Buying a citrine bracelet can be very challenging due to the flooding replicates. With the availability of citrine bracelets online, it is challenging to identify which one is real. Discover the secrets to identifying a genuine citrine bracelet before buying and spot the imitations.
What is citrine?
Citrine has yellow to orange quartz. It is popular and sought after. Many valuable items come out on the market, including fake and imitation versions. Thus, it is hard to distinguish the authentic ones.
Citrine has colors that range from pale yellow to strong reddish orange. The natural citrine is prized because of its rarity and beautiful colors. Citrine is also used as a decorative gem.
Characteristics of an authentic citrine
Determining whether a piece of citrine is authentic or fake, you will know by its characteristics:
Color
The natural citrine shows subtle and even color. The imitation ones have stronger and more deep hues with uneven color. It may come in various shades of yellow found in natural citrine. But, the transition of colors is gradual and subtle.
Inclusions
Authentic citrine has some inclusions, while glass imitations lack imperfections.
Internal rainbows
Authentic citrine displays internal rainbows when passed by the light. The glass imitations never create a rainbow effect like the real citrine.
Distinguish fake to authentic citrine
Fake citrine is thought to be synthetic. But, it is not the case. Oftentimes, a fake citrine changed the form of another real gemstone made from different materials. A common example of fake citrine is the heat-treated amethyst. Citrine and amethyst are heated, the effect changes color and looks like citrine.
Although heat-treated amethysts are real gemstones, and not similar to natural citrine. You can identify the heat-treated amethyst by the intense color of the crystal tips. It fades to the base. The colors are more uniform and vibrant; unlike the subtle color transitions in the natural citrine.
Glass imitations are another type of fake citrine. These imitations will be crafted to resemble the appearance of citrine, but never have the same properties. You can spot glass imitations by the absence of uniformity and inclusions. It is very different from the natural variations in real citrine.
Glass is not as hard as the citrine, making it easier to scratch. But, you need to be careful when doing a scratch test, as they damage gemstones.
Real citrine versus glass imitations
Scratch test
Citrine has 7 Mohs hardness. Glass is around 5.5. The scratch test helps differentiate them, but not suggested as it damages the gemstones.
Refractive index
Authentic citrine has a 1.55 refractive index, while glass ranges to 1.50. The refractometer helps measure the property. However, the test is conducted by a professional gemologist.
Magnification
Under magnification, the natural citrine reveals growth patterns or inclusions, while glass appears free of flaws, and uniform. Unless the inclusions seen are bubbles. If you see bubbles in the piece, the piece is glass as natural citrine would not have any.
When purchasing a citrine bracelet, the guide here to distinguish one can help.
