November's Birthstones - Citrine and Topaz

November babies are doubly lucky with two gemstones to represent them: Citrine and Topaz. Equally beautiful, each stone has unique characteristics making them perfect for your next necklace or ring.

Citrine – Citrine is a lovely yellowish gem belonging to the quartz species. Quartz is found in several localities and comes in a wide range of colours. Citrine is one of the most appealing and desirable yellowish gems because it is readily available and modestly priced. The warm colour of citrine is said to be a gift from the sun and the hue brings out the richness in many different people’s amber-coloured or darker skin tones.

The name citrine is from the French “citron” meaning lemon which fits well with its range of yellow colours from lemon yellow to bright orangey brown.

Though confused with topaz, citrine is a member of the quartz species. The finest quality citrine is actually medium to medium dark in tone, vivid in intensity, and is yellowish orange in hue. Most citrine purchased, however, is medium light, to medium yellow. Yellow is the most luminous colour and therefore is highly recognizable.

This gemstone is relatively plentiful and available in a wide range of sizes and shapes, including very large sizes making it ideal for big bold statement pieces.

Topaz – Topaz is most desired in its rich orange but can be found in a rainbow of stunning colours including white, blue, red, green, yellow, brown, pink, purple, grey, and even multicoloured or colourless.

Topaz is a fairly common and inexpensive gemstone and can be found in large sizes. In fact, some of the largest gemstone pieces ever cut were topaz.

Blue topaz, which was once the most prized variety, does occur in nature, but is rare and almost always lightly coloured. New technologies, however, have made it much easier to create blue stones using heat, making them more economical.