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.

John got this specimen from me shortly after we acquired the Minette collection. It still has Jim Minette’s hand-written collection card stating that it was originally in the Vaux collection at Bryn Mawr, and was later acquired by Pala Properties who sold it to Minette. This is a lovely combination specimen with a single smoky quartz crystal and attached gem crystals of pale blue topaz and nearly colorless beryl. A great thumbnail from Murzinka.