This is a nicely shaped Australite Tektite weighing 0.426 gram. Australites are small, hard to find and highly desirable.
Tektites are natural glass of meteoric origin that are found between a narrow equatorial belt of 80 degrees wide. They are often referred to as being from "the moon" or "shooting stars", which they are not. A meteor/comet impact forced molten meteorite/earth up into the atmosphere where it quickly cooled and returned to the earth after their short visit to space, raining Tektites!
The name tektites comes from the greek word "tektos", which means melted. They are unusual, irregularly or at times intricately shaped piece of silica-rich glass. They have no crystal structure, and are therefore similar to obsidian but are not associated with volcanic formation process.
Tektites exhibit a number of meteoritic features, including ablation and atmospheric melting, flight orientation, some have been tied to certain strewn fields, are very different from native rocks, sometime nickel-iron is found in some and more. However, they don't have the isotopic characteristics of a long period of time in outer space and also lack the cosmic ray exposure.
At one time they where even quite common, however tons of them were used during the 80's for lapidary faceting. Metaphysical people have also long used tektites for channeling energy in various ways.
Australites are found mainly south of the 25 degree latitude line with most of them having been recovered in Western Australia. The largest Australite was found near Notting Western Australia and weighs 437 grams. Potassium-argon dating of specimens from tektites from China, Thailand, Laos and the Philippines all date about the same as Australites suggesting a single origin. However, there is evidence suggesting that Australites have a younger age and are from a different meteorite impact. Australites are also found in South Australia in soil layers about 20,000 years old, while in the Victoria in layers about 12,000 years old and sometimes in sediments as low as 5,000 years old. There is also a discrepancy in radiometric and stratigraphic test ages.
Another convincing fact is that Australites are better preserved then the other known tektites. They became known to the English settlers in the 1830's. However, the Aboriginals tribes have collected them for many years before this. Some believed they had metaphysical healing powers thought to cure wounds, sickness, and disease. Other Aboriginals utilized the tektite glass for weapons and tools.
This piece displays extremely well and is a quality translucent specimen (as show in the last two pictures, which are backlit). It has an aesthetic shape and would be a beautiful addition to any new or existing collection. Comes with a Canagem Collection specimen card and a signed Mark Bostick Collection card.
