Subject: Moldavite

From: [email-masked] (Carole Carnovale)
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 94 15:27:19 GMT

I recently purchased a moldavite ring.  I'm interested
in finding out the history/origin of the stone.
Any info would be appreciated!

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From: [email-masked] (Lawler Keith)
Date: 25 Dec 1994 05:00:29 GMT

Carole Carnovale ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I recently purchased a moldavite ring.  I'm interested
: in finding out the history/origin of the stone.
: Any info would be appreciated!

Moldavite is a glass.  It is a non-crystalline substance that may be
brownish or yellowish but more typically it is a muddy green.  They are a
variety of tekite, an "extraterrestrial" mineral.  It is believed to form
either on the outside of meteorites, where it is melted and fused while
passing through the atmosphere, or it is was a terrestrial rock that was
melted upon the impact of the meteor. 

History:
It is said that moldavite, rather than emerald, was the substance of the 
Holy Grail. 

Moldavite has many names, depending on where it comes from.  Australite 
is from Australia, and georgiaite is from the state of Georgia.  It is 
also called Bouteillenstein, which means "bottle stone".  The reason for 
this is that moldavite gems are just cut glass and any faceted peice of 
darkish green glass can be easily passed of as moldavite.  

Keith

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From: [email-masked] (Kethlynn Erika Witt-Endo)
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 03:03:20 GMT

>Any info would be appreciated!

There's a book I saw recently at the library, which I didn't check out. 
It's called _Moldavite: Starborn Stone of Transformation_, by Robert 
Simmons and Kathy Warner. It was published 1988, has a lot of color 
pictures of the stuff, and seems to ramble on in fairly grand style for
a couple of hundred pages. (The authors' claims seems to be a little 
"Cure All"-ish, which is why I didn't bother to check it out.) 
It was pretty enough, and I suppose I'll check it out eventually, but 
I was loaded down with Tom Clancy and James Clavell (gratuitous plug!) 
at the time, and likely to have my arms fall off if I tried carrying 
anything else.
But I thought I'd at least mention I saw the book, so y'all can go 
look into it on your own.

Walk in Balance,
Crone

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Make Toast!				[email-masked]