Description

Moldavite is a forest green, olive green, or blue-greenish type of tektite and a gemstone. Moldavites are thought to have formed about 15 million years ago during the impact of a giant meteorite that produced the Ries and Steinheim craters in southeastern Germany. An incoming asteroid is thought to have broken into two pieces that produced this pair of craters. The impact melted material and launched it into the air. As the material was airborne, it cooled and solidified. The moldavite strewn field includes portions of what is now the Czech Republic, Austria, and Germany. The name Moldavite comes from the Moldau (Vitava) river in Bohemia (the Czech Republic), the location of the first pieces found. Moldavites highly textured surfaces are now known to be the result of long-term erosion by water while the specimen lay buried. Moldavites are often used, rough or cut, as semi-precious stones in jewelry. They have purported metaphysical qualities and are often used in crystal healing.

Sizes and shapes vary, each piece about 1″ in length.