The November Birthstone is Topaz

The official birthstone for November is the warm yellow-orange Topaz (also known as Imperial Topaz), symbolizing constancy, loyalty, faithfulness and friendship. The alternative November gemstone is sunny yellow Citrine.

Pure topaz is actually transparent but impurities within the crystal create varieties of topaz in many colors. In addition to the yellow to orange range, topaz also occurs in exquisite shades of blue, pale green, pink and red.

Some references say the name Topaz originates from Sanskrit tapas meaning ‘fire’ or ‘heat’. Others references say the name came from an Egyptian island in the Red Sea originally called Topazos - where a yellow stone was mined.

The November birthstone color is yellow and the November birth flower is the Chrysanthemum.

Where Topaz and Citrine Are Found

Pure topaz is actually colorless and impurities within the crystal create varieties in many colors. In addition to the yellow to orange range, topaz also occurs in exquisite shades of blue, pale green, pink and red. Natural blue topaz is very rare and most of the blue topaz in the market is colorless topaz that has been treated.

Most precious topaz used in jewelry is found in Brazil and Russia but Imperial topaz, which is the trade name given to natural orange-red topaz, is only mined in Brazil.

Natural citrine is a variety of quartz, pale yellow in color and occurs very rarely in nature - one such location is Bolivia. When amethyst quartz is heated it transforms to citrine quartz and in some deposits geological heating has happened naturally. In other instances amethyst is mined and then manually heated to produce citrine, such as in Brazil, where much of the world's amethyst is found.

When both amethyst and citrine are intermingled in the stone, it is called ametrine, and is found naturally in Bolivia.