Impact Glass; The Egyptian Sahara Desert

Libyan Desert Glass (or Great Sand Sea Glass) is the result of terrestrial sand having melted into glass following what was an enormously energetic asteroid or comet impact at the border region of what is today Libya and Egypt approximately 29 million years ago. To melt sand, temperatures of more than 1600° C (2900° F) are required; the hottest substance at the Earth’s surface, very few volcanic lavas come close to that temperature, and no such lavas are known in Northern Africa. Similar glass forms are named after the locality in which they are found, hence Australites, Indochinites, Philippinites, Moldavites, etc. The higher the silica content of such impact glass, the lighter the color, and so Libyan Desert Glass — derived from sand and containing 98% silica — is sunny yellow while moldavites from the Moldau River Region of the Czech Republic with 80% silica cover a range of green hues. Libyan Desert Glass was used to make tools during the Late Pleistocene epoch and was displayed as jewelry, especially scarabs, in the Pharaonic Period. Samples of Libyan Desert Glass were found in King Tut’s tomb including a treasure chest containing an elaborate breastplate of gold, silver and other precious gems — with a central scarab carved from a canary-yellow Libyan Desert glass.

This variegated smoky yellow specimen has ribbons of different hues coursing through the mass. One end is tapered and exceedingly translucent. This is a naturally sandblasted glass form created by an asteroid having impacted the Sahara Desert; an artifact of a cataclysmic event frozen in glass.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue.

73 x 65 x 67mm (3 x 2.5 x 2.66 in.) and 279.7 grams (0.6 lbs)