Bediasites!!!

The North American tektites (Bediasites and Georgiaites) are by far the oldest well-preserved tektites known in the world. They were produced by a 34 million year impact in Chesapeake Bay. After a flight of some 1300 miles, the Bediasites came to rest in Eocene sediments. Along the outcrop trend of this host formation, the tektites have been slowly released by erosion. As a result of this two-cycle history, most specimens are quite abraded. Others are deeply grooved and furrowed like Rizalites or deeply etched like Moldavites. But above all, they are rare!

Finding them is not a simple matter of wandering about on hundreds of thousands of square miles of prospective surface area (as is the case, for example, with Australites). With Bediasites, the original ground surface upon which the tektites were sparsely and unevenly scattered, was deeply buried, lithified, then tipped on edge and exposed by erosion. Much of the erosionally-derived material was washed away or buried under younger sediments. In a narrow central Texas belt, a few tektites have beaten the odds and both reached the present ground surface and remained there to be discovered.

Most of our inventory was collected over a lifetime by a Texas roads department worker, who spent much of his career in the prime Bediasite hunting grounds in and around Grimes County. He kept a sharp eye on the gravels being excavated and spread during road construction, and assembled a fine collection from this effort. The Tektite Source is proud to be able to offer such a fine selection of these extremely rare specimens.


All of the fuzzy small images in the following table are linked to larger versions. Click on the thumbnail to view the larger image in a new window, then close that window to return to this page.

The table is arranged by gram weight, from largest to smallest, not by quality. You'll find great specimens and study-grade specimens intermixed throughout the size range. Base pricing is at $4/gm, adjusted upwards or downwards based on quality and special characteristics. You can work out my general appraisal of a specimen by calculating the $/gm reflected in the asking price. $4/gm reflects "average" character. Prices under $4/gm suggest terrestrial damage or other negative attributes. Prices over $4/gm indicate exceptional quality or character.

(1/14/2006: New images of unusually translucent bediasites added at bottom of page---)

49.4 gms. A lunker! Segment of large sphere with excellent "v" grooves. This is the biggest one we have.The underside consists of smooth, curved primordial breaks with minor pitting. The curved upper surface is the primary exterior and has deep "V" grooves. A fine Bediasite! $225Sold
36.0 gms. Monnig collection.  Superb large specimen! Frontal surface (pictured) has nice radial grooving. The back side is in the form of a tetragonal pyramid. Very cool specimen. Probably a thermal ablation core. Flawless. $185 Sold
29.8 gms   Flattish base, hemispherical top. Trace flow banding visible. Moderately abraded. $140Sold
28.8 gms  Highly similar to above. Looks like it may have started life as a spheroid that split in half. $135 
 26.7 gms Great breadcrust ornamentation on one end, similar to Bikolites! In cases where original surface ornamentation is preserved, Bediasites often strongly resemble Rizalites or bikolites. This is a good example. $187 Sold
24.9 gms. Fabulous "v" grooves all over! This is a very special stone. Has a walnut-like appearance. Oblate spheroid. Would be much more highly priced except for a brownish frosted character to the uplands (resulting from tiny impact fractures) $180  Sold
17.2 gms. Deep, "v" grooves all over. Exceptional AAA piece!  Sorry; Sold to a new museum collection---- 
 16.5 gms. A killer! Very well-preserved skin ornamentation.  This is a great Bediasite. Convex-concave ear-shape. All surfaces show primary ornamentation. $150Sold
 15.3 gms. Sub-spherical egg-shape. Rounded by erosional abrasion. Characteristics that betray the fact that all Bediasites have been eroded from a stony matrix. This one has no primary skin remnants. $30 Sold
 14.3 gms. Similar to above, but has remnants of one deep "v" groove.  $35 Sold
 14.3 gms. Fine specimen. All-over primary skin. This is a good one. Nicely preserved skin, but not so deeply or delicately ornamented as the specimen below. $75 Sold
 14.2 gms. Amazing! One of our very best specimens! This date-shaped beauty has deep, delicate skin detail very reminiscent of a fine moldavite! A museum piece.

