Citrine

Pendant with citrine
MFA# 39.764

Description

A pale yellow to red-orange Quartz Gemstone that contains trace Iron impurities. Citrine is found in western Europe, Scotland, Brazil, Uruguay, Africa, Malagasy Republic, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, the Urals, and the United States. Many ancient citrines have been incorrectly identified as Topaz. Currently, most gems sold as citrin are actually heat-treated amethysts.

Citrine crystal

Synonyms and Related Terms

Madeira topaz; ametrine; false topaz; Spanish topaz; Occidental topaz; topaz quartz; Citrin (Deut.); citrine (Fr.); cytryn (Pol.); citrino (Esp., Port.); citrien (Ned.)

Raman purple(MFA)

Raman yellow(MFA)

Physical and Chemical Properties

• Trigonal crystal system.
• Low birefringence.
• Low thermal expansion.
• Fracture = conchoidal.
• Luster = vitreous to greasy.
• Streak = white.

Composition	SiO2
Mohs Hardness	7.0
Density	2.65 g/ml

Comparisons

Properties of Common Gemstones

Resources and Citations

• Mineralogy Database: Quartz

• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 646

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• Encyclopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com Comment: "citrine." Accessed: 7 Apr. 2005 .

• C.W.Chesterman, K.E.Lowe, Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrine (Accessed Sept. 7, 2005)

• Thomas Gregory, The Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Reinhold Publishing, New York, 3rd ed., 1942

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998