Why do different sources give different birthstones for this month?

Because they are copying different lists without saying which. The modern American list of 1912 and its revisions, older European traditional lists, and various regional lists all disagree, and none of them is an authority over the others. Any page presenting one answer as the birthstone is hiding a real disagreement.

Where did the modern birthstone list come from?

The American National Association of Jewelers agreed a standard list in 1912 so that shops in different states would stock and advertise the same stones. It was revised in 1952, tanzanite was added to December in 2002, and spinel to August in 2016. It is a commercial standard, and it works well as one.

Is my citrine really citrine?

If it is bright orange-brown, deepest at the crystal tips, with a whitish base, it is heat-treated amethyst. Natural citrine is a paler, more even lemon to smoky yellow. Both are quartz and both are genuine stones; the difference should show up in the price rather than in the description.

Is blue topaz natural?

Almost never. Colourless topaz is abundant and cheap, and irradiating and heating it produces the sky, Swiss and London blues sold everywhere. The treatment is stable and regulated, with a mandatory cooling period before sale in most countries. Natural blue topaz exists and is a pale, subtle colour.

Why does topaz chip if it is hardness 8?

Because hardness resists scratching and says nothing about splitting. Topaz has perfect cleavage along one plane, so a sharp knock in that direction can take a clean flat break off the stone. Setters and cutters handle it carefully for this reason, and it should never be cleaned ultrasonically.

Do I have to wear my birthstone?

No. The month list is a shared convention rather than a prescription, and the only tradition that treats a stone as genuinely obligatory or inadvisable is Jyotish, which works from a birth chart rather than a birth month. A stone you chose for yourself will do more for your practice than one assigned by a committee.

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Birthstone · Month

November: topaz and citrine

November gets two golden stones, and the pair is instructive. Topaz is hard at 8 but splits cleanly along one plane, and citrine is softer at 7 but will not split at all. One of them is also, in most shops, amethyst that has been heated.

At a glance

Two golden stones, one of which is usually the other month's stone after a trip through a furnace.

Modern list (1912 onward): Topaz and citrine
Traditional European lists: Topaz
Older alternatives cited: Pearl, chrysolite
Zodiac signs in this month: Scorpio, Sagittarius
Vedic gems for those signs: Red coral for Scorpio, yellow sapphire for Sagittarius
Hardness: Topaz 8 with perfect cleavage; citrine 7 with none

Themes

worth harvest clear intent the furnace gold

The modern answer

Topaz and citrine, both in the modern list.

Topaz is an aluminium fluorosilicate, hardness 8, and it occurs colourless, blue, yellow, brown, pink and, most valuably, the reddish golden imperial topaz from Ouro Preto in Brazil. Its name has a confused history: much of what classical writers called topazos was in fact peridot, from an island in the Red Sea, and the name migrated later.

Citrine is quartz coloured yellow to orange-brown by iron. Natural citrine is genuinely uncommon. The great majority of what is sold under the name is heat-treated amethyst, which is not fraud when disclosed and very often is not disclosed.

That makes November the month with the single most useful buying lesson attached to it.

The older lists

Traditional European lists give November topaz alone, with pearl appearing as an alternate in some versions.

Medieval lapidaries following Marbode credit topaz with cooling boiling water, calming anger and dimming in the presence of poison. It was also said to strengthen the intellect, claims typical of the period's approach.

The Ouro Preto mines in Minas Gerais have supplied imperial topaz since the eighteenth century, and it remains the principal source of genuinely golden material.

Citrine has almost no ancient tradition, precisely because natural material is scarce. Its modern reputation as a stone of prosperity is a twentieth-century development, and the associated habit of keeping a piece in a till or a wallet is recent enough that its spread through shops can be traced.

What these are like to own

Topaz is the trap. At hardness 8 it feels invulnerable, but it has perfect basal cleavage, so a knock in the wrong direction splits it cleanly. It must never go in an ultrasonic cleaner, and cutters treat it with particular care for this reason.

It is also the most treated common gem. Almost all blue topaz began as colourless material that was irradiated and then heated; the process is regulated, the material is held until any induced radioactivity has decayed, and the result is stable. Mystic and rainbow topaz are surface-coated and the coating wears.

Citrine at hardness 7 with no cleavage is far more forgiving and takes daily wear well. Its weakness is light: like amethyst, it fades in sunlight.

If you would rather have something else

If you want a golden stone with real durability and no treatment questions, tiger's eye is the practical answer and amber the interesting one, though amber is very soft.

November covers Scorpio and Sagittarius. Zodiac lists give Scorpio obsidian, topaz or malachite, and Sagittarius turquoise or topaz, so topaz serves both signs in many versions.

In Jyotish, Sagittarius answers to Jupiter, whose gem is yellow sapphire, a genuinely golden stone with a serious prescriptive tradition behind it. Scorpio answers to Mars and red coral.

Questions for reflection

What am I owed that I have not asked for?
What looks solid in my life but would split along one particular line?
Where have I paid for a name rather than for a thing?

The stones named here

🟡

Topaz

Imperial gold, and irradiated blue

🟡

Citrine

Rare in nature, common on shelves

🟣

Amethyst

What most citrine used to be

♐

Sagittarius

The sign after the twenty-first

🟡

The gold & yellow ray

The ray both stones belong to

Frequently asked questions

: Because they are copying different lists without saying which. The modern American list of 1912 and its revisions, older European traditional lists, and various regional lists all disagree, and none of them is an authority over the others. Any page presenting one answer as the birthstone is hiding a real disagreement.
: The American National Association of Jewelers agreed a standard list in 1912 so that shops in different states would stock and advertise the same stones. It was revised in 1952, tanzanite was added to December in 2002, and spinel to August in 2016. It is a commercial standard, and it works well as one.
: If it is bright orange-brown, deepest at the crystal tips, with a whitish base, it is heat-treated amethyst. Natural citrine is a paler, more even lemon to smoky yellow. Both are quartz and both are genuine stones; the difference should show up in the price rather than in the description.
: Almost never. Colourless topaz is abundant and cheap, and irradiating and heating it produces the sky, Swiss and London blues sold everywhere. The treatment is stable and regulated, with a mandatory cooling period before sale in most countries. Natural blue topaz exists and is a pale, subtle colour.
: Because hardness resists scratching and says nothing about splitting. Topaz has perfect cleavage along one plane, so a sharp knock in that direction can take a clean flat break off the stone. Setters and cutters handle it carefully for this reason, and it should never be cleaned ultrasonically.
: No. The month list is a shared convention rather than a prescription, and the only tradition that treats a stone as genuinely obligatory or inadvisable is Jyotish, which works from a birth chart rather than a birth month. A stone you chose for yourself will do more for your practice than one assigned by a committee.

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The birthstones

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