$175 Sold
 13.5 gms. Nearly spherical with some remnant grooving. Most of the highlands on this specimen have been erosionally abraded, but remnants of the deepest parts of the primary ornamentation are preserved. $70 
 13.3 gms. Similarities to boat-shaped Australites! Oval plan view, flat base, sides angling inwards to a rounded top. Internal flow-banding visible, but no primary skin. Overall abrasion. $45  Sold
 12.9 gms. Hemisphere with good ornamentation. Nice specimen. Flat, pitted base, hemispheric top, all with good primary features including some nice deep, sharp "v" grooves. There is one small terrestrial chip, but it is ancient and matte-finished. $ Sold 
 11.8 gms  sold
 11.5 gms. Erosionally rounded with trace remnants of deepest grooves. $20 
11.0 gms , erosionall rounded with moderate remnants of deepest ornamentation.  $25
10.5 gms . Interesting form, very good skin. Here's a nice one. It is conical with flat ends. The skin is in excellent shape and well featured with pits and grooves. $50 sold
 10.2 gms. Excellent condition. A great specimen. All surfaces are primary, nice and glossy, with delicate sharp features. You'll like this one! $65 sold
 9.9 gms. Erosionally-rounded with some interesting remnant features.  This shows some sharp, penetrative planar features, probably strong flow bands. Decent remnants of deepest grooves and pits. $25Sold
 9.8 gms. High degree of erosional smoothing and rounding.  Pleasing little stone, but no primary surfaces remain. Such specimens still have educational value though, because no other tektites require erosional liberation from solid rock. $20
 9.5 gms. Another great one. Very irregular form and heavily pitted. This is a beauty, not only because of its irregular geometry, but also because the ornamentation consists of hemispheric pits rather than the grooves more typical of Bediasites. Nice glossy skin. One tiny chip on the underside of the sharpest point. $55 sold
 9.4 gms. Exceptional! Lenticular form with excellent all-over "v" grooves. A great Bediasite! $50 sold
 9.4 gms. Strong erosional rounding and smoothing.  Mostly abraded, but shows some remnants of deepest grooves. $18 sold
 9.0 gms. Good overall ornamentation  Highest parts are erosionally smoothed, but retains lots of good pitting and grooving. $50sold
 8.8 gms Great specimen like a little Rizalite. Similar to preceeding stone, but even better ornamentation. In form, it is a slightly flattened sphere. $55sold
 8.8 gms. Mostly abraded, but retains a couple of interesting arcuate grooves. The remnant grooves on this are interesting, resembling fingernail prints in soft clay. $20 sold
 8.5 gms. Another good one. This one is shaped like a rectangular block, and is in excellent condition with good pits a grooves. $40 Sold
 8.1 gms. And another, even better.  A fine example, with a combination of pits and "v" grooves covering all surfaces. $53sold
 7.8 gms. Odd gloss; puzzling---  About half the surface area is bounded by very smooth conchoidal fracture surfaces, but they are not fresh and glassy, nor are they matte. Rather, they are polished and lack sharp edges. Within the conchoids are some small patches of ornamented skin. I'm not sure what this one is all about. $25Sold
 7.7 gms. Interesting morphology. This example is abraded, but not rounded. Surfaces are frosted, but underlying ornamentation is still there---more like sand-blasting than tumbling. Has  a tiny 1mm X 1mm glassy chip. $20 Sold
 7.7 gms. Nice little specimen in good shape. Original skin features well preserved, and consist mostly of pits. There are a couple of small grooves, and hints of flow-banding. No abrasion.$35Sold
 7.6 gms. Abraded surface, but still subangular and quite glossy.  A decent low-cost Bediasite. $20
 7.5 gms Very similar to above, but somewhat more preserved ornamentation. $25 Sold
