Citrine, the November birthstone

November is coming to an end but let me tell you about this month’s beautiful birthstone: the citrine!

The citrine is part of the large family of quartz, with a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale, it crystallizes in the rhombohedral system. The main deposits are in Brazil, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.

“Citrus” in Latin means lemon, the name comes indeed from its peculiar yellow colour which is due to the presence of iron. Most of the citrines on the marketplace are actually heated amethysts. Around 470 degrees to obtain a light yellow, and the higher the temperature, the darker the stone transforms, turning into brown tones.

Its colour ranges from the most classic golden yellow to tangerine yellow and sometimes to Madeira yellow – an orangey colour like that of the eponym wine.

In the Middle Ages, citrine symbolised prosperity, glory and joy, it was considered to be the stone of the merchants. At that time, following popular belief, each stone was used during its corresponding month, when its strength was at its peak.

A splendid wisdom and an excellent reason to indulge with the jewels made by Isabelle Langlois. A designer who has a sense for colours and perfectly matches the citrine stone with other fine stones.

Next month we will talk about tanzanite.