Smoky quartz

Smoky quartz, known in the 18th century as "topaz" or "rauchtopaz", is a variety of quartz. It has a colouring ranging from a barely noticeable smokiness to a rich dark brown. The central Urals are particularly rich in deposits of smoky quartz (Shaitanka, Berezovsk) and in the second half of the 18th century enormous crystals of the stone, sometimes a ton in weight, were extracted there. In the late 18th century smoky quartz of an especially attractive golden shade was mined at Berezovsk.