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Moldavites

A meteorite strike in Bavaria threw molten rock four hundred kilometres east, and the glass that fell in southern Bohemia became moldavite.

Buy Bohemian Moldavite Tektite Weighed to the Tenth of a Gram and Graded on Its Sculpting

Moldavite is a natural silica glass formed when the Ries impact in Bavaria melted surface rock about fifteen million years ago and hurled it into what is now the Czech Republic, where it cooled in flight and fell across South Bohemia and Moravia. Buy from the 4 tektites on this page and each carries its own gram weight, dimensions and flow structure, because Astro Gallery of Gems weighs and photographs every piece individually rather than selling moldavite as an undifferentiated lot.

How Do You Separate Genuine Moldavite From Green Bottle Glass?

Moldavite attracts more fabricated material than any other tektite, and the fakes are almost all moulded green glass finished to imitate etching. Four tests settle the question, and three of them work from good photographs alone.

Lechatelierite strands and stretched bubblesGenuine moldavite carries worm like threads of pure silica glass alongside bubbles pulled into elongated shapes by the flight. Manufactured glass shows perfectly spherical bubbles and no lechatelierite at all, which a ten power loupe resolves in seconds.
Etching that never repeatsHumic acids in the Bohemian sands cut irregular pits, channels and closed loops into each piece over millions of years. Moulded imitations repeat one pattern across many stones and carry a seam line, ground down but detectable where the relief flattens abruptly.
Colour, flow and translucencyReal material runs forest green through olive to brownish green, translucent rather than clear, with visible schlieren streaking through the body. Uniform emerald glass with textbook clarity and no internal flow belongs to a bottle, not to a strewn field.
Weight measured against volumeMoldavite has a specific gravity of 2.32 to 2.38, so it feels lighter than common glass at roughly 2.5 for the same bulk. Astro Gallery weighs each tektite to a tenth of a gram on arrival and states that figure in the title of the listing.

Which South Bohemian Diggings Produced These Pieces?

The strewn field covers a small area, and locality drives price harder here than in almost any other mineral collecting field. Two villages in particular set the ceiling for the whole market.

Besednice, Ceske Budejovice basinThe Koroseky sands at Besednice produced the deeply etched thin pieces the trade calls hedgehog moldavite, where sculpting closes into loops across both faces. The workings are largely exhausted, so Besednice material commands the highest figure per gram anywhere in the field.
Chlum nad MalsiChlum yields larger, richly sculpted tektites in a deep forest green, with relief legible on both faces and fewer of the paper thin edges that make Besednice pieces fragile. Collectors buying a first serious specimen usually land here on weight and durability together.
Vrabce, Slavce and the Radomilice groundThese localities give bulkier moldavite with shallower relief and a matte sand worn skin, which is where the larger gram weights come from. Value per gram falls, so this material carries most of the demand for pieces above twenty grams.
The Moravian field near Trebic and SlaviceMoravian tektites are browner and more olive than Bohemian ones, abraded by river transport until the sculpting reads faintly. Cutters take most of this material because the sculpting premium is already gone and the glass itself facets cleanly.

What Does a Gram of Moldavite Cost to Buy Right Now?

Moldavite trades on a figure per gram that rises steeply with sculpting depth and locality, so two tektites of identical weight separate widely on price. The rows below draw live from the catalogue, and one gram converts to five carats if you are comparing against a cut stone.

PieceDetailPrice
Genuine Moldavite Tektite (18.8 grams) 18.8 grams $ 1,200.00
Genuine Moldavite Tektite (16.1 grams) 16.1 grams $ 2,200.00
Genuine Moldavite Tektite (18 grams) 18 grams $ 2,400.00
Genuine Moldavite Tektite (13.1 grams) 13.1 grams $ 1,500.00
Macro photographs of any tektite on requestAsk for the loupe views of the etching, the flow structure and both faces, and our team will send them before you commit to a piece.
View all 4 pieces Request photographs

How Is Moldavite Graded on Sculpting and Texture?

Dealers grade moldavite on how much surface relief survived, not on colour or clarity, and the vocabulary below is the one used at the Czech shows. The tektites currently on this page fall between thirteen and nineteen grams, which places them across the middle two bands.

GradeWhat the term describes and what it costs you
Museum grade, deeply sculptedBesednice hedgehog pieces with closed sculpting on both faces and paper thin projecting edges, usually under ten grams, which carry the steepest figure per gram and the highest breakage risk in handling.
Fine collector gradeWell sculpted Chlum and Besednice material with clear relief across both faces and a translucent forest green body, typically ten to twenty grams, which is where most serious cabinet purchases settle.
Regular grade, partly sculptedVrabce and Radomilice tektites showing relief on one face and a matte skin on the other, offering the largest available weights and the softest figure per gram in the field.
Cutting and setting gradeRiver abraded Moravian glass with little surviving relief, faceted or cut as cabochons and then sold by the carat, which suits a buyer who wants moldavite in a setting rather than in a case.

Should You Purchase a Loose Specimen or a Stone to Set?

The uncut cabinet specimenAn untouched tektite keeps every etched channel the sediment cut into it, and that surface is what the gram price pays for. Collectors show these on an acrylic riser or inside a lidded case with a locality card, because dust settles into the pits and a cloth cannot reach it.
Faceted or cabbed materialCutting removes the sculpting permanently and moves the stone onto a carat price, which suits a pendant or a ring far better than a rare Besednice piece would. Moldavite fractures conchoidally and sits at Mohs 5.5 to 7, so a bezel protects the edges where a claw setting concentrates stress.

Which Terms Does a Moldavite Description Rely On?

