Citrine

VARIETY INFORMATION:

    Citrine is any quartz crystal or cluster that is yellow or orange in color. Although, often cut as a gemstone, citrine is actually somewhat rare in nature. Most citrines on the market have been heat treated. Specimens of low grade, inexpensive amethyst or smoky quartz are often cooked at high temperatures to produce the more profitable orange yellow citrine. Citrines whose colors have been produced by artificial means tend to have much more of an orange or reddish caste than those found in nature, which are usually a pale yellow. Much of the natural citrine may have started out as amethyst but heat from nearby magmatic bodies may have caused the change to citrine. Interestingly, a popular gemstone on the market is a mixture of half amethyst and half citrine and is given the name ametrine.
    Unfortunately for citrine it is often confused with the more expensive orange-yellow topaz and is at times sold as topaz by unscrupulous dealers. This practice has soured many potential citrine fanciers who see citrine as a fake topaz and not as a legitimate gemstone.

Serendipity Ranch Gem Mine