A seller lists a strikingly green, deeply pitted stone as genuine moldavite, priced just low enough to feel like a lucky find. The color looks convincing. The surface looks unusual enough to be natural. But convincing green glass and deliberately textured imitation material can mimic those same qualities surprisingly well. That gap between how a specimen looks and what it actually is drives most buyer uncertainty. Understanding how to identify moldavite means going beyond col

The formation of moldavite occurred about 15 million years ago due to a huge meteorite impact on Central Europe, creating enough heat to melt the rocks and soil in its surroundings into droplets of liquid material. The droplets cooled down while still airborne before falling back to Earth in green pieces of natural glass that can be found in some parts of the present-day Czech Republic. This one-time occurrence is the complete history of how the moldavite was formed. What Se