Citrine (Natural)

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea.

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea. Look at the base of the crystal: natural colour continues through it, while a chalky white base under sharp orange tips means an oven. That takes ten seconds to learn and you will never be sold the wrong one again.

Actual citrine is weak-tea yellow.

Actual citrine is weak-tea yellow, slightly murky, and genuinely uncommon, which makes it look disappointing beside the baked orange version. It comes out of Brazilian and Malagasy pegmatites in small quantities. Nothing about the real one is going to convince anybody across a room.

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea.

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea. It is scarce, comes mostly out of Bahia and the Congo, and looks dull beside the baked orange stuff in the next tray. Gemini can tell the difference and will still reach for the brighter tray.

The quiet one is real and never picked up first.

The colour is weak tea. Real citrine is soft, faintly grey, and scarce enough that most trays labelled citrine hold none of it at all. The quiet one in the tray is the real one and it is never picked up first.

The honest citrine is the one that looks like nothing.

You will be disappointed by real citrine. It runs a soft weak-tea yellow with a grey cast, it is genuinely uncommon, and it looks like nothing beside the baked orange stuff in the next tray. Sun-ruled sign, sun-coloured stone, and the honest one is the quiet one.

Natural colour carries through the base instead of stopping.

You will find it underwhelming. Genuine citrine is a weak-tea yellow with a grey cast because it sits on the smoky quartz colour continuum, and beside the baked orange material it looks like nothing at all. Check the base. Natural colour carries through it instead of stopping at a chalky line.

Almost every citrine sold has been in an oven.

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea and faintly smoky, because it sits on the smoky quartz colour line. It is genuinely scarce. Almost every stone sold under the name has been in an oven, and anyone holding out for the untreated one waits a long time.

A chalky white foot under orange tips means the oven.

Real citrine is a weak-tea yellow, murky and faintly smoky, and genuinely scarce. Read the base of the crystal where it met the matrix: natural colour runs through or fades gently. A chalky white foot under burnt orange tips means the oven.

It looks disappointing next to the baked stuff.

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea and genuinely scarce, coming mostly from Bahia and the Lwena field in the Congo. It looks disappointing next to the baked stuff, which is the entire point of learning it. Check the base for a hard colour line.

The disappointing one is the real one.

Weak tea, slightly murky, faintly grey. That is what actual citrine looks like, and the colour carries all the way down into the base where the crystal met rock. The baked version stops dead at a chalky white line. The disappointing one is the real one.

Aquarius tends to end up defending the disappointing original.

Real citrine is the colour of weak tea and slightly murky with it, which is why almost nobody wants it. The bright stuff in the window is baked amethyst. Aquarius tends to end up defending the disappointing original.

It looks disappointing next to the baked kind.

The real thing is the colour of weak tea with a grey cast to it, because natural citrine sits on the same colour continuum as smoky quartz. It is genuinely scarce. It looks disappointing next to the baked kind, and almost nobody chooses it once both are on the table.

Citrine (Natural) is carried for abundance, courage and clarity. Actual citrine is a quiet, weak-tea yellow and it is genuinely uncommon, most of what the trade calls citrine has been in an oven.. Tradition links it to the solar-plexus, sacral chakra.

Citrine (Natural) is not faked often, but it is still worth checking. Look where the crystal was attached to matrix. Natural citrine's colour fades gently or continues through the base.. Untreated by definition.

A short rinse is fine for citrine (natural), then dry it. Keep it out of direct sun, because the colour fades and does not come back.