Topaz

A prize small cabinet specimen of a single lustrous gemmy crystal of Topaz from the Shigar Valley in northern Pakistan.  This ex. matrix, equant blocky crystal is a delightful crisp Champaign and is optically perfect in terms of transparency and clarity, in other words it is totally gemmy.  The prism faces are terminated by a flat pinacoid which exhibits elongated ovoid pitting.  Four lines cross the pinacoid which are of unknown origin.  The are not typically crystallographic, thus suggesting types of scratch marks, yet under magnification appear to have the etched texture of the natural looking pitting.  These are strange and so could have been caused during extraction despite the hardness of Topaz being 8.  Nonetheless, a magnificent and showy specimen from Pakistan.