Columbite in Topaz (cut and polished)

specimen number:
8911037

location:
Baw Mar Mine, Mogok, Mandalay, Myanmar

description:
A colorless gemmy topaz, this faceted and polished into the shape of a natural crystal, neatly showing a spray of black acicular columbite crystals as inclusions. Interesting and attractive, this is a neat specimen.

Situated near Kyat Pyin in the western portion of the famous Mogok Stone Tract, the Baw Mar Mine is a renowned primary gem deposit famous for producing rich blue sapphires. Geologically, the deposit consists of syenitic pegmatites and leucogranite intrusions that penetrated host gneiss and marble rocks within the Mogok Metamorphic Belt, forming high-quality sapphire crystals inside contact zones and clay pockets. Historically viewed as a producer of lower-grade gems, modern mechanized mining using underground shafts, open pits, and water-washing plants expanded significantly in the early twenty-first century. Gem collectors and researchers highly value Baw Mar sapphires due to their distinct characteristics, including strong pleochroism ranging from greenish-blue to violet-blue, unique needle-like iron oxide silk inclusions, and impressive specimen sizes.

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