 7.1 gms. Another odd, glossy one like 7.8 above. This example is even more cryptic than 7.8. It has a kind of fire-polished look, with islands of original skin and glossy patches with delicate concentric rings. I'm at a loss. $45 
 7.0 gms. Anomalously pale with translucent edges! Most of our Bediasites are deep black with very little translucency except on the thinnest edges. This one is more like a dark Georgiaite!!! Nicely pitted and grooved with very little abrasion. When I first noticed this one, I wondered if it might be an Amerikanite (i.e., obsidian), but it has a definite Georgiaite green-brown tint that I have never seen in terrestrial obsidian.  Sold
 6.9 gms. Abraded but not rounded. Frosted and semi-matte finish on all surfaces, but still subangular in form. No primary ornamentation. One small terrestrial chip. $15  Sold
 6.5 gms. Another exceptionally translucent specimen Kind of a beater, all abraded. But it is sufficiently thin to reveal Bediasite coloration well with backlighting. $15
 6.5 gms. Oddity.  This is a thoroughly abraded pellet with a terrestrially chpped end, but it is redeemed by an unusual flow band or fusion joint with something of a Yin-Yang spiral form as though the whole specimen was folded over and given a half twist. $18Sold
 6.5 gms. Nice small specimen Though not deeply ornamented, this one is in good shape and nicely featured overall. $25 
 6.4 gms. Average  A decent piece witha couple of matte-finish conchoidal surfaces. Otherwise nice skin. $20
 6.1 gms. Moderately abraded, but retains some decent pits and grooves All surfaces are erosionally smoothed except for the deeper grooves and pits of the original ornamentation. $25 Sold
6.1 gms. Great flow-banding. Delicate skin features are well preserved on all surfaces. $27Sold
 5.9 gms. Exceptionally nice pitting. This is a very classy piece. No abrasion. Small beaded hemispheric pits merge into tiny "u" grooves. A beauty! $45 sold
 5.9 gms. Glossy surface with bold "u" grooves.  Interesting overall geometric form and prominent grooves make this a good one. $25 Sold
 5.8 gms. A half patty! Great translucence. Gorgeous translucence and a form more common in Georgiaites than in Bediasites make this a special specimen. The primordially broken edge shows very interesting concentric banding. $40 Sold
 5.8 gms. Angular piece with one deep, classic "U" groove. Most of the surfaces on this specimen are ancient conchoidal break surfaces, now with a semi-gloss matte finish. The one deep meandring "U" groove makes this a nice little specimen to compare with your Rizalites. $20 Sold
5.8 gms. A sweety! This flattened spheroid form seems to be the most common them amongst Bediasites. This morphology combined with nice grooves and pits make this a winner. $30 sold
 5.7 gms. A half lens  Nice glossy skin with subtle tiny pits. $20
5.6 gms. Average   A thoroughly typical Bediasite. $20sold
 5.6 gms. Nice flow banding.  Very irregular piece with good skin character. $25
 5.3 gms. dull matte finish Fairly non-descript little specimen--the sort of thing I would recommend for destructive analytical work. $13 
 5.1 gms. Glossier and more featured than above Just a nice little Bediasite pebble. Trace flow banding and pitting. $15 sold
 5.1 gms. Fragment of a fairly large spheroid. One curved original exterior surface has about half of a donut ring "u" groove. I have seen such circular grooves on both Bediasites and Bikolites. I also have one large Australite core that shows them. Puzzling little features! $25 sold
5.1 gms. Lots of textural detail. Irregular piece covered with fine, tiny "V" grooves, flow band lineations and pits. A nice little specimen. $30 sold
 4.9 gms. hints of concentric banding A nearly spherical pebble with several flatter facets. The latter show delicate concentric ridges. $20 
 4.9 gms. Irregular form  Overall good skin condition with trace flow banding. $22
 4.8 gms. Not abraded Another nice round ball with good skin preservation. $20 Sold
 4.7 gms. Abraded pebble with one remnant U groove  