TektiteNatural glass formed from terrestrial rock melted and thrown clear by a meteorite impact, distinguished from a meteorite because the material itself is of Earth rather than of space.
LechatelieritePure silica glass occurring inside moldavite as worm like threads and streaks, produced by melted quartz grains and impossible to reproduce in manufactured glass.
SchlierenThe visible flow lines running through a tektite, recording how the molten glass stretched and twisted while it was still airborne after the impact.
SculptingThe etched relief on the surface, cut by acidic groundwater over millions of years of burial, and the single attribute that sets the figure per gram.
HedgehogTrade shorthand for the deeply etched thin Besednice material whose closed loops and spines make it the most sought and the most fragile form of moldavite.
Strewn fieldThe area over which impact glass fell and was later buried, in this case the Bohemian and Moravian basins lying three to four hundred kilometres east of the Ries crater.

Who Orders Moldavite, and What Do They Call It?

Three groups compete for the same small supply. Impact collectors treat moldavite as one entry in a suite alongside Libyan desert glass, Darwin glass and suevite from the Ries itself, and they buy on locality and sculpting. Jewellers and gem buyers work from the cut material instead, comparing a faceted moldavite against peridot or green tourmaline on colour and carat rather than on relief. Gift buyers arrive because a tektite is small, weightless in a pocket and carries a story that survives being retold.

A fourth and far larger group reaches moldavite through metaphysical vocabulary, describing it as a transformation stone, a heart chakra stone or a high vibration stone, and using the phrase moldavite flush for the sensation some report on first handling a piece. Astro Gallery of Gems sells moldavite as a documented natural glass, records locality, gram weight and dimensions against each tektite, and makes no health or energetic claim for any of them.

Does Moldavite Need Any Particular Care?

Moldavite is harder than it is tough. At Mohs 5.5 to 7 it resists scratching from ordinary dust, but it breaks along conchoidal fractures under a sharp knock, and the thin sculpted projections on Besednice material snap before anything else does. Keep an ultrasonic cleaner well away from a tektite, since the cavitation attacks exactly those weak edges. A soft artist brush lifts dust out of the etch pits, and lukewarm water followed by a full air dry is as far as cleaning needs to go, because water trapped in a deep pit leaves a mineral ring as it evaporates. Store loose pieces in separate padded compartments so two tektites never abrade each other.

How Does a Moldavite Travel Once You Order It?

The listed figure is the figure charged, and secure checkout settles through Shop Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay or card. Astro Gallery issues an itemised invoice naming the gram weight, the dimensions and the Czech origin of each tektite, which gives you the written record that matters when a piece is later insured, resold or passed on.

Astro Gallery of Gems has shipped impact material since 1961, and moldavite receives the most protective packing of anything at its weight. Our packers suspend each tektite in cut foam so the sculpted edges touch nothing, seat that block inside a rigid box and double box the whole parcel. Every shipment leaves under tracking and full insurance with the declared value and customs documents prepared before collection, and the small size of these pieces means international delivery adds very little to the cost. The returns policy and the guarantee published on about us apply to every tektite sold here.

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Buy a tektite matched to a weight and a localityTell us the gram range and whether Besednice sculpting or Chlum durability matters more, and we will send the candidates with macro photographs attached.
Browse the moldavite Email the gallery

What Do Buyers Ask Before Purchasing Moldavite?

How much is moldavite worth per gram?
Sculpting depth and locality set the figure, so a deeply etched Besednice piece and a smooth Moravian one of equal weight are priced far apart. The table above carries the live figure for every tektite in stock, and dividing it by the gram weight in the title gives you the rate for that specific piece.
Is the moldavite you sell genuine?
Yes. Every tektite here is Czech material carrying lechatelierite strands, stretched bubbles and natural acid etching, none of which moulded glass reproduces. Astro Gallery supplies loupe range photographs of those features on request before you buy.
Why is Besednice moldavite more expensive?
The Koroseky sands at Besednice produced unusually thin, deeply sculpted pieces, and those workings are effectively finished. Supply cannot grow, sculpting is the attribute the market pays for, and the two facts together hold that locality at the top of the price range.
What size moldavite should I buy?
Order between ten and twenty grams for a first cabinet piece, which is where sculpting is legible without the extreme fragility of the smallest hedgehog material. Anything under five grams suits a setting or a gift, and pieces above twenty grams are scarce enough to need patience.
Can moldavite be set into a ring?
Yes, though a bezel setting serves it far better than claws. Moldavite fractures conchoidally at Mohs 5.5 to 7, so a ring worn daily should protect the girdle, and cutting a sculpted specimen destroys the surface its price was based on.
Does a moldavite come with a certificate?
No laboratory certificate accompanies these tektites. Astro Gallery instead records the gram weight, the dimensions and the Czech origin on an itemised invoice, photographs the piece from every face, and covers the purchase under the published returns terms.
Will I receive the exact tektite in the photograph?
Yes. Each moldavite listing states its own weight to a tenth of a gram and its own dimensions, and the images belong to that individual piece, because no two tektites carry the same etching pattern.
Do you ship moldavite internationally?
Yes. Astro Gallery suspends each tektite in cut foam, double boxes the parcel and sends it under tracking and full insurance with customs paperwork completed in advance, and the low weight keeps international carriage inexpensive.

Where Does Moldavite Sit Beside Other Impact Material?

Moldavite bridges two catalogues at once, sitting with impact and space material on one side and with green gem rough on the other. These groupings follow both routes out of this page.

Impact and space material
MeteoritesSingle meteoritesMeteorites in display cases
Cut and set stones
Cut gemstonesGems and jewelryNecklacesSilver jewelry
Collector cabinet pieces
Fine mineralsMuseum quality mineralsThe vault
Gifts and small specimens
GiftsCrystal specimensMetaphysical polished stones
Before you order
Shipping and returnsAbout Astro GalleryMineral specimens