Topaz Meaning and Properties: November's Birthstone

Topaz might be the most underestimated gem in the case. Most people meet it as an icy blue stone in an affordable pendant and never learn what it really is: a lustrous, brilliant gem with an exceptionally wide natural colour range, a full 8 on the Mohs scale, and a history that includes a royal court celebration.

A rainbow in one mineral

Honey yellow, fiery orange, cyclamen pink, icy blue: topaz spans warm and cool tones alike, taking in yellow, orange, brown, pink, red, purple red, blue, light green and colourless. It is also pleochroic, showing different colours along different crystal directions. The most coveted of all is Imperial topaz, the rich orange-to-pink material whose 1768 discovery was celebrated by the royal court in Portugal.

The truth about blue topaz

Here is the open secret of the blue stones: colourless topaz is plentiful, and it is routinely treated to create the familiar blues. Irradiating colourless topaz with electrons at ten million electron volts produces sky blue, and deeper treatments create the darker shades. This is stable, accepted practice, and it is why blue topaz is so affordable, but it is worth knowing that the colour began in a laboratory even though the stone itself grew in the earth.

A stone of two birthdays

Precious topaz is a birthstone for November, sharing the month with citrine, while blue topaz is one of December's birthstones. Blue topaz is also the gem of the 4th wedding anniversary, and Imperial topaz marks the 23rd. Few gems get to celebrate so many occasions.

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Hard, bright and easy to own

At Mohs 8, topaz is tougher than most coloured stones and takes a brilliant polish, which makes it a practical everyday gem in rings as well as earrings and pendants. Its one weakness is cleavage: a sharp knock in the wrong direction can split it, so protective settings and ordinary care are sensible. For the price of a modest dinner out, you can own a lot of topaz, and for a little more, an Imperial stone with genuine rarity.

Choosing your topaz

Start by deciding which topaz you are actually shopping for, because the name covers very different buys. Blue topaz is the affordable everyday option, bright and hard-wearing, with its treated colour stable and accepted across the trade. Imperial topaz, the orange-to-pink material, is the connoisseur's stone, far rarer and priced accordingly. Pink and red shades sit between, scarce and quietly collected. Colourless topaz is plentiful and brilliant, though it competes with many other white stones. Whatever the colour, look for a bright, well-proportioned cut; topaz takes a superb polish, and a good cut is what turns that natural lustre into life.

Living with topaz

Day to day, topaz is one of the easier gems to own. Warm soapy water and a soft brush keep it bright. Take rings off for heavy work, since a hard knock along the cleavage direction is the stone's one real vulnerability, and keep it out of prolonged strong heat. In return you get a gem that holds its polish for decades and costs a fraction of the stones it is mistaken for.

Your topaz, made for you with Shewah

Tell us the colour you love, imperial orange, sky blue or something softer, and we will make your topaz piece to order, quoted in full before work begins.

Explore Shewah's jewellery or contact us on WhatsApp at +91 96622 66360 to talk stones.

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Sources

• Topaz Gemstone - GIA