frosted matte surface. Pretty plain. $10sold
 3.9 gms. Some decent skin features  A little pebble, but really quite a typical Bediasite in overall character. $18
3.4 gms . Thick lens Good skin preservation, but no strong ornamentation. $15 Sold
 6/9/03  Lots of new stock to post  Close this page to return to Tektite Source home page.


TRANSLUCENT BEDIASITES!

A client recently requested images of particularly translucent Bediasites. Since I did the work to prep the images, I thought I'd post them here. All of the first lot sold, so I've gone through our Bediasite stock and found some more.

In the table below, the images show bediasites "candled" with a true white LED flashlight. It's tough to get consistent exposure and focus on these, so please note that I see very little real variation in trasnmitted light color. They are all a greenish molasses color, some more saturated, some less, but the hue is about the same. The brightness of the image partly reflects variations in absolute translucency, but also is related to specimen thickness. The big ones look darker than the small ones mostly due to thickness. I suspect that these pieces would be prime candidates for faceting.

The same specimens are shown all together in the reflected natural light image below the table so you can get a better idea of relative size and outward appearance. Note that the translucency is generally not visible in reflected light. You will only see it with fairly strong backlighting.

The thumbnails below are not "clickable" as the photo quality is pretty crummy and I wouldn't want you to see bigger versions! Sorry. The table is arranged by weight, from biggest to smallest.

1

15.5 gms, $80, For one this thick to show translucency, it's probably remarkable clear glass.Sold

2

11.3 gms, $50 Sold

3

9.2 gms, $45

4

8.8 gms, $45Sold

5

8.0 gms, $40

6

7.2 gms, $35, a few little frosted dings

7

6.9 gms, $37Sold

8

6.6 gms, $32

9

6.2 gms, $31

10

6.0 gms, $35, nice ornamentationsold

11

5.9 gms, $30Sold

12

5.7 gms, $34, exceptionally translucentsold

13

5.6 gms, $30

14

4.9 gms, $40, Really nice specimen: exceptionally translucent, cool elongate jelly-bean form. Quite an unusual Bediasite.Sold

15

4.6 gms, $26

16

4.5 gms, $28, exceptionally translucentsold

17

4.4 gms, $26Sold

18

4.3 gms, $25

19

4.2 gms, $26

20

4.2 gms, $40, Probably the most translucent specimen of the lot. Interesting skin ornamentation as well.sold

21

4.0 gms, $25, good ornamentation

22

3.8 gms, $25, Nice hemispheric bubble pit.sold

23

3.8 gms, $21

24

3.8 gms, $20

25

3.5 gms, $19 (some glassy chips)sold

26

3.5 gms, $22sold

27

3.5 gms, $19, some tiny glassy dings

28

3.3 gms, $25, exceptionally translucent, good skin features Note that from here on down, the pieces are mostly sufficiently thin to transmit light very well sold

29

3.3 gms, $19, one glassy chipSold

30

3.2 gms, $25, central bubble pit like avocado wedgesold

31

3.1 gms, $18

32

2.7 gms, $15

33

2.6 gms, $15sold

34

2.5 gms, $15

35

2.4 gms, $14

36

2.4 gms, $14sold

37

2.3 gms, $15, exceptionally translucent

38

2.3 gms, $20, exceptionally translucent with excellent skin ornamentation. Great little Bediasitesold

39

2.3 gms, $10, big glassy chip

40

2.3 gms, $13sold

41

2.2 gms, $14, delicately swirled flow bandsSold

42

2.1 gms $13

43

1.9 gms, $12sold

44

1.9 gms, $15, Neat cylindrical piece.sold

45

1.8 gms, $10

46

1.8 gms, $10sold

47

1.8 gms $10

48

1.7 gms, $10Sold

49

1.7 gms, $10, flow bands apparentsold

50

1.6 gms, $9, nice skin pitssold

Here are the same specimens seen in the table above, but here they are shown in reflected light with a scale bar so you can get an idea of relative sizes and surface characteristics. See table above for availability status.





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Sorry, ALL of the following translucent pieces are sold. I'm just leaving this image up so you can see more examples of backlit translucent Bediasites.

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