Citrine - A Semi-Precious Stone With History
A variety of the macro crystalline of the mineral quartz, citrine is a semi-precious stone whose use in jewelry dates back thousands of years.
It is believed that citrine was used in jewelry in the ancient societies of Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt, Rome and, especially, in the work of pre-Colombian American cultures of the North American Indians. It was often used as an amulet to protect the wearer from a snake’s venom or evil thoughts. However, there are few references to citrine in history, probably because of the stone’s rarity.
The ancient Romans use citrine and revered it for its rarity. They used it for beautiful jewelry and intaglio work. Citrine became very popular for jewelry in the 19th century. Then, during the art deco period between World Wars I and II, many prized jewelry pieces were created that featured large citrines. This included the elaborate art deco-inspired jewelry made for such Hollywood stars as Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.
However, today, citrine is not as rare and is used in jewelry that has little to do with opulence or luxury. In fact, for a number of years citrine was so cheap and plentiful, it wasn’t taken at all seriously. However, citrine is now enjoying a renaissance. Its bargain price is no longer considered a handicap but an asset, as it allows for the use of very large stones in jewelry. Many jewelry makers are using big, bold citrine stones cut in a cubist manner to give lots of splash for the money. Citrine has also found favor with budget-minded women looking to expand their collection of jewelry with affordable pieces.
Citrine is said to be valuable in the treatment of depression to eliminate self-destructive tendencies and to stimulate memory. It is also said that citrine aids digestion and removes toxins from the body. It is thought to be a good healing stone, especially for heart, kidney and liver, and helps fight diabetes.
Citrine is the official birthstone of the month of November as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912.
The Colors Of Citrine
Citrine can be found as yellow, yellow-brown, orange, dark orange-brown, and reddish-brown. It is most commonly found as a protruding cluster of pyramids on a geode base. It also occurs in short, stubby, terminated crystals – either as singular or drusy aggregates. It is less common in nature than amethyst and has about the same occurrence.
Citrine’s color is due to small amounts of iron impurities in the crystal structure of quartz. In fact, the only difference between citrine and amethyst is the oxidation state of the iron impurities present in the quartz. If you subject amethyst to heat, its purple color will fade and become yellow to reddish-orange (citrine), green or even colorless.
Unfortunately, citrine is often sold under various names that confuse it with Topaz to inflate its value. However, you can distinguish it from Topaz by its inferior hardness and from re-colorized amethyst by its lack of a reddish cast.
Most citrine on the market today has been heat-treated. Suppliers will use low-grade, inexpensive amethyst or smoky quartz, cook it at high temperatures, and, thus, produce the more profitable orange yellow citrine. These manufactured citrines tend to have much more of an orange or reddish cast than those found in nature. Natural citrines are usually a pale yellow.
The Types Of Citrine
There are only two types of citrine -- true citrine and a variety called amertrine, which is a combination of amethyst and citrine. This stone is partially purple and partially orange-yellow. There is also the manufactured variety of citrine, which began life as amethyst. Amethyst’s purple color can be made to fade through irradiation and become yellow. This irradiation can be the result of a heat treatment or can occur in nature because of the radioactive decay of nearby radioactive minerals.
Citrine is often confused with topaz. This is because the two closely resemble one another. However, unscrupulous jewelry dealers have adopted false names for citrine so that unsophisticated buyers will think they are buying the more valuable topaz. You should know that any topaz labeled with a prefix such as gold topaz, Madeira topaz, Brazilian topaz, false topaz or citrine topaz is really heat-treated amethyst.
Citrine is only one of several varieties of quartz. Other varieties that have crystals large enough to see include milky quartz, rock crystal, rose quartz, and smoky quartz.
The Characteristics Of Citrine
Citrine is a macro crystalline variety of the mineral quartz (SiO2). Citrine is actually the most valuable quartz gem. However, as reported above, almost all citrine on the market today it is actually heat-treated amethyst.
Citrine’s transparency is transparent to translucent. It has a vitreous luster and a specific gravity of 2.6 to 2.7. Its hardness is rated as 7.
The most striking features of citrine are its color and crystal habits. Also, the larger the stone the more golden the tone.
Citrine can be found in the Ural Mountains of Russia in Dauphine, France and in Madagascar. Most of the material today comes from Minas Gerais, Brazil but it is actually heat-treated amethyst.
The History Of Jewelry Pendants
What exactly is a pendant? The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “something suspended; as an ornament on a necklace, allowed to hang free.
However, the real definition of a pendant is much more complicated than that. For example, pendants have been used for both ornamentation and as identification symbols for thousands of years – as religious symbols, sexual symbols and even symbols of rock band. While you may not think of them as such, soldier’s dog tags are also identification pendants.
We can never know this for certain but it is possible that early man – such as Cro-Magnons – used pendants. These may have been nothing more sophisticated than an interesting bone or stone hung on a leather strap but still these could be considered pendants.
We do know that pendants were used as early as the 17th – 16th century B.C. in Mesopotamia and Babylonia. Gold pendants have been found at Dilbat, a town near Babylon. And there were similar gold discs found in a tomb in western Syria and in a private house at Larsa in southern Mesopotamia.
Pendants have an obvious advantage as jewelry in that they can be hung from just about any chain. This makes it easy to change the look of the necklace simply by putting a different pendant on the same chain. For example, a woman might use a large, citrine- encrusted pendant for a night on the town, and then swap it out for a plain silver disc or a gold cross for business wear.
Citrine Pendants
There are numerous styles of citrine pendants available. This is because every jewelry manufacturer creates their own designs. As an example of this, one jewelry company offers white gold citrine pendants, a three stone design, a pendant with seven citrine stones of increasing size, a large citrine set in a heart-shaped pendant; pendants with square citrines, diamond-shaped citrines, oblong citrines, two intertwined citrines, and many more. These citrine pendants range in price from $49-$199.
And another supplier has citrine pendants in white gold with diamond accents; an emerald-cut citrine and champagne diamond pendant in 10k gold; a square citrine pendant in sterling silver with diamond accents; a Hello Kitty citrine heart birthstone in sterling silver; and many other pendants featuring citrine. These citrine pendants cost from $49 to $499. Naturally, there are many other suppliers of citrine pendants whose designs can be found both online and in retail jewelry stores.
Citrine is an inexpensive stone that’s bright, colorful and interesting. It can be a wonderful addition to any woman’s jewelry collection or, in the right design, something a man would wear with pride.