Topaz or citrine? How to choose your November birthstone

Two November birthstones sounds generous, right up until you’re standing at the jewelry counter with a ring in each hand while an assistant waits politely. One is tougher, one is showier, and for centuries they were mistaken for each other. Here’s how to choose without regretting it.

The short answer

The November birthstones are topaz and citrine, according to the Gemological Institute of America. Choose citrine for a ring you’ll wear every day. Choose topaz for color and drama, and for the occasional wedding.

That’s really the whole decision: citrine for the office, topaz for the party. The rest is detail, and some of it is surprising.

We’ll admit a bias up front: we’d pick citrine, but only because we drop things. If you’re careful and you love color, the answer flips. Plenty of November birthstones debates end exactly there, with two people agreeing to disagree over a very small tray of rings.

Topaz: several gems under one name

Topaz comes in colorless, light blue, yellow, orange, pink, violet and brown, and very rarely in red. The pinkish-orange stones are called Imperial topaz. The sky-blue ones that fill every mall display are usually colorless topaz that has been irradiated and heated to get that shade, permanently, which is perfectly fine as long as nobody pretends otherwise. Then there’s “Mystic” topaz, which carries a thin coating to create its rainbow shimmer, and abrasives can scrape that coating off. It scores 8 on the Mohs scale, which sounds tough. It isn’t, quite: GIA rates its toughness as poor, so a hard knock can chip it and a sudden change in temperature can crack it from the inside.

Hardness measures scratching. Toughness measures breaking. Topaz is better at the first. Remember that.

The folklore is generous, to be fair. The ancient Greeks believed topaz gave strength, and Europeans from the 1300s to the 1600s thought it could counter magic and calm anger, which is a lot to ask of a rock. In India, people wore it above the heart for long life, beauty and intelligence. Quite the résumé!

Where do they come from? Topaz is mined in Brazil (Minas Gerais especially), Pakistan, Namibia, Nigeria, Madagascar, Mexico, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the United States, plus historic deposits in Russia. Citrine turns up in Bolivia, Spain, Madagascar, Mexico and Uruguay, while the amethyst that gets heat-treated into citrine comes mainly from Brazil. It’s a geography lesson worth keeping in your pocket when the sales assistant asks if you have any questions.

Citrine: the one that gets on with life

Citrine is a yellow to brownish-orange quartz, and it behaves like quartz: Mohs 7, good toughness, comfortable in real life. Warm soapy water cleans it, and an ultrasonic cleaner is usually fine, although steam is not, because high heat can crack it, which is why the jeweler’s steam machine should stay well away from this stone. If your ring meets dishwater and a grocery bag on the same day, citrine will cope.

For centuries it was mistaken for topaz, and people credited it with the same powers, including calming tempers. Fair enough. By lamplight they look alike.

By daylight, less so.

One thing the label may not tell you: most citrine on the market is heat-treated amethyst. This is ordinary practice in the trade, and GIA says so openly. It’s still worth asking, the way you’d ask about the origin of anything you plan to wear for twenty years.

Before you buy November birthstones

Ask to see the stone in daylight and under shop lights, because yellow and orange gems can change character between the two. Ask whether it’s been treated. Don’t be shy about asking to hold the stone; any decent jeweler expects it. Bring a friend with opinions, if you have one. Look at the setting: a bezel, which wraps the stone in metal, protects topaz better than a few thin prongs. Yellow stones tend to look rich on yellow gold, and blue topaz looks crisp on white metal, though that’s a matter of taste and you should ignore us if your eye says otherwise.

Skip the sunny windowsill, too. GIA notes that prolonged heat or sunlight can fade some yellow-to-brown topaz. And clean topaz with a soft cloth and mild soap, never the steam machine at the mall kiosk.

What the zodiac has to say (not much)

November straddles two signs: Scorpio until November 21, then Sagittarius from November 22. People love matching stones to signs, and the lists disagree with each other, so treat any pairing as a parlor game. Ours: citrine for Sagittarius, because it’s cheerful and hard to break; topaz for Scorpio, because it has layers and a temper. Argue with us if you like!

Which of the November birthstones should you actually buy?

Think about how the person lives. If they never take their rings off, citrine, every time. If they own a jewelry box and a calendar full of weddings, topaz in a color they’ve never worn.

Anniversary coming up? GIA lists citrine for the 13th, blue topaz for the 4th and Imperial topaz for the 23rd. We won’t quote prices, because they swing with the size of the stone and the setting; ask for the treatment and the return policy instead.

And if you’re the one being given a stone, say thank you first and ask about care second. Our piece on accepting compliments covers the awkward part, and thoughtful gifts has a few ideas for the giving side.

One last thing about November birthstones: there’s no law that says you have to wear your own. Plenty of people wear a child’s stone, a parent’s stone, or simply whichever color they like best on a Tuesday. A birthstone is a tradition, and traditions are allowed to be generous. Treat it as a good excuse to buy something you’ll look at, months later, and think: yes, that one. A ring bought on impulse in November has a way of becoming the one you reach for.

Keep each stone in its own pouch. Topaz chips; citrine will survive the experiment.