18 Carat Yellow Gold Marquise Brilliant Cut Sky Blue Topaz Drop Earrings

These lovely post and butterfly fasten drop earrings, made in 18 carat yellow gold, are each set with an 8mm by 4mm marquise brilliant cut sky blue topaz in two claw settings
 
Specifications
Earring length - 23mm
Fastens - Post and butterfly
Total topaz weight - approximately 1.40ct
 
Care and Cleaning
Gold Care
 
To clean your gold jewellery at home we recommend a gold cleaning and polishing cloth or dip such as the Connoisseur Jewellery Wipes, Jewellery Polishing Cloth or Connoisseur Precious Jewellery Cleaner which can all be purchased from us. 
You can also use warm water and a soft grease removing detergent and a soft brush to remove any dirt. 
There are a few substances that you should avoid coming into contact with when wearing your gold jewellery
Soap – Stay clear of any soap with unknown ingredients. Basic grease removing dish soap is fine, but remove your gold jewellery before showering to avoid accumulating a film from other body washes.
Chlorine – Chlorine, especially at high temperatures like in a hot tub, can permanently damage or discolour your gold jewellery. Remember to remove it when cleaning with chlorine bleach, too
 
24 carat gold is pure gold, but anything in-between 8 carat and 22 carat is mixed with other metals to enhance either its colour or durability to be used as jewellery as pure gold is actually quite a soft and pliable metal. Those these gold alloys are harder and tougher than pure gold they can still be scratched, chipped or dented so care should always be taken when wearing, removing, putting on or storing your gold jewellery. 
We also recommend putting your jewellery on after any makeup, perfume, hair products or lotions
 
Topaz
Blue is usually the first colour that springs to mind when we think of topaz, from pale sky blues too vivid deep London blues but topaz in fact comes in a wide range of colours. 
Most natural topaz is colourless but other natural hues include light blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple. Usually we identify different colour topaz’s simply by their hue but there are a few exceptions. These exceptions are ‘imperial topaz’ which is a medium reddish orange to orange red variety and is one of the most expensive varieties of topaz. 
The other is ‘sherry topaz’ which is the yellowish brown or brownish yellow to orange variety of topaz, it is also sometimes referred to as precious topaz. 
Although topaz can occur in a blue hue naturally, it is extremely rare! Because of this the majority of blue topaz on the market today is colourless topaz that has been colour treated by irradiation and annealing (heating). The amount of irradiation and the temperature the gem is exposed to will determine how dark and saturated the final blue colour will be, which is why we get different varieties of blue topaz. 
Other colours of topaz can also be heat treated to improve their colour. 
 
Care and cleaning 
Topaz is a relatively durable gemstone, with an 8 on the Moh’s scale it resists scratches quite well but it may still be scratched by harder gemstones and other objects so care sure always be taken when wearing, storing, taking off or putting on your jewellery. Topaz has poor toughness so avoid sudden and hard knocks as these may cause the stone to cleave. 
 
To prolong the time of the stones we recommend putting your jewellery on after any makeup, perfume or lotions. 
 
Topaz doesn’t react well to high temperatures or sudden temperature changes, for this reason topaz should never be ultrasonic or steam cleaned. Instead, to clean your topaz jewellery at home we recommend a gem and jewellery bath or a soft gem cloth, which can be purchased from us, or warm soapy water and a soft brush. 
Almost all blue topaz on the market has been irradiation and heat treated to produce the colour but this is a stable treatment during normal wear and cannot be changed unless exposed to very high temperatures
 
Education
If you would like to learn more about gemstone treatments, what these treatments are and what they do, as well as which treatments are stable and how to look after gemstones with unstable treatments, please visit our education page.