What is the Birthstone for November?
When you are looking for the birthstone for November, a few suggestions might surface but by far the most common stone associated with the month is topaz. And if you were born in the eleventh month, then you are lucky because topaz is one of those stones that comes in a variety of colours so whatever your favourite is, you can find a topaz in it and still be loyal to your birthstone.
What is topaz?
Pure topaz is a colourless stone that is transparent in the same way as diamond or other colourless stone but it is given different colours by the other minerals within the stone. This means it can be almost any colour from yellow and reddish-orange through to green, blue and even pale grey. It is a silicate mineral with a Mohs scale hardness of eight.
Orange topaz is also known as precious topaz and is the stone most associated as the birthstone for November. It is the gemstone of the US state of Utah and is used as a stone of friendship, so often features in friendship jewellery.
Imperial topaz can be yellow or pink and occasionally comes in a pink-orange shade. If it comes from Brazil, it may be a bright yellow or golden brown shade and there are stones that have a violet shade to them. These stones can be treated to create bright yellow, pink or purple stones and this can even happen due to prolonged sunlight exposure.
Blue topaz is one of the more common types of the stone but doesn’t occur in nature that often. It is created by heat treating the colourless stone to create the blue colour. It is the state gemstone for Texas.
Mystic topaz is the name for a colourless stone that has been treated to give is a rainbow effect so there are multiple colours in the stone.
Where does topaz come from?
Topaz is found within different types of stones so can occur in different areas of the world. For example, they are found in the Topaz Mountains area of Utah and in the Chivinar area of South America where they are found in lava flows.
The stones are also found in Russia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria and Australia. Brazil boasts some of the large stones, many of which are in museums. One of the biggest is the American Golden Topaz which is 22,892 carats in size while the Topaz of Aurangzeb is another famous stone weighing 157 carats.
History of the birthstone for November
As well as being associated with the birthstone for November, topaz is also associated with the 4th and 19th wedding anniversaries. It is a symbol of love and affection that is said to bring a sweet disposition to the wearer.
Stones called topaz have been used in jewellery for centuries, although not all of them probably were topaz. Greek scholar Pliny referred to them while there is a mention in the Bible but this is thought to just be a reference to yellow stones, rather than the exact gemstone.
During the Renaissance, topaz was used to break spells and could stop a person being angry. Hindus believed it to be a sacred stone that brought wisdom and longevity to the wearer while African shamans also held it as sacred and used it in healing rituals.
In the 19th century, many pink topaz stones were being mined in the Ural Mountains of Russia. They were named Imperial topaz to honour the czar and only members of the royal family were allowed to own the stone. Discoveries of gemstones in Brazil meant that the price of the stone lowered and were more readily available.
Choosing a topaz
You can use similar standards to judge a topaz stone as other gemstones such as diamond. The clarity of the stone is important – this means less inclusions and a clearer stone. Milky or cloudy stones will often be used for beads rather than cut into fine gemstones.
The stones are rated from F for flawless, with no internal or external inclusions but are very rare and valuable. A mid-range would be VS with very small inclusions that can only be seen in 10x magnification. I1/2/3 mean there are visible inclusions of varying degrees. Beads in topaz often come in a soft caramel colour and have inclusions but are a great price for costume jewellery.
Any of the main cuts can be used for topaz stones but two of the most popular are the perfect and the fancy cuts.
