Gem News International Gems & Gemology, Spring 2024, Vol. 60, No. 1

Ukrainian Pegmatitic Heliodor and Topaz

Jennifer Stone-Sundberg and Wim Vertriest

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Figure 1. Left: This 109.68 ct heliodor and 80.62 ct bicolor topaz are from the Volyn deposit in Ukraine. They are cut to leave natural etch faces on the pavilion/culet, while the crown and table are faceted. Right: A 162.22 ct pear-cut heliodor. The natural etching patterns are retained on the pavilion and are well displayed through the polished table. Photos by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Nomad’s.
 
Figure 1. Left: This 109.68 ct heliodor and 80.62 ct bicolor topaz are from the Volyn deposit in Ukraine. They are cut to leave natural etch faces on the pavilion/culet, while the crown and table are faceted. Right: A 162.22 ct pear-cut heliodor. The natural etching patterns are retained on the pavilion and are well displayed through the polished table. Photos by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Nomad’s.

This year in Tucson, exceptionally large, clean, and attractively colored topaz and beryl from the Volodarsk-Volynskii pegmatite field in Ukraine (also known as the Volyn deposit) were very popular at multiple shows.

The Volyn deposit is in the northwestern portion of Ukraine, about 190 km from Kyiv. This deposit has been worked for more than 100 years and was initially mined for piezoelectric quartz with topaz as a byproduct. More recently it has been known for producing large and fine-quality topaz and beryl crystals as well as phenakite (Be2SiO4) and fluorite. The topaz ranges in color from blue to a golden-red sherry color, while the beryl ranges from mainly yellow heliodor to green beryl to greenish blue aquamarine. The large, beautifully etched heliodor crystals brought international notice to this deposit in the 1980s (G. Franz et al., “Etch pits in heliodor and green beryl from the Volyn pegmatites, northwest Ukraine: A diagnostic feature,” Fall 2023 G&G, pp. 324–339).

At the GJX and Pueblo shows, Nomad’s (New York City) had high-quality heliodor and topaz that were carefully cut to retain the beautiful rough etching patterns characteristic of this material (figure 1, left). These intricate etching patterns were retained in each gem’s pavilion and visible face-up through the polished table (figure 1, right). The founders and owners are from Ukraine, and they started Nomad’s in the 1990s with pegmatite minerals from Volyn.

Figure 2. Exceptionally large and clean blue and bicolor topaz from the Volyn deposit. The blue triangular cut is 113.86 ct, the middle blue cube cut is 87.82 ct, and the blue and golden bicolor rectangular cut is 55.70 ct. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Dudley Blauwet Gems.
 
Figure 2. Exceptionally large and clean blue and bicolor topaz from the Volyn deposit. The blue triangular cut is 113.86 ct, the middle blue cube cut is 87.82 ct, and the blue and golden bicolor rectangular cut is 55.70 ct. Photo by Robert Weldon; courtesy of Dudley Blauwet Gems.

At the AGTA and Pueblo shows, Dudley Blauwet Gems (Louisville, Colorado) featured topaz, heliodor, and phenakite from Volyn, which they have successfully been carrying for three years. This year, however, the demand for these Ukrainian gems has grown. In fact, Ukrainian topaz was one of their best sellers, with much of the material gone by the first day of AGTA. The bicolor blue to sherry topaz was a particularly strong seller, followed by blue topaz (figure 2). They noted that the miner they work with has been reworking old pockets for the last 20 years, and all of the topaz stones they offered in Tucson this year were from the same pocket at a depth of about 35 meters in the central part of the Volyn deposit.

The beauty, size, and availability of the gem crystals from these pegmatites bodes well for the continued presence of this material in the marketplace.

Jennifer Stone-Sundberg is senior technical editor for Gems & Gemology at GIA in Carlsbad, California. Wim Vertriest is manager of field gemology at GIA in Bangkok.