Topaz is a beautiful light blue or yellow stone. Yellow Topaz is November's birthstone while blue topaz is December's birthstone. It is much less expensive than aquamarine. The Topaz is well-known as a large quality gem. The worlds. largest topaz crystal was found in Brazil at the Minas Gerais, the world.s most well-known producer of topaz. It was purchased in 1938 by Allan Caplan, a New York dealer in minerals and precious gems. Upon his first inspection of the stone he thought there might be something wrong with it, and this particular stone along with two others were sent the American Museum for further study. What the experts found was the largest topaz known to that date. It is still housed at the museum.

The topaz has superb qualities of color, clarity and hardness. Its. hardness allows it to be easily polished because it contains an innate smoothness. The smoothness and slipperiness of topaz is one of the ways it is identified along with the brilliancy of color. It comes in all different shades of yellow, blue, brown and rose reds. Most deep blue hues are produced artificially by heat and irridation. Citrine is sometimes mistaken for topaz. The more intense colors of topaz is what usually sets it apart from the lighter citrine colors. However, there is a test known as the "methylene iodide test" that can make a final determination. A stone is place in the solution, and a citrine gem will float while the topaz will sink to the bottom.

 The very deep blue topaz is artificially produced by heating and irridation processes. One of the most interesting characteristics about topaz is that it bleaches in daylight and then renews itself as the light subsides. The color changes occur because of natural heating and irridation.