Citrine 黄水晶

Deposit sites: Spain, Brazil, Madagascar, South Africa, France, India, Uranus, and Bolivia.

Variety/Species: Quartz

Hardness: 7

Zodiacal sign: Leo, Gemini, Virgo, Taurus

Color scheme: light yellow to golden brown.

Gemstone of the month: November, 13th Wedding Anniversary

Citrine (French, “lemon”) is often incorrectly called Topaz. Topaz is much harder than citrine and will, therefore, scratch citrine.

These pale yellow stones are the rarest and most difficult to find. Citrine is like bright sunlight shimmering and shining through a ring, pendant, necklace or ornament.

Citrine is sometimes called cairngorm for the Cairngorm mountains in Scotland. A brown or smoky yellow variety of citrine comes from that area. Scottish warriors wore pins made of cairngorm which served both as an amulet and a clasp to hold their heavy wool robes in place. If they were slain in battle, the jewel, which was at that time highly valued, served as payment for the owner’s burial.