When looking for engagement ring ideas the center stone is one of the key factors you need to consider. If you’ve landed on a yellow-orange stone, then you’ve likely thought about citrine as an engagement ring to propose with or wear. Wondering what citrine symbolizes ? Especially in a couple’s life ? Read on to find out !
Citrine engagement ring meaning
Citrine gems attract vitality, wealth, and prosperity, most of this due to their vibrant golden hues. A citrine stone will promote happiness within a couple, as the bright yellow color will often remind you two of the good moments you’ve shared and are yet to come.
Hope, health, prosperity, and vitality are great ways to describe citrine, and set in an engagement ring this stone is bound to channel those into your marriage. A bright pop of yellow-orange is bound to brighten your day.
What is citrine ?
Citrine is a type of quartz, in the same family as amethyst, only citrine has a beautiful warm golden hue. It ranges from pale yellow to deep orange with red flashes, sometimes going as far as brown. Marigolds are a great color palette to think of when deciding what citrine color you’d like. The yellow in a citrine is actually derived from ferric hydroxide impurities, hence the reddish-rust color it can get.
Citrine often undergoes heat treatment for better color
Natural citrine is very rare, as they need significant exposure to heat in order to develop their yellow color. Instead most citrine you see on the market is actually heat-treated smoky quartz or amethyst. The heat treatment can leave small lines within the amethyst, so those may be easy to spot. But heat treated smoky quartz is very difficult to spot.
Still, if color is your main concern then you won’t have much trouble finding a citrine that has the right color, be it originally smoky quartz or amethyst.
Read also: Opal Engagement Ring Meaning
Is citrine good for an engagement ring ?
Yes, citrine is a good choice for an engagement ring as it symbolizes hope, prosperity, and health. If you or your loved one are born in November then citrine will be extra powerful, as this is the birthstone for November, along with yellow topaz.
Citrine engagement rings make for a very bright and fun pop of color, perfect for those who like to look on the bright side of life, and remember the good times. Citrine really stands out when paired with other gems that compliment its yellow hues, like white diamonds or darker tones like red, brown, or orange.
Can you wear citrine every day ?
Citrine can be worn every day as it scores a 7 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness. This classifies it as a relatively hard and durable stone, but it may still accumulate some scratches and possibly chip if worn during strenuous activity.
We recommend setting citrine in a very durable metal, which will protect the stone from most accidents. So a prong setting with a few extra prongs, and made of platinum or 14k gold will keep the citrine mostly safe.
Is citrine expensive ?
Citrine is a very affordable gemstone, ranging from $10 to $30 per carat, depending on the quality of the gem. The quality is mostly dictated by color hue and saturation, with brighter, heavily saturated colors like deep golden yellow and all the way to orange-red fetching the highest prices.
Heat treatment also brings down the price a little, but not by much. Most citrines for sale are heat treated, but a natural citrine can double in price just for having a good color straight out of the earth.
So a citrine engagement ring won’t be very expensive, unless you add other gems that hike up the price like diamonds and sapphires.
What metal pairs best with citrine ?
Citrine works best with yellow and rose gold, as those bring out the warmth of citrine’s golden hues. Despite this, citrine still looks great with a halo of white stones around it, such as diamonds or diamond simulants (cubic zirconia, moissanite) to complement the color scheme.
Silver or grey metals tend to dull citrine by comparison, so they don’t enhance the stone’s natural warmth.
Citrine alternative gemstones you might consider
If you’re unsure that citrine is the gem for you and your engagement ring, then take a look at these other gems that are similar to citrine. Some are more expensive, some are affordable but more durable than citrine, and some simply bring a different meaning to your engagement ring, Take a look.
Yellow sapphire
While sapphires are known for being a bright cornflower blue, this is not their only color. Sapphires can and do come in bright yellow and all the way to orange. Sapphires bring abundance, blessings, and also symbolize loyalty to family and to one another.
They also have the added benefit of ranking higher on the Mohs scale (a 9), and this means they will resist scratches, bumping into other things, and chipping, like a champ. The only thing that can harm a sapphire is another sapphire, a ruby (a red sapphire), or a diamond.
In terms of price, yellow sapphires are more expensive than citrines but way more affordable than their blue counterparts. A yellow sapphire can range between $380 to $450, depending on color saturation and clarity.
Heliodor
Heliodor is a type of beryl, which puts it in the same family as morganite and emeralds ! With a Mohs rating of 7.5-8 this gem will withstand daily wear better than citrine, but maybe not as well as a yellow sapphire.
Heliodor has been often associated with the sun, health, and prosperity. Its very name translates to ‘gift from the sun’ in Greek, so you cannot go wrong with such a gem on your engagement ring. And true to its sun-related name, heliodor ranges from pale yellow to bright, deep gold.
You can find heliodor gems ranging from $60 to $100 per carat, depending on color and clarity, as well as cut quality.
Tourmaline
Tourmaline comes in many, many, many colors and yellow is just one of them. You can find different shades of yellow tourmaline, from the palest yellow to the deepest amber, all the way to nearly-brown. This gem symbolizes protection and grounding your inner self, getting you mind in sync with your body and stabilizing any negative emotions.
Tourmalines are some of the most varied gems in terms of price. You can find yellow tourmalines ranging in price from as little as $50 to $200 per carat, depending on color saturation, and the seller and what other colors they make have for sale.
Yellow topaz
This topaz color is perhaps the most common color, and most well known, after blue topaz. Yellow topaz ranges in color from pale yellow to deep gold and all the way into light brown. Some very fine specimens can have hints of orange within them.
Due to its association with a sun color, yellow topaz brings joy, abundance, prosperity, and promotes positivity within your life. This is also a November birthstone, which makes it a great substitute for citrine if you so wish.
You can find yellow topaz selling for as little as $10 per carat, as it’s the most abundant form of natural topaz so tis price will never go up.
I’m the main author for jewelrymaterialguide.com. I started this site after we did tons of research before our wedding and noticed that there is information about rings, jewelry, and so on that is really hard to find on the internet.