[Treasure hunt 4] Yuanyang County: An ideal place to find topaz

Topaz has greatest investment value among gems produced in southeast Yunnan’s Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Under the jurisdiction of the prefecture, Yuanyang County is one of the main distribution areas of topaz in the province.  

Pegmatite contains large crystalloid such as garnets, beryl and topaz. And there are hundreds of pegmatite veins running from Honghe County to Jinping County in Honghe Prefecture. Yuanyang is situated between the two countries.

Yuanyang is an ideal place to find topaz. Xiao Yongfu, a famed jewelry appraiser and curator of the Xiao Yongfu Jade Culture Studio, shared with us his interesting “treasure hunting” trip in Yuanyang years ago. “I went to an abandoned quarry. I found many topaz pieces on my way and more at the quarry. They were abandoned because they were small.”

“Later, I wandered in a farmers’ market and met a guy selling vegetables. He asked me if I wanted to buy a stone he had found. Recognizing it was a piece of topaz, I bought it immediately at a price of two yuan,” Xiao continued. In the trip, he had also bought some topaz freshly mined through introduction of friends. 

Xiao Yongfu by Zhang Rui；Photographs by Zhao Jiaqi