us to feature?
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