9ct Yellow Gold Oval Citrine & Diamond Cluster Ring

Citrine: The Birthstone Of November

Traced throughout time as the "Merchants Stone", citrine was anciently believed to bring success and prosperity. The sunburst of golden yellow and warm orange hues, radiates an autumnal fashion, with subtle flickers of red and brown. The gemstone flourished during the Hellenistic age of Greece and has since remained a glittering fixture, in the realm of jewellery.

Opal: The Birthstone of October Reading Citrine: The Birthstone Of November 5 minutes Next Tanzanite: The Birthstone Of December

The Gemstone of the Desert

What is Citrine?

Citrine, is the yellow variety of the quartz family, which has a composition of silicon dioxide and falls under the crystalline group. In its rough crystal form, the body colour is infrequently consistent and is most often concentrated in stripes, with straight edges or zones. Fashioned into faceted stones or cabochons, Citrine possesses a range of hues: from golden yellows to warm oranges, with a brownish or red tint. Depending on the saturation and intensity of colour, the gemstone ranges from transparent to translucent and reflects a vitreous lustre.

Citrine Crystal & 9ct Yellow Gold Oval Cut Citrine Solitaire Ring

Citrine Crystal With 9ct Yellow Gold Horizontal Set Oval Cut Citrine Solitaire Ring

Crystal Habit

The gemstone crystallises with a prismatic crystal habit, which is classified under the trigonal crystal system. It forms a hexagonal shaped prism and therefore exhibits a hexagonal cross-section. The crystal is terminated with two sets of rhombohedra. The terminations of the crystal, is similar to that of a pyramid structure. The surface of the crystal, displays horizontal lines across the prism face, otherwise referred to as striations. If the crystal experiences a fracture or chip, the breakage would form concentric raised markings, which is known as a conchoidal fracture. The prismatic habit, commonly grows unevenly and forms a tapered structure, where it is wider at one end of the crystal than the other.

Alternatively, citrine can crystallise as geodes, which are formed when hot silica-bearing solutions, permeate volcanic or sedimentary rocks, with gas holes. On cooling, the silica will slowly crystallise out, as geodes in the gas holes.

9ct Yellow Gold Round Cut Citrine Solitaire Stud Earrings

Localities of Citrine

Citrine can be sourced and mined from multiple localities around the world, such as: Brazil, Bolivia, India, Madagascar, Namibia, Russia (Siberia), Sri Lanka, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

9ct Yellow Gold Citrine Bezel Set Bracelet

Under The Loupe: Inclusions

Citrine has magical and diagnostic inclusions, such as: straight colour-zoning, tiger stripes (ribbon like rows of partial healing along twinning planes), crystals, two-phase and partially healed fractures.

9ct Yellow Gold Citrine Kiss Pendant & Chain

Treatments

Citrine with small amounts of Iron (Fe) present, can be irradiated to Amethyst, this is a non-permeant treatment and the colour will fade, if exposed to strong light over time.

Amethyst when heated will turn yellow, into Citrine and from certain sources even turn light green, which is referred to as Prasiolite. It is important to acknowledge, that heating is a traditional and widely accepted, permanent treatment.

9ct Yellow Gold Citrine & Diamond Tablet Cluster Ring

Synthesis & Simulants

Quartz can be synthesised via the hydrothermal method and is generally grown colourless, in large quantities for industrial use. Synthetic citrine and synthetic amethyst, are lab grown in Russia and Japan. Although, difficult to distinguish, the diagnostic inclusions present in natural gemstones, are usually absent.

Citrine can often be mistaken for artificial glass, scapolite, topaz, chrysoberyl, tourmaline, yellow sapphire and synthetic citrine. These can all be identified through the use of gemological testing and observations.

9ct White Gold Princess Cut Citrine Log Bracelet

The Lore of Citrine

Citrine is the material used to celebrate the 13th wedding anniversary, as well as being the birthstone of November. Citrine, derives from the latin word ‘citrina’, which translates to ‘lemon’, alluding to the gemstones vivid, honey, yellow hue. In ancient times, the gemstone was known as the ‘merchants stone’ and it was believed that it could bring prosperity and wealth to the owner. The Egyptians were the first to discover Citrine and use the gemstone as a talismans. Citrine thrived during the Hellenistic period in ancient Greece and was frequently fashioned into stones, with engraved gods or goddesses. In addition, the ancient Romans associated the gemstone with Apollo, the god of the sun and light. Citrine is thought to symbolise success and hope.

9ct Yellow Gold Emerald Cut Citrine Solitaire Pendant & Chain

Care

Citrine, Crystalline Quartz: 💎 Hardness: 7 | 💪 Toughness: Good | ⚖️ Stability: Good

♥️ Extreme Caution, ⚠️ Avoid: 💡 Light, 🔥❄️ Thermal Shock / Extreme Temperature Change, 🌪 Steam Cleaners.

💛 Mild Caution, ⚠️ Avoid: 💦 Solvents (💅 Nail Polish Remover), 🧪 Acids / Detergents / Chemicals, ☀️🔥 Heat, 🔊 Ultrasonic.

🔬 Gemmological Observation: Quartz is pyroelectric, this means that when the gemstone experiences a change in temperature (for instance heat from the sun/lighting) it causes a low-level electrical attraction to fine dust particles. Therefore, you may experience that any quartz-set jewellery may need frequently cleaning.