Description
Raw moldavite piece, 0.54g, and how to keep it in one piece.
Is moldavite fragile
Reasonably, yes, and it is worth knowing before it arrives rather than after.
Moldavite sits at 5.5 to 6 on the Mohs scale, which puts it under quartz, and because it is glass it fails by chipping rather than scratching. One knock against a tap or a tiled floor can take a corner off a piece that survived fifteen million years underground. It is not delicate in the hand and it will not fall apart, but it does not forgive being dropped.
Looking after natural glass
Storage. Keep it on its own, in a soft pouch or a lined box. The single most common way moldavite gets damaged is being tipped into a bowl with quartz points and tumbles and left to rattle.
Water. It can get wet. A rinse under the tap will not harm it. It also will not do anything for it, so there is no reason to make a habit of it. Dry it properly rather than leaving it wet in a dish.
Never an ultrasonic cleaner. Glass with internal strains and inclusions is exactly what an ultrasonic bath is bad for.
Salt and heat. Skip both. Dry salt is abrasive, salt water is worse, and sudden temperature change is not something to test on glass.
Cleansing. Sound, breath or moonlight. All three suit it and none of them risk the piece.
If it does chip. It is still moldavite. A broken face will look glassy and bright against the matt natural skin, which is a useful thing to have seen once.
This piece
Reference C4, 0.54g, from the Chlum sand mine in South Bohemia. Undamaged, with no broken or chipped faces, and not cut, tumbled or polished.
The colour is a light olive green with a yellow cast, and the whole surface is unusually reflective, throwing bright silver white glints where the light catches. The texture is the striking thing. It is densely crazed into a fine angular mosaic, closer to a cracked glaze than to the soft pitting most raw pieces carry. The form is an upright leaf, broad and rounded at the foot and tapering to a point, flattened through so it stands like a small flame.
How much is a small piece of moldavite
At 0.54g this one is £19, and every piece in this batch is charged at the same flat rate per gram. That is the honest answer to a question people ask a lot and rarely get a number for.
Most UK sellers start their raw moldavite at a gram or a gram and a half, which puts a first piece well over fifty pounds. Sub gram material is the affordable way in, and it is the same glass out of the same mine as anything heavier.
Traditional correspondences
Older practice holds moldavite as a marker for change already under way. Short sittings, and put a piece down for a stretch if it starts to feel like too much.
The display base
A piece this size is difficult to show without something to stand it in. This one comes with the clear hexagonal base in the photographs, which holds it upright on a shelf or an altar rather than leaving it to sit flat where the surface cannot be seen. The base is included in the price. The stated weight is the moldavite alone.
What you receive
The moldavite piece shown in the photographs, reference C4, 0.54g, together with the clear hexagonal display base shown in the photographs. Nothing else is included. Wrapped and posted from Shropshire by Royal Mail Tracked.
See the rest of the raw moldavite in stock, or browse the raw and rough specimens.
Mineralogy and locality data for moldavite is held on Mindat.
Correspondences are traditional and are offered as part of a practice, not as a substitute for medical or professional advice.
