The name Citrine is used for any clear quartz in this color range, regardless of its saturation. Slightly colored yellow citrine occurs naturally, but is rare; the intense yellow form is usually irradiated and is marketed under the trade name “Lemon Quartz”. Citrine is a very cheap gemstone, available in all color ranges.

Citrine’s color can range from pale yellow to brownish orange. Natural citrines tend to be paler than artificial ones. This is because artificial citrine is made from amethyst and retains some dark color of the original purple stone. Natural citrine is more effective than artificial.

Heat-treated amethyst can change color to a lovely yellow citrine, while pale citrine can darken to a more desirable red or orange hue. Because the current color is caused by finely dispersed iron ore (mainly hematite and goethite), heated amethyst is not strictly a citrine.

Citrine Can Be Produced from Other Stones

The transformation of natural smoky quartz and amethyst into citrine by heat treatment usually takes place in a mine. Due to the rarity of natural citrine, most of the citrine on the market today has been heat-treated to achieve the desired color.

The vast majority of citrine on the market is made by heating smoky quartz (which produces light to medium yellow hues) and amethyst (which produces stronger yellows and orange-red to orange-brown hues).

Although larger sizes can be found, note that it is almost always heat-treated amethyst and almost never natural citrine. The prices, uses, and value of citrine vary greatly depending on the size and quality of the gemstone. The most important factor that determines the value of citrine is its color, ranging from bright yellow to orange, red and brown with consistent color saturation resulting in higher prices.

The highest quality citrine has a rich golden hue with a fiery orange glow inside. Citrine is valued from rich yellow to reddish-orange, devoid of brownish hues. The most desirable color for citrine is a rich brownish-orange color with translucency, similar to the color of amber.

What Citrine Natually Looks Like

Citrine is a transparent yellow to orange variety of quartz. Citrine is a variety of quartz, one of the most abundant minerals on the planet, available in a variety of colors. It belongs to a variety of quartz, the color of which varies from pale yellow to deep brownish.

Derived from the Latin word citrina, meaning “yellow”, natural citrine is the rarest variety of quartz, which includes amethyst, aventurine, and prasiolite. The word citrine comes from the French cedar, which means lemon, although the stone is not quite lemon yellow.

The semi-precious stone citrine is often confused with topaz because they have a similar golden yellow-brown color in nature. The citrine yellow colors are due to the presence of ferric iron, a color traditionally associated with topaz.

Citrines range in color from light lemon yellow to deep orange with Madeira red highlights. Many citrines are originally amethysts that turn yellow to tan after heat treatment. Color range of citrines The colors of citrines range from yellow to yellow-orange, to yellowish-orange, to brownish-orange. Its name comes from the French word for lemon – “cedar” because its natural color is pale yellow.

Recent Variations in Citrine Forms

Recently, some loose citrine gemstones (usually of Bolivian origin) that show alternating bands of purple amethyst with citrine orange have been called ametrine. Citrine crystals are typically yellow to orange to reddish-brown in color and are one of the most popular quartz in the world.

Depending on the concentration of iron, this gem can be found in shades ranging from pale yellow to reddish-brown, but it is the golden yellow hue that is most prized by collectors. While some varieties of diamonds and sapphires can be yellow, citrine is one of the few gemstones that is always yellow, making it an increasingly popular choice for jewelry.

If you are inserting citrine into a metal, the choice of metal is a matter of taste, but the yellow color of beautiful citrine quartz pairs very well with white gold or silver. It’s also fair to say that there are some beautiful citrine gemstones that have been transformed into lovely yellow or orange hues through a combination of minerals, time, and mother nature’s volcanic heat.

Naturally occurring yellow citrines are very rare, and therefore most of the stones available today are actually amethyst that has been heat-treated to achieve the desired hue.

Natural Citrine Varies from Processed Citrine

To confuse a little, natural citrine is valued higher than processed citrine, but natural citrine is not often found in these deep reddish-orange hues, so sometimes natural light yellow citrine of fine clarity and good cut will cost even more. The orange hue of citrine makes it a good alternative to more expensive yellow diamonds or yellow sapphires, providing an affordable alternative.

Citrine is basically yellow quartz, but the color ranges from light lemon yellow to earthy brown with very pleasing orange hues in between. A hard stone can range in hue from pale lemon to deep gold, although like many gemstones, darker citrine is usually more valuable. Sources of Citrine Small amounts of naturally colored citrine can be found in many places around the world.

The Effects of Iron on Gemstone Color

Iron deposits add color to the gemstone – so when you see a bright orange-yellow citrine, you can tell it’s been heat-treated. Amethyst or smoky crystals are heated in the workshop to give citrine a beautiful colour.

After amethyst has undergone various heat treatments, its color can be processed to the golden color of citrine. Amethyst, also quartz, is often heated to create the tawny hue of citrine, and most citrines are the result of this heat treatment, which is irreversible.

When heated, the iron impurities are reduced, and the purple color of amethysts fades and becomes yellow to reddish-orange (citrine), green, or colorless depending on the location and initial oxidation state of the iron impurities present, as well as the amount and duration of heating. Most people like natural colored citrine enhanced by heat treatment, or citrine made by heating light amethyst.

How Yellow Colors Appear in Stones

Some smoky and rock crystals may turn yellow due to careful heat treatment and/or irradiation, and these crystals will exhibit dichroism. Thin iron oxide deposits on colorless quartz and inclusions of yellow iron oxide (“limonite”) can mimic citrine. Since yellow color centers are generally more stable than smoky color centers, some smoky quartz can be converted to citrine by gentle heating (Nassau and Prescott, 1977).

Citrine is one of many varieties of the mineral quartz that has more color than any other mineral: rose quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, aventurine, and ash are other varieties used in jewelry, all of which are identified by color. In late medieval and early modern English, the name citrine was used on a wider scale than today, and could be “red-yellow or brown or orange or amber (as opposed to yellow)”.