Citrine sports a yellow shade ranging from lemon yellow through orange to brown. Its color comes from the iron oxides in its composition. The most orange-toned citrines are called “Madeira citrines.” This fine stone belongs to the quartz family rather than the topaz family, with which it is sometimes incorrectly associated. As essential as amethyst in fine jewelry, citrine’s hardness makes it easy to fashion.
Brazil and Madagascar, which are its main countries of extraction, offer the finest specimens in the world. Other deposits are found in Bolivia and Uruguay. Citrine presents a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale.