TEKTITE — EXCEEDINGLY RARE, COMPLETE FLANGED-BUTTON AUSTRALITE
Western Australia

Closing the tektite section is an aerodynamic-shaped australite. While there are different varieties of australites, a complete and unblemished flanged-button, like the one offered here, is by far the rarest and most sought-after tektite in the world. There are no flanged button tektites other than australites, a type of tektite believed to originate from an impact event millions of years ago which was also responsible for indochinites. Unlike moldavites (see lot 33), whose shape is the result of the Earth’s chemistry etching the tektite over the millennia, the shape of indochinites and australites is due to the physics of molten glass changing shape as it speeds through our atmosphere. Hence, the indochinite “disks,” “teardrops” and “dumbbells” seen in the marketplace. Australites are much smaller than indochinites, the result of having traveled further and what is believed to be at a greater velocity than indochinites. The parabolic curve seen in the cross section of a flanged-button is the optimal angle at which heat is deflected from an oriented object falling through the atmosphere—the same curve used in the design of the heat shields of the first manned space capsules. The overwhelming majority of flanged button tektites are imperfect or partial—the flanges having broken upon impact or during flooding. This is a superb, notable exception. 7 x 17 x 17mm (0.25 x 0.75 x 0.75 inches) and 1.84 grams.

Estimate: $2,500 - 3,500