You’re at the right place if you want to know the difference between heat treated amethyst and citrine. Keep scrolling!
In this article, we’ll answer some of the most frequently asked questions about heat treated amethyst and natural citrine including:
- Are amethysts lab grown?
- Does citrine exist?
- What’s the difference between heat treated amethyst and natural citrine? s
Let’s dive right in, shall we?
Heat Treated Amethyst Vs Citrine
Key Differences between Heat Treated Amethyst and Natural Citrine
- Heat treated amethyst is usually heated by man while it’s the sun that heats natural citrine.
- Heated amethyst clusters and geodes feature white bases while natural citrine doesn’t.
- Authentic citrine gemstones are considered rare and that’s quite the opposite for heated amethyst stones since they’re common.
- Untreated citrine stones come in pale yellow hues while heat treated amethyst are available in reddish orange and orangish yellow shades.
The Origin of Heat Treated and Natural Citrine
Natural Citrine
Citrine stones also double up as healing crystals. It’s the birthstone for those born in November. Most people love natural citrine although it’s always misunderstood.
Authentic citrine is quite rare. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it doesn’t exist. It exists and most of it usually comes from Brazil. The ones available on the market are not natural citrine but heated citrine. You might come across real citrine in smaller crystals as opposed to large specimen.
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Citrine is light yellow quartz. As earlier mentioned, quartz is found in abundance all over the world. There are different varieties that makeup some of the most popular gemstones like clear quartz, smoky quartz, amethyst and rose quartz.
Quartz crystals are more valuable since they have more metaphysical properties although they’re often not used in fine jewelry. Stones like citrine in yellow and orange frequencies are associated with sunlight, happiness and creativity.
Most citrine crystals are owned as the following:
- Faceted stones
- Raw crystals
- Polished stones
- Freeform carvings and shapes
- Geodes and clusters
- Tumbled stones
Authentic citrine can form when the earth heats smoky quartz’s brown color or amethyst stone’s purple color. Extreme temperatures, on the other hand, causes the quartz crystal lattice and molecular structure to change to citrine. This happens naturally resulting to what is known as natural citrine.
Heat Treated Amethyst Stones
Surprisingly, getting hold of real citrine is quite challenging owing to its rarity. It’s surprising because it’s one of the most common crystals in rock and crystal shops. This is because the local shops don’t sell natural citrine but instead have heat treated amethyst stones.
Amethyst is as common as it is affordable. This is because scientists do all the work instead of letting earth heat amethyst stones to citrine. Thanks to advanced technology, you can use kiln to manipulate amethyst geode into different citrine colors by baking it.
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Kiln can reach the same temperature that the earth uses to convert amethyst to natural citrine. There are many different names for heat treated amethyst stones including:
- Fake citrine
- Heat treated citrine
- Citrine
- Real citrine
- Heated citrine
- Burnt amethyst
- Baked amethyst
However, it’s still debatable whether or not heating amethyst into citrine interferes with the crystal’s metaphysical properties.
The Appearance of Heat Treated Amethyst and Natural Citrine
Citrine
You can’t really tell the difference between treated citrine and natural citrine especially if you’re nota n expert. If you want to know whether the citrine is real or fake, then your best bet is the color. Natural citrine and heat treated citrine are quartz crystals. This means that they have the same optical and physical properties.
For the most part, untreated citrine produces light- and pale-yellow hues. Congo citrine, on the other hand, features a lime green yellow shade known as Kundalini citrine in some quarters.
You can find earth made citrine in dark yellow brown hues. Most people believe that it almost looks like smoky quartz. The brown honey color citrine material mostly comes from Zambia. The golden-brown hue is the only dark shade that authentic citrine produces.
Untreated citrine barely produces dark orange or burnt orange shades. These shades are usually as a result of heat treated citrine.
Heat Treated Amethyst
Not every heat treated citrine is heated amethyst. Smokey quartz also doubles up as heated citrine. However, you need to do research to know the difference. Keep scrolling if you want to know if your citrine is real or fake.
