Similar to the previous lot, now offered is the largest piece of Libyan Desert Glass known.

Libyan Desert Glass (or Great Sand Sea Glass) is the result of sand on Earth melting into glass following an enormously energetic asteroid or comet impact approximately 29 million years ago at the border region of what is today Libya and Egypt. The formation of Libyan Desert Glass and other tektites was long considered a mystery with some researchers believing they had originated on the Moon — a notion since debunked. Scientists today agree such glass formations (whose name comes from the Greek tektos, meaning “melted”) formed as a result of collisions of cosmic bodies with the Earth. The evidence supporting this conclusion is overwhelming. To melt the sand, temperatures of more than 1600° C (2900° F) are required; lava flows at the Earth’s surface are nowhere near that hot. In addition, meteorite particles have been detected in specimens of Libyan Desert Glass; also present in some samples are high-pressure phases and unusually high concentrations of iridium and osmium. As is the case with all tektites, extraordinary heat resulting from massive impacts liquified the ground. Tektites are named after the locality in which they are found, hence Australites, Indochinites, Philippinites, Moldavites, etc. The higher the silica content, the lighter the color, and so Libyan Desert Glass — derived from sand and containing 98% silica — is sunny yellow; moldavites from the Moldau River Region of the Czech Republic with 80% silica cover a range of greens (see lot 72).

Libyan Desert Glass was used to make tools during the Late Pleistocene epoch and was used as jewelry, especially scarabs in the Pharaonic Period. Samples of Libyan Desert Glass were found in King Tutankhamun’s tomb — both wrapped within his mummy as well as in the treasury vault within the tomb. Surrounded by semi-precious stones set in silver and gold, the most celebrated pectoral features a scarab carved out of Libyan Desert Glass as its central element.

The specimen now offered is hued in a variegated smoky yellow, and surprisingly translucent for a specimen this size and depth. The surface of this aesthetic form is highly textured; select areas appear to evoke a frothing of molten glass — which would not be unexpected following an asteroid impact.
Worthy of any museum collection, now offered is an artifact of a cataclysmic event frozen in glass: the single largest example of impact glass known.

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.

425 x 360 x 235mm (16.75 x 14.25 x 9.25 in.) and 26.44 kilograms (58.25 lbs)