Pale-Blue Topaz on Quartz–Albite & Schorl Matrix – 330 g, Shigar Valley

Gem-clear, faint-blue topaz crowns a rugged granitic pocket studded with silvery muscovite books, black schorl needles and sparkling pyrite flecks—a dramatic alpine-pegmatite vignette in hand-sized form.

Delicately tinted an icy aquamarine-blue, the dominant orthorhombic topaz crystal (≈ 24 mm across) sits in a cavity of sugary quartz and white albite. Mirror-bright faces show textbook bevelled terminations, while the interior remains eye-clean save for a few wispy veils. Around it, bladed muscovite sheets glint like silver foil, fine black tourmaline (schorl) prisms rise like miniature pillars, and metre-wide flashes of pyrite add metallic sparkle. This 330-gram cabinet specimen distils the chemistry of Shigar’s high-altitude pegmatites—fluorine-rich fluids fostering gem topaz, boron feeding tourmaline, and late-stage sulphides peppering the pocket. All edges of the topaz are sharp, with zero repairs or polishing.