John Smolski Collection John Smolski has been an obsessive topaz collector both in the field and with a silver pick for over 20 years. He kept his field collected prizes, but we are fortunate that he sold us the rest.

Although John bought this specimen as being from China, he later discovered that it was in fact from Burma. It’s always aggravating when specimens are intentionally mislabeled, but it is still a fine piece. Three gemmy sherry colored topaz crystals are placed on a matrix of feldspar and quartz. A large book of muscovite juts out from the center of the specimen.