Judging quality
Genuine moldavite has a distinctive etched, wrinkled surface texture and translucent bottle-green color with internal bubbles. Green bottle-glass fakes are extremely common and look too smooth or too even. Buy only with provenance.
Tektite
Moldavite
A tektite: natural glass formed roughly fifteen million years ago when a meteorite struck what is now southern Germany and splashed molten crust across Bohemia.
Care
Brittle and increasingly scarce as the fields are worked out. Handle carefully.
History & lore
Moldavite beads appear in Neolithic burials in central Europe, thousands of years before its origin was understood.
Cultural history, recorded as tradition rather than as medical or scientific claim.
Common questions about Moldavite
- What is Moldavite?
- A tektite: natural glass formed roughly fifteen million years ago when a meteorite struck what is now southern Germany and splashed molten crust across Bohemia.
- How hard is Moldavite and what is it made of?
- Moldavite is a Tektite-family mineral with the composition SiO2 rich glass. It crystallizes in the amorphous system and rates 5.5-7 on the Mohs hardness scale. It occurs in bottle green.
- Where does Moldavite come from?
- Notable localities for Moldavite include Czech Republic (Bohemia, Moravia).
- How do you tell good Moldavite from filler?
- Genuine moldavite has a distinctive etched, wrinkled surface texture and translucent bottle-green color with internal bubbles. Green bottle-glass fakes are extremely common and look too smooth or too even. Buy only with provenance.
- How do you care for Moldavite?
- Brittle and increasingly scarce as the fields are worked out. Handle carefully.
See it in person
Photographs only go so far
Both rooms are open six days a week, and there is always someone happy to pull pieces out of the case so you can compare them under the light.