9 Carat White Gold Cushion Double Sided Checkerboard Swiss Blue Topaz Pendant

This beautiful pendant, made in 9 carat white gold, is bezel set with a 12mm cushion shape double sided checkerboard cut (or rose cut) Swiss blue topaz with twentyfour 0.80mm round brilliant cut diamonds grain set into the halo and comes on a 22 inch long chain 
 
Specifications
Topaz weight - approximately 5.50ct 
Total diamond weight - approximately 0.06ct 
 
White Gold
White gold is not found naturally, it is created by mixing natural yellow gold with silver coloured metals, such as silver and palladium to lighten the colour. Despite this, white gold alloys are still light yellow in colour and a layer of a silver coloured metal called rhodium is added over the top to give white gold its final finish.
Though rhodium is a durable metal this coating will eventually wear off exposing the light yellow coloured gold underneath and a new layer of rhodium will have to be applied. Please bare this in mind when decided to buy any white gold jewellery and note that rhodium coatings on rings will wear off quicker than on other types of jewellery due to the fact that your ring will rub against everyday items more so than pendants, earrings and bracelets.
We offer a free cleaning, polishing and rhodium re-plating service on all white gold jewellery that has been purchased from us to ensure your jewellery is always looking its best.
 
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
 
Educations
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.