Moldavite
One of world's greatest selections of Moldavite, the precious Czech tektite
TOP GEO, registered and located in Germany, has attracted worldwide attention as distributor and manufacturer of Moldavite jewelry. We offer a wide range of Moldavite finds at all sizes, our specialty are various types of jewelry made of rough and cut stones. Maybe you have very own dreams of jewelry or carving - tell us and our engravers and goldsmiths will turn them into reality!
Moldavite book by Prof Bouska (english)
Item-No.: BUCH01 Price: 19.00 EUR
Relict of an Extraterrestrial Visitor
Moldavite is a natural silicate glass that takes its name from the area where it's found: near the Vlatava River in the Czech Republic.
But its place of origin is three hundred miles away, in the Ries crater near Stuttgart, Germany. About 15 million years ago, a giant meteorite collided with Earth and destroyed all life within a radius of several hundred kilometers. At the same time, new green matter was born. Even though the extraterrestrial visitor hadn't touched the Earth yet, the uppermost layers of the Earth's crust melted in the enormous heat. The pressure waves threw the liquid rock eastward into the atmosphere. During the rapid cooling, there was not enough time to crystallize and a glass was formed.
Similar, mostly black glasses can be found elsewhere in the world and are known by the common name "tektites" after the Greek word "tektos" (= melted). However, Moldavite is undoubtedly the most beautiful tektite because of its bright green color (caused by Fe ions) and richly sculptured surface.
Most Moldavites shattered when they fell from the atmosphere back to the ground, but some specimens are still found as well-preserved drops, disks or dumbbells. The sculpture is a result of chemical reaction with the environment in which the specimens were deposited. Some have been transported by waterways and their original sculpture has been worn away. The unique glass is not homogeneous at all, but shows a typical fluid structure. The molten material has not been able to mix thoroughly and contains bubbles with a rather high vacuum inside. In fact, these bubbles, with their unusually low gas pressure, were an important clue for the first scientists to investigate the secret of this green, mysterious stone.
Man became aware of this natural glass a long time ago. It was found in the Paleolithic cultural layers, for example, together with the famous 29,000-year-old Willendorf Venus. In some areas of Bohemia there was a tradition that a young man would give a Moldavite to his future bride for good luck. In 1787, J. Mayer, a professor at the University of Prague, mentioned that cut Moldavites decorated walking sticks.
The gemstones gained international attention when they were sold like gemstones cut and set in gold at the Jubilee Exhibition in Prague in 1891. Their sparkling green colors, intense glassy luster, pleasant shapes, their value as powerful stones in esoteric uses and, of course, their rarity have made them more attractive than ever to collectors and jewelry enthusiasts.