The citrine is a member of the large quartz family, a family, which with its multitude of colors and various structures, offers gemstone lovers almost everything that their hearts desire in terms of adornment and decoration, from absolutely clear rock crystal to black onyx. And it does so at prices, which are by no means unaffordable.
The name is derived from the color - the yellow of the lemon - although the most sought-after stones have a clear, radiant yellowish to brownish red. Like all crystal quartzes, the citrine has a hardness of 7 on the Moh's scale and is thus, to a large extent, insensitive to scratches. It won't immediately take offense at being knocked about either, since its cleavage properties are non-existent. Even if their refractive index is relatively low, the yellow stones have just that mellow, warm tone that seems to have captured the last glow of autumn. Like golden Rhine wine or sparkling Madeira, heavy and sweet, citrine jewelery shimmers and brings a hint of sunshine to those dull November days.
There are not many yellow gemstones in the world of jewels. A diamond or a sapphire may be yellow - those will be expensive, or sometimes a tourmaline or chrysoberyl, though these tend toward green somewhat, a golden beryl or even a pure topaz, which we will mention again later on. However, the citrine fulfills everyone's color wishes, from lemon yellow to reddish brown.
The color in which the topaz is most commonly found is yellow, and that is the color in which it occurs in one of the major German gemstone rocks, the Schneckenstein (a topaz-bearing rock said to resemble a snail) in Saxony. In the 18th century, it was mined there during a period of over 60 years. However, most of the crystals were hardly a centimeter in diameter. You had to go to Siberia or Brazil to find crystals as large as your fist. Having said that, anyone who is interested can convince himself of the beauty of cut specimens in the topaz set in Dresden's Grunes Gewolbe (Green Vault). The enormous and magnificent topaz from the Portuguese crown, the Braganza, was for a long time thought to be a diamond.
In mysticism, the topaz is attributed with a cooling, styptic and appetizing effect. It is said to dispel sadness, anger and nocturnal fears, to warn its wearer of poisons and protect him or her from sudden death. It is reputed to make men handsome and intelligent and sterile women fertile and happy. However, it is probably better not to rely too much on its magical powers, since it was also claimed that you could immerse your hand in boiling water after a topaz had been thrown into it and retract it again unharmed!
