Why Genuine Moldavite

Yes, and you do not have to take that on faith. Every stone is examined personally under a jeweller's loupe and microscope before it is listed, and where a stone calls for it I also use immersion, which makes the internal flow structures visible — the swirls and threads that form only when molten glass moves and cools. No manufacturing process reproduces them.

Each piece then leaves with an individual certificate recording its weight, dimensions, transparency, colour, lustre, quality grade and locality.

If you would like a second opinion, take the stone to any gemological laboratory. I would rather you did.

Read how verification works

Southern Bohemia, in the Czech Republic — the source of virtually all the world's moldavite. The main localities are Besednice, Ježkovna, Chlum, Malý Chlum and Slavče, and each leaves its own signature in the shape, surface and shade of green.

Some stones my family and I find ourselves in the fields and quarries at weekends. The rest come from diggers I know personally and have worked with for years. Where the locality can be confirmed, it is stated on the certificate; where it cannot, I say so rather than guess.

Independent laboratory reports are excellent, and also expensive — examination in the Czech Republic typically costs over €200 per stone, plus processing time. Applied to every piece in the shop, that cost would land on you.

Laboratory reports are therefore reserved for exceptional collector specimens. Everything else carries an individual certificate issued on professional examination, which is the standard the moldavite market has worked to for years. If you would like a laboratory report for a particular piece, ask — it can be arranged, and I will tell you the cost before you commit to anything.

Completely. Moldavite formed as molten glass thrown through the air, and no two pieces cooled the same way — the sculpting, the bubbles, the depth of green are individual to each stone.

This has a practical consequence worth knowing: every photograph on this site is of the actual piece you will receive. Nothing here is a stock image or a representative example. When a piece sells, it is gone, and the closest I can offer is something made in the same spirit with a different stone.

Four things move the price, and weight is only the first.

Weight does not scale evenly. Large moldavites are disproportionately rare, so a 10g stone costs far more than ten times a 1g stone.

Locality matters to collectors. Besednice produces the deeply sculpted hedgehog forms that are chased hardest, and prices reflect that.

Quality — transparency, the intricacy of the natural sculpting, the absence of damage — separates two stones of identical weight considerably.

The setting, for finished jewellery: metal, and the hours of work. Every moldavite is a different shape, so no setting can be reused; each one is built from scratch.

Start with the practical questions, not the mystical ones. What are you going to do with it — wear it daily, keep it as a specimen, give it as a gift? What is your budget? Do you want the raw sculpted surface, or something cut and set?

If it is your first, small is not a compromise. Most collectors we know began with a stone under a gram held up to a window. Its authenticity is documented exactly like everything else here.

And if you would rather not decide alone, write to me. Describe what you are after and I will send you options, honestly, including when the answer is that nothing I have right now fits.

Browse first moldavites

Every piece is photographed in daylight, against a scale, without colour correction — customers write regularly that the stone looked better in person than online, and that is the direction we want the error to run.

That said, two honest caveats. Screens differ, sometimes considerably. And moldavite genuinely changes with the light: the same stone reads olive under a lamp, bottle green in daylight and almost black against a dark background. If exact shade matters to you, ask for a video before ordering. I send them gladly.

For loose stones, the dimensions given are the stone itself.

For jewellery, I list the stone and the finished piece separately — because a bail, hook or setting adds several millimetres, and quoting only the total makes a stone sound larger than it is. Weight is given the same way: the moldavite alone, and the complete piece where relevant.

If a listing is not clear enough, message me and I will measure it again with a ruler in the photograph. It takes two minutes and saves a return.

Moldavite is glass. That makes it beautiful and it makes it brittle — it will chip or crack if knocked hard against a surface, and it does not survive being dropped onto tile.

• Take it off before sport, swimming, sleeping and heavy work
• Clean with warm water and a soft cloth. Never use an ultrasonic cleaner — it can crack the stone along internal flow lines
• Keep silver pieces in a closed box or pouch when not worn; air is what tarnishes them
• Avoid contact with perfume, hairspray and cleaning products

Every order arrives with:

• Your Certificate of Authenticity, written and signed for that particular stone
• A gift box, ready to give as it is
• An eco-leather cord, where the piece needs one
• An organza pouch for jewellery, or a protective case for loose stones
• A greeting card — blank, or with your own message written in, if you tell me what to say
• A tracking number, sent the moment the parcel leaves

Moldavite is glass, and it travels a long way. Inside the box everything is wrapped and cushioned properly — not elegant, but it arrives intact.

Most pieces here are built from a lead-free tin alloy containing a small amount of silver. I also work in sterling silver, stainless steel, and gold- or rhodium-plated brass, depending on the design. The materials are listed in every product description.

The tin alloy is a deliberate choice, not a cheaper one. Moldavite is natural glass, and glass does not forgive heat — the temperatures used in conventional casting and soldering can craze or crack a stone that survived fifteen million years underground. Working in tin alloy lets me build the setting at a low enough temperature that the moldavite is never at risk. It is slower, it is done entirely by hand, and it is the reason I can set raw, uncut stones that a traditional workshop would have to polish down or refuse outright.

On tarnish: every metal on this list will change with wear. Silver darkens, tin alloy develops a soft patina, plated brass loses brightness at the points where it rubs. This is normal, it happens at wildly different rates depending on skin chemistry, and it is not a sign that something is wrong with the piece. Most of it comes back with a soft cloth. Perfume, hairspray, cosmetics, chlorine and sweat all speed it up, so the single most useful habit is to put jewellery on last and take it off first.

If you would prefer a metal that stays bright with no maintenance, stainless steel is available on most designs — just ask before ordering.