In the Brazilian province of Minas Gerais, 300 years ago, three Portuguese criminals exiled to the local gold mines found a transparent stone at the bottom of a dried-up river. The regular-shaped mineral weighed almost half a kilogram and resembled a diamond. The convicts at the time could not have imagined that the find would become the crown jewel of Portugal and, at the same time, the greatest disappointment to the country for years to come.
The convicts awaited such a happy occasion for nearly six years. The Portuguese authorities promised freedom to anyone who found a diamond weighing over 70 carats. When the stone was delivered to the governor of the province, the court jewelers described it as the biggest diamond known at the time.
After it was cut, the stone was named "Braganza" after the royal dynasty that ruled Portugal at the time. The mineral was at first the property of Queen Maria Isabella, but after her unstable mental state, in addition to her excessive religiosity and melancholy, deteriorated so much that she could no longer cope with her duties, power, and with it the Braganza, passed to her regent João Francisco. After his death, the crystal disappeared without a trace.
It took many years for modern experts to prove that the mineral found in the mines, whose fate is still unknown today, was in fact a topaz. The mineral was even removed from the World Diamond Register. Though gemologists estimate the value of the stone at 57 million pounds.
Earlier, the topaz used to be quite often mistaken for a diamond after it had been cut. The thing is that both minerals were characterized by hardness, strength, clarity, and excellent play of light. Because of these external features topaz was deliberately used in many famous jewelry pieces. One of Europe's oldest and most honorable decorations, the dynastic Order of the Golden Fleece, is adorned with this gemstone.
In Alexandre Dumas' well-known novel, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, King Charles II of England, newly restored to the throne, grants the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece to Athos, Count de La Fer, in gratitude for the help he received from the former Musketeer. For Athos, a representative of the old French aristocracy, this is the highest honor. After all, as the Comte de La Fere himself rightly notes, not every king in Europe has such an award. Except that Charles II had no right to award anyone with the Order of the Golden Fleece, because he was not and could not be its head and did not himself belong to it. However, Dumas was never particularly ceremonious with history.
In fact, only Catholics and only men were admitted to the order. It was because of belonging to a different faith Russian Emperor Alexander I did not receive the Order of the Austrians during the Congress of Vienna, which had him greatly offended. Soon the misunderstanding smoothed the Spaniards, awarding the monarch the Order of the Golden Fleece more readily. The highest award of the Spanish kingdom, in addition to the emperor received all three of his brothers, and even Dmitry Tatishchev - Russian envoy to Madrid.
All surviving orders of the Golden Fleece are valued at between fifteen hundred thousand and half a million dollars. One of such jewelry pieces with the top part made of five large Brazilian topazes is in the collections of the Diamond Fund of the Kremlin.
Topaz in Russia became known in the XVIII century. At that time, these stones were called "heavy stones," and for their brilliance and beauty, they were referred to as "Siberian diamonds. But the first deposits, Prutovskaya, Kochevskaya, and Trubyevskaya, where they were mined, were soon depleted and abandoned. One of the richest gemstone territories of the country has always been considered "Murzinka," or the Ural Gems Belt. This is a whole area with a variety of Ural gems, stretching from south to north for more than a hundred kilometers along the eastern slope of the Middle Urals in the upper reaches of the Neva, Rezh and Aduy rivers. The weight of Murza topazes reaches more than two kilograms, and the value is up to several thousand for each specimen.
The value of topaz depends, first of all, on its coloring. Colorless minerals are in low demand, but golden-pink, blue, and wine-yellow varieties are the most sought-after. Sometimes one can come across rare examples of bicolor topazes, with blue and yellow areas in one crystal.
The blue topaz in the United States is even recognized as the official emblem of the state of Texas. It became the state symbol after the legislative act was passed on March 26, 1969. According to the Americans, the topaz is an optimistic stone, so it is quite suitable for the role of the state mascot, whose motto is "Friendship".
Translated by Diego Monterrey, for Northwest Forpost.
