How to spot a genuine Moldavite

Moldavite’s high vibration can quickly clear and open blockages in any of the chakras. It accelerates spiritual growth as well as increases our access to inner guidance. It is an excellent meditation stone, often used at the heart, third eye and crown chakras.

In legend, Moldavite is the Holy Grail’s fabled stone, an emerald that fell from the sky—believed by many as a sign or a gift from the heavens. So far, there has only been one recorded find of Moldavite, and there will come a time when these resources run out. It is primarily for this reason that over the years, the price of this curious mineral has steadily risen until now. Recently the price of genuine Moldavite has risen exponentially, and the market has become flooded with fakes.

I have been handling Moldavite for some thirty years or more, and you get a feel for the natural mineral. That said, some of the fake Moldavite on the market today is incredibly realistic.

Fake Moldavite has been around for year’s and has mostly looked like green glass. Today, as Moldavite prices have risen the fakes, are getting better. The feel, as well as the look of the imitation, has improved.  As Moldavite is rare, reconstituted Moldavite with silica glass could make a little go a long way. All that would be required is a lot of irregularly shaped moulds taken from natural Moldavite.

So, how do you spot a genuine Moldavite?

The single most significantly crucial way of identifying a genuine piece of moldavite is establishing the origin. Moldavite comes from one location only in the Czech Republic. At present, there is only one mining area legally authorised by the government. The governments’ reluctance to grant permits to excavate other sites has meant that just as Moldavite has become increasingly popular, the amount found on location is less and less. The miners, therefore, are needing to dig deeper, but as they do, the yield gets smaller not only in size per piece but in total quantity found.

To save you from buying a fake, it would help if you purchased from a reputable dealer, a company that has been in business a while, someone who knows their crystals and who buys directly from the Czech Republic. If you are buying from someone or somewhere with little trading history, who can’t tell you the location the Moldavite is from, the price is low, and it looks fantastic; it probably is not Moldavite.

Natural Moldavite is irregular in shape, and rough uncut or polished pieces have a dull or matt finish. Most dealers will use a sparse amount of oil on their hands to rub onto the surface of Moldavite to show the actual colour of the mineral. Once washed and dried, rough Moldavite will return to a Matt or dull finish.

Many fake pieces of Moldavite look glossy when brought and remain so after washing.

The surface appearance of natural rough Moldavite is lumpy, bubbly, knobbly, pitted, erratic, asymmetric and can be uneven or broken. In polished and faceted pieces, tiny air bubbles can be visible, especially under a magnifying glass. Moldavite can break under pressure, and looking into the gem through the break, you may see these tiny bubbles or lechatelierite.

Lechatelierite can occur naturally when a heat source like lightning strikes sand with a high silica glass content. Fulgurite is a mineral that occurs when lightning strikes the dessert, and Moldavite has a similar look and feel about it to fulgurite. Lightning striking sand causes the melting of the quartz in the sand. Fulgurite forms in irregular masses of melted glass looking knobbly sand coloured streaks or natural coral looking branches. Moldavite looks just as eccentric and imperfect.

Another sort-after mineral that is almost pure lechatelierite and found in the Sahara Desert in Libya and Egypt is the yellow tektite called Libyan Gold. Thought to be a meteorite or piece of an asteroid that broke up entering the earth’s atmosphere around 29 million years ago. Libyan Gold has a smoother surface then one would perhaps expect due to being tumbled in the desert sands.

If you are looking to buy rough Moldavite and all the specimens look very similar, they are probably from a mould and not Moldavite.

The natural colour of Moldavite is a beautiful mid-tone sage green through to almost a very dark sage green. Without good lighting, it can look black like a gravelly tektite.

If you see the brighter yellow/greens that look like green bottles in your specimen, it’s not Moldavite.

Moldavite, like many precious gemstones, is priced per gram, and the larger the piece, the rarer it is; therefore, the price per gram goes up exponentially. Current prices are rising, and demand is high so if you are looking at Moldavite, and it seems inexpensive, look again.

We at Happy Glastonbury have had some thirty years of working with Moldavite and nothing can replace experience. Fake Moldavite can now be extremely hard to spot but apart from everything I have said so far, there is an instinct here that comes into play. Moldavite has a ‘feel’ about it. I asked my daughters who have grown up handling Moldavite for any clues that might help someone who has never felt genuine Moldavite before. Here are some snapshots of what they said;

Genuine Moldavite can feel cold, void and very empty yet full of enormous potential if you know how to work with it. It feels exciting and tingly. Powerful and formidable. Brittle. Exhilarating. Some days its just too much. A feeling of metamorphosis. Becoming something more. Regeneration. Rejuvenation. A huge push forward. Moldavite brings up seemingly unanswerable questions. Interpretation, like a doorway or start of something amazing.

In summary; Location. Irregular shape. Surface appearance. Look for tiny air bubbles or Lechatelierite. Colour. Price. Experience.

My experience with Moldavite will not be the same as yours. And, I’ve been retailing it for some considerable time so I should know! Natural Moldavite is most definitely  transformational. When you begin your journey with Moldavite things will never be the same again.

Bright transformational blessings,  Marianna