A piece of Libyan Desert Glass impactite (sometimes referred to as Egypt or Egyptian Desert Glass). The excellent translucent individual with pseudo regmaglypts weighs 28.2 grams and measures approximately 42 mm x 37 mm x 25 mm. Accompanied by a specimen identification card from Aerolite Meteorites.
Libyan Desert Glass (sometimes referred to as Egypt or Egyptian Desert Glass) is a rare and beautiful impact glass, found in only one remote location on Earth, near the Libyan/Egyptian border. It is associated with an ancient meteorite impact, which occurred somewhere in the North African deserts, likely millions of years ago, though the crater—which must be vast in size—has never been found. The heat and pressure of this conceivably country-sized event melted desert sand into an alluring natural glass, which bears some example to Trinitite—the melt glass formed at the atomic bomb test site in New Mexico.
Top quality specimens, such as this example, are a rich honey-yellow and highly translucent. This very fine piece displays pseudo regmaglypts—sculpted, flowing indentations similar to surface features seen on some meteorites, and possibly caused by wind erosion, or by ablation when molten fragments were thrown into the air following impact.
A yellow scarab prominently displayed upon a pectoral that belonged to the Egypytian pharaoh, Tutankhamun, was carved from Libyan Desert Glass, giving this striking meteorite-related material a unique link to Egypt and humanity’s distant past.
Perhaps the most enchanting of all meteorite-related collectibles, Libyan Desert Glass is now extremely difficult to obtain, as removing material from the site is prohibited by the Egyptian government, making old collection pieces such as this particularly desirable.
