Imperial Topaz

Lately on okay there has been a glut of loose gemstones available, most geing from Asian dealers, which are labeled "Imperial topaz". These stones tend to be some variation of brown, gold, yellow, orange, or "peach" or "salmon" colors as the dealers call them. The photographs of these stones are manipulated to a large degree. The actual stones seldom look anything like the listing images. Sometimes, prices in the hundreds of dollars are paid for these stones. The sad truth is that very few, if any of these stones are true Imperial topaz. Most of them are what the Brazilian topaz miners call, in the Portuguese language, "topazio marrom", brown topaz. Miners sell it for pennies per carat, and it makes its way to the gem cutting centers of Thailand where it is cut into various sizes and shapes for pennies a carat. The true Imperial topaz is always cut in Brazil, as the Brazilians will not sell the "rough" topaz to other countries. Some of the Thai cutting is quite good, but the material being cut is nearly worthless. To make matters worse, most if not allof it, after exposure to sunlight, will fade to colorless topaz. I have tried this myself, and I now have a nice collection of "white" or colorless topaz.Be careful of intensely pink stones which are sold as Imperial topaz. Most of these stones are in fact coated colorless topaz. The "Azotic" coating used to create the pink color utilizes heat and titanium in a process called "vapor deposition" to produce the pink color, usually a shocking pink.
True Imperial topaz came from one of two places: either mines in the Ural Mountains of Russia, or the Ouro Preto district of Brazil. Such stones gee in shades of "sherry gold", usually with some red near the tips, or various shades of pink, red, or even purple. The Russian mines have long been depleted and the Brazilian mines have been closed for years. The true Imperial topaz is a rare stone, and seldom gees up for sale.
One final word: do not confuse "Imperial topaz" with "precious topaz", which has yellowish to gold tones. Precious topaz is much more gemon than Imperial topaz, and consequently worth much less.