Natural citrine is very rare and most stones today are in fact heat-treated amethyst. The color of citrine ranges from straw and sun yellow to clay orange, to deep, wine colored Madeira red. In the past, the Madeira coloured stones were the most valuable, but today, the more vivid yellows and oranges are the most popular. Natural bright yellow citrine is the rarest of the quartz varieties.

Citrine has been popular for thousands of years and used to be revered for its rarity, though that has changed with time. The ancient Romans used it for beautiful jewellery and intaglio work. It was also very popular for jewellery in the 19th century. During the Art Deco period, between World War I and II, large citrines were set in many prized pieces, including the massive and elaborate Art Deco inspired jewellery pieces made for big Hollywood stars such as Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.

Citrine (as well as topaz) is the birthstone for November. This coloured stone has been used to imitate topaz and was once called “Brazilian topaz”.

A unique occurrence of amethyst and citrine colors within the same crystal has been found on occasion in South America. These unique gems are called “ametrine” or sometimes referred to as Bolivian ametrine.

Citrine marks the celebration of the 13th wedding anniversary.