American Golden Topaz

The American Golden Topaz is a 22,892.5 carat faceted topaz, the largest cut yellow topaz in the world and one of the largest faceted gems of any kind. The cushion cut stone carries 172 facets and weighs about 4.6 kilograms. It is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., where it holds catalog number G9875.

The gem was cut from an 11.8 kilogram stream rounded cobble of rough topaz from Minas Gerais, Brazil, a region long known for gem quality topaz, aquamarine, and tourmaline. Master cutter Leon Agee carried out the faceting, a project that took two years of work on a stone far larger than standard cutting equipment is built to handle.

The finished gem was contributed jointly by the Borgatta owners and the Rockhound Hobbyists of America to the Smithsonian Institution in 1988. Unlike most famous gems, the American Golden Topaz has no royal provenance; its significance is technical, as a demonstration of what patient lapidary work can produce from an exceptional piece of rough, and it serves as one of the anchor pieces of the museum's National Gem Collection.