What exactly is the "Imperial topaz" (peach salmon yellow orange gold, whatever they're calling it today), where does it come from, and what is it really worth ?

Kingfish

Imperial Topaz is a trade term for a very high grade of yellow topaz. You will find this term most commonly used around the Southeast Asia region and many exhibitors in the Hong Kong and Thailand show sell this gem.

With regards to value, from my experience, many of my Chinese customers will pay top dollar for Imperial Topaz as it is associated with the belief of prosperity when one wears the gem. Citrine has devalued in this respect and our sales trend shows that prices of this gem will continue to increase due to the high demand from my customers. They will usually request for Imperial Topaz that are 10 ct and above.

Suppliers will sell them to you for around $3/ct, depending on cut and colour. I have yet to see eye-visible inclusions in Imperial Topaz. With regards to selling price, that's for you to decide. Just be ethical and truthful about the properties and abundance of this gem.

According to The Guide, a Topaz must not only meet the body color requirement, yellowish orange to pink ....and such(see The Guide), but it also MUST possess a secondary color component to be called Imp Topaz. you might consider yourself fortunate to obtain a "fine" imperial topaz in a 5-10-ct size for 400/ct. A topaz with a single body color should not be called imp topaz.

Ore Preto mines in Brazil a noted and historic source for the material.

Below is a pic of an imperial topaz which meets the reqs above.

Thanks, Ben. Hmmm...I've only bought the gem from a single seller in Chantaburi, but it sounds like he has sold me some very fine Imperial topaz at a very good price.
Kingfish

Natural color? Stable natural color? Yiks!

Well, let's open it up a bit!

...Ben, I don't remember, but I think that you may be located in Thailand, a noted source, along with Ebay, of much suspicion in trading practices. Perhaps you can help many of us here at GO.

...As stories of fraud from Thailand and Ebay persist, I can hardly recommend that anyone trade with most Thai, Ebay dealers when I, myself, will not.

....Where and how do you find a comfort zone with imperial topaz for 3 bucks/ct? Regarding Imperial Topaz rough, Jeff Graham says, ".... This is considered the king of all Topaz, it only comes from one location, the "Imperial" mine in Brazil and has a beautiful peach to pink color. Good clean material is usually very hard to come by and the mine production is very undependable...." Jeff's last pricing for ROUGH is substantially more more than $3/ct. NOTE: I regard Jeff Graham as an unquestionable, premium source.

....There is no question that topaz is abundant material. However, as V102 reminds us, treatments, synthetics and imitations have infiltrated and proliferated the market.

....SO! What tells you that there is such an abundance of genuine, very high quality, cut Imperial Topaz available at $3/ct? Do you have an Ebay sales site or WEB store? I have a very small, quality topaz business consisting of a few clients who were sold "smoky topaz" as topaz, for years in some cases. Hell, real Imp Topaz at $3/ct! That is cheaper than I can get quartz crystal!

....so, please educate us. I hate to keep paying - and charging - my current prices if unquestionable 3 dollar sources are available.

I've heard/seen of Imperial like Topaz coming from Africa (Nigeria I think?), but the pictures I've seen are very much closer to smokey Quartz, a hair more peachy, but NOT Imperial Topaz. I have no idea whether this matiral fades in sunlight. They claim it does not. The prices are (were) very cheap, about like blue Topaz.

Gems Plus G on Dish Network use to sale it. They are no longer on Dish Network.

For those of you that like Imperial Topaz, you might want to take a look at this stone. Its truly incredible! While I agree with Jeff Graham, I think the rarest of all topaz is not the peach/pink color, but the natural RED Imperials, like this stone below. They are amazing stones to hold in your hand, and ultra rare.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Natural-Red-Imperial-Topaz-9-30-Carats-Museum-Calibre_W0QQitemZ120046207114QQihZ002QQcategoryZ110899QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Speaking of topaz comfort zone on Ebay, well, mine is real' small and refers to the not-quite-precious but still nice natural colors coming from somewhere eastwards (Pakistan? sorry, I just don't know and sellers more often refer to the location they buy from than the mine).

Here's a nice CROSSECTION

I think these have been mentioned on this forum already.

Ben,
Quite right the ebay stone is, in my opinion, the rarest of the topaz family. I bought one in Oro Preto a number of years ago. Its a true red-pink or red-pink depending upon your eye, mine was definately pR, it lies just on the cusp between the two hues.

Personally I think the "Imperial" designation is best left alone. Not sure what it means?

I doubt anyone would disagree. When the Russian demantoid started coming out of the ground again, I kept fingers crossed for precious topaz... Am I missing some news?

For some reason, I never got to see any example of the best Brazilian topaz in flesh. Pink and red stones in Russian jewelry set the standard of the best I know of (well, leaving pictures aside).

Wow! No doubt. I've scoured the net & other places for many years. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a truer red/pink Imperial topaz as this! It has to be amongst the very rarest of stones.

I've visited this store on E-bay before. They always seem to have the best gems.



Had to put up a picture.

It may be my monitor, but the imperial topaz had brown overtones, and the red topaz would be called pink if it were a sapphire or diamond.

Isn't that just any natural color (hue) of topaz with high saturation and anything but extremely light or dark tones? (=brown). At least, the name appears to be used that way and this would make the discussion allot less hairy than the similar one around pad sapphire.

Forgive my ignorance, but when people refer to "The Guide" which "Guide" are they talking about ? I know of several books which might fit that description.