Impact GlassLuzon, Philippines

The origin of such silicated glass formations was long considered a mystery. Today scientists agree the phenomena, whose name comes from the Greek tektos, occurs when an asteroid impacts Earth. The extraordinary heat and pressure resulting from such a cataclysmic collision liquefies terrestrial rocks, which are then splashed into the upper atmosphere, and return to Earth as solidified glass. Tektites are named after the locality in which they are found, hence: Australites, Indochinites, Philippinites, Moldavites, Libyan Desert Glass, etc. The greater the silica content contained in the splash, the lighter the color. Bikolite is a type of Philippinite most often recovered by gold miners on Luzon, the largest and most populous island of the Philippines. In the seminal work “Philippine Tektites: Volume 1” by H.O. Beyer (1961), the local Tagalog belief is described, “It is generally believed that wherever a large tektite is found, sizeable gold nuggets will also occur. Furthermore, it is generally thought that the tektite has been responsible for the increase in size of the gold. Therefore, nearly every native miner in this district keeps a sizable tektite or two in his kitchen---usually over the fire-place---and when he brings home each day his little bag of gold dust, he puts it beside the tektite, in the fond belief that during the night the two will mate and the gold increase in size."

A tektite’s shape is aerodynamically determined and is the result of the altitude the molten material is splashed into the sky, subsequent ablation, its degree of orientation (whether it’s inverting as it cools and plunges earthward) and its speed of rotation as it penetrates the atmosphere. Now offered is a superlative sphere-like example.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalog note.