Hey Roy, Thanks for your good points of view. I I totally agree with your 2nd half. I paid my so called “natural untreated blue topaz” $25/carat from a supplier in Tucson, says the origins from Namibia. I actually feel okay to paying $25 per carat for a eye clean, large, well, faceted untreated blue topaz, but I do have some doubt in my mind every time the supplier keeps telling me how rare a yellow color topaz is he sourced from West Africa, and it is $250/carat. It is sponge bob’s kind of yellow, good saturation but hue varies depending on the environments, can be seen as grass green mixed under the sunlight, or “partially” become yellow-gold (like citrine) color in the shade. For the provenance, it is always just saying but no real proof of origin. So…I guess yellow topaz’s real value remains a mystery here again.
I agree that yellow topaz is not imperial topaz. But what is Precious topaz? Because I do see orange pink, greyish-pink, brown or brown-pinkish are sold as “precious topaz” while yellow color topaz is sold as the name of Imperial. The price for precious topaz is a lot lower than Imperial topaz, but still much higher than untreated blue topaz from somewhere in Namibia. So that’s why my question #1 is I need to understand what is precious topaz and is it just less qualified imperial topaz’s secondary name?