Show DISCOVER MEW GEM RARE BLUE TOPAZ FOUND IN AFRICA Recent Announcement Causes Conoid arabIa Stir Among Experts Numerous Varieties of the Stone I London Tho public Interest man I tested in tho discovery in Ithodesla of what Is believed to be n blue topaz has revealed some confusion in regard to this class of com In addition to the true topaz sonic limos called Brazilian topaz thorn are the yellow variety of sapphire sometimes called Oriental topaz a most lustrous gem of considerable value and the yellow and brown quartz known as Scotch or cairngorm cairn-gorm topaz which Is obtained In large quantities and la of little value Tho true topaz however resembles these stones only In color and can bo easily distinguished by difference of hnrdnesfl and specific gravity says Leopold Claromont tho wellknown lapidary It Is a transparent gem crystallizing In tho rhombic cyatom generally occurring In right rhombic prisms and Is to be found In many different shades of yellow and brown green white blue and rarely pink and palo red Some of the dark yellow and brown specimens can be altered to a delicate deli-cate pink by careful application of heat Nearly all the pink topazes upon the market have been altered or tq use tho technical term pinked in this way Next to tho pink variety in value comes the bluo and greenish topaz Although somewhat resembling tho aquamarine In color and general effect these varieties are much more brilliant owing to their greater hardness hard-ness The localities in which the topaz occurs oc-curs are among others Brazil Siberia Si-beria Asia Minor Pegu Ceylon Victoria Vic-toria Bohemia Saxony Connecticut U S A and Japan The finest specimens spe-cimens however aro derived from Brazil and Siberia Tho chief sources of the topaz in Brazil are Minas Gems Villa Rica and Novas mines tho last named being generally used in connection connec-tion with tho white variety In Siberia Si-beria tho topaz occurs in many districts dis-tricts notably the Altai and Ural mountains near Nortchlnsk and also in Kamchatka If the recent announcement of tho discovery of tho bluo topaz upon the property of tho African Option syndicate syndi-cate in Rhodesia be duly confirmed yet another source of supply ot this variety of tho gem is available |