When you heat amethyst, it produces different shades of yellow as compared to untreated citrine. Heat treated amethyst crystals tend to produce orange and bright yellow hues instead of pale- and light-yellow colors.
What’s more, it makes reddish orange hues known as Madeira citrine. Smoky quartz, on the other hand produces a range of citrine-like shades as compared to heat treated amethyst. It achieves intense smoky citrine and golden brown colors.
However, an average buyer will find trouble telling apart different citrine hues. Most gemstones have subjective color hues as opposed to standard science. Technically, they’re mutual agreement between gemologists.
Thankfully, there’s a unique telltale sign that indicates heat treated citrine hues. Baked amethyst tends to produce a white base that’s opaque. You can see the effect quite easily when you observe citrine crystal clusters along with tumbled citrine.
Seeing the white base that concerns faceted heated citrine is quite hard. Most of the material is usually discarded for stone cutters to help create an ideal citrine gem. It would be best to rely on these hues if you doubt its authenticity.
Citrine Vs Heat Treated Citrine
Not every fake citrine available on the market is smoky quartz or heat treated amethyst. Treated citrine are also known as irradiated citrine stones. Irradiated gemstones can fade and lose their color in the long run.
Heat treated citrine comes in different varieties including lemon quartz. The difference between the latter and heat treated citrine is the color origin. Just like smoky quartz and amethyst, lemon quartz is heated manually to produce the yellow tint.
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Heat treated citrine occurs when an authentic gemstone that’s made of quartz is subjected to heat treatment manually to produce citrine hues. The crystals are natural even though the colors are tweaked a little to become yellow.
Heat treated gemstones are normal that’s why people still refer to them as natural stones. However, there are those that don’t share in this school of thought since the color isn’t quite natural. Cubic zirconia, glass, heliodor and other different like-color crystals can be fake citrine as well. They are also known as imitation citrine, simulated citrine or citrine simulants.
The Value and Price of Heat Treated Amethyst and Citrine
Honestly, heat treated amethyst tends to ride a very thin line when it comes to seller transparency. Most sellers aren’t always transparent about the heat treated amethyst stone’s origin. Besides, you can’t tell the difference between heat treated citrine and its unheated counterpart unless you’re an expert or gemologist. Crystal shop attendants can’t help too.
Heated citrine crystals are relatively affordable. You’ll find smaller raw crystals ranging from $2 to $5 a piece. It’s hard to find natural citrine although it’s more expensive.
Some gemstones undergo heat treatment to help enhance their color without impacting much on the price and value. However, there are gemstones that receive the same kind of treatment but it reduces its value as well as cost.
It would be best to inquire about the origin of the citrine before making a purchase. Larger natural citrine pieces cost a few bucks. Madeira citrine hues as a result of heat treating cost $100 or thereabout per carat. These colors are often found in stores selling fine jewelry.
Most citrine available on the market are the heat treated variety. As a gemstone, citrine has a great value in the long run save for the price tag. Most people always go for alternative gemstones to diamonds when it comes to engagement rings. However, not all stones are best suited for everyday wear especially with minimal care and little damage.
Citrine has a great hardness level. It doesn’t have gemstone cleavage with a rating of 7 on Mohs scale of hardness. That’s quite rare even for faceted gemstones as it makes them susceptible to chipping. Citrine is worth investing in since it guarantees value for money in the long run regardless of whether the piece is heat treated or natural.
However, you need to steer clear of jewelry steam cleaners when cleaning heat treated gemstones. In this case, the good old method of using water and mild soap comes highly recommended.
Final Thoughts – Heat Treated Amethyst Vs Citrine
Finding natural citrine is no easy feat. Heat treated amethyst makes about half of it on the market. However, there are other citrine stones that are produced by simply heating yellow quartz or smoky quartz to lemon quartz.
Always buy your gemstones from a reputable retailer with a gem certificate to avoid getting a fake one since telling the two crystals apart is quite difficult. Both stones are natural but the difference is in the color, one is earth made while the other is manmade.
Fortunately, regardless of the type of citrine you choose, both of them are long lasting and will give you value for money in the long run.
