Topaz
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Topaz from Mount Surprise, Queensland, Australia, measuring 47 × 28 × 23 mm and weighing 53 grams. A good-sized piece from one of Australia's best-known gem Topaz fields.
Topaz is aluminium fluorosilicate, Al2SiO4(F,OH)2, orthorhombic, and it crystallises in granite-related pegmatites and the alluvial gravels derived from them, usually as prismatic crystals that can range from colourless through pale blue to, less commonly, sherry or wine tones. The Mount Surprise district, along with the nearby O'Briens Creek field, sits within North Queensland's granite country, where erosion of Topaz-bearing pegmatites has concentrated gem-quality crystals in alluvial deposits that have been worked by fossickers and small miners for generations.
North Queensland Topaz, particularly in blue tones, is among the most recognisable Australian gem mineral material, and a crystal of this size is a solid example of what the field is known for. This piece is from the Anne McDonald Collection.