Halloween is only 3 weeks away! The pumpkins are out in force, although I’ve noticed an increase in oddly-shaped gourds this year. I’m sorely tempted to buy one for no other reason than to carry it around and tell people how gourdgeous they are. No? Too far? Moving on!
Continuing our birthstone theme since October has three beautiful stones to discuss, let’s talk about Pink Topaz! Why it’s pink instead of orange, I do not know. However, it’s a happy stone revolving around joy, generosity and good health. Much like Rose Quartz, it brings love and good fortune to mind. Who knows, maybe it’d help you find your true love, if your Prince(ss) Charming hasn’t yet appeared in your life! It may increase motivation and inspire confidence as well.
Topaz also presents in many different colors, as you may have noticed. Imperial, one of the rarest natural hues, is a beautiful yellow-gold. Perfect for October, don’t you think? Talk about a missed opportunity. And though Topaz is often known for being delightfully blue, blue Topaz is rarely natural. But, it can show off with pink and purple hues that could probably take on a Sapphire in a rock-fight. In some cases of mistaken identity, it may also be confused with Smoky Quartz.
Speaking of mistaken identity, “topaz” was once a catch-all for yellow-ish stones for a long time, when people didn’t realize that some of these were actually different minerals, like Quartz, Sapphire, or even Beryl.
Did you know? Topaz comes from a deposit near a Brazilian town called Ouro Preto (Black Gold) and from Russia’s Ural Mountains. (And a few other places, but we’re not going to list them all, ok?) And, Topaz has four-sided crystals, whereas Tourmaline only has three. And (but wait, there’s more!), it is a pleochroic stone, meaning that it can show other colors in different crystal directions. Fancy, huh?
Last, but not least, Topaz has a hardness of 8 on the Mohs scale, which means it’s one of the hardest silicate minerals. Only Diamond, Corundum, and Chrysoberyl are commonly known to be harder.
That’s it for this week’s post! Now, I’m off to see if there are any gourdgeous Halloween costumes out there with my name on them. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and we’ll see you again soon.