

Other topaz colors, such as sherry-brown, golden yellow, and pink sometimes show strong fluorescence that's orange-yellow under long-wavelength UV light. Diamonds are also often irradiated to produce yellow, blue-green, or green colors. Most blue topaz gems are irradiated to enhance their optical properties and produce the color since natural blue topaz is very rare. Irradiated topaz and natural blue topaz are often photoluminescent, which gives them a slight glow in the sunlight. Some varieties of topaz are pleochroic, meaning that the gem can show different colors in different crystal directions.

Topaz is generally a naturally eye-clean gem, so many topaz gems offer good clarity.
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Good jewelers know how to cut and facet topaz in a way that prevents it from cleaving. Topaz is one of the gems that has perfect cleavage, meaning that it can be prone to chipping or forming flaws when knocked against something. Anything above 7 on the Mohs scale is considered pretty durable, since harder than quartz (which is present in sand and dust and can scratch softer minerals). Topaz has a hardness of 8 on the Mohs scale, placing it behind diamonds (10) as well as rubies and sapphires (9), and just above emeralds (7.5-8), tourmaline (7-7.5), and citrine (7).

Some topaz color varieties come from selective processes created by the gemstone industry. The wide range of colors in corundum and true topaz colors come from natural trace elements, impurities, and crystal structures. Natural topaz is colorless, like corundum (what sapphires and rubies are made of). You might even be able to help out poetry students decipher Neruda's metaphors. Unlike the Greek historians, you'll be able to describe the difference between topaz and other similar-colored gemstones. We've compiled an informative guide on the types of topaz colors, their properties, and rarity. It wasn't until the 1700s century that scientists could distinguish topaz's properties from other gems, and correctly identify topaz. Topaz is referenced in the Bible, Ancient Egyptian stories, Greek/Roman histories, and Medieval texts, but people used the term to describe various yellow gems. Whether you're interested in buying topaz jewelry or wish to expand your knowledge of gemstones, learning about the different topaz varieties is fascinating. Each color has its own special meaning, and some colors are much rarer than others. It's no wonder Neruda found them to be the perfect metaphorical symbol. Topaz colors range from crystal clear diamond white to peachy orange sunset shades, grassy greens, blazing reds, sky blues, and everything in between. Readers often struggle to understand his topaz metaphors, but most of them aren't familiar with how many different mesmerizing colors of topaz there are. What do "a mermaid's arms," "congealed honey," "wine," "tranquility," and "solitary things" have in common? Interestingly, they're all things that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda compares to topaz.
