Meteorite jewelry uses metal and minerals that fell to Earth from space. Most of it is cut from iron meteorites, which are made of iron-nickel alloy and show a crosshatched crystal pattern when etched. Jewelers also use peridot from stony-iron meteorites and moldavite, a green glass formed when a meteorite struck the Earth.
Types of meteorites used in jewelry
Scientists sort meteorites into three broad groups. Stony meteorites are mostly silicate minerals and look like ordinary dark rock. They are the most common type to fall but are rarely used in jewelry. Iron meteorites are mostly metal. Stony-iron meteorites contain both metal and silicate minerals in roughly equal amounts.
Iron meteorites are the main jewelry material. They are dense, they take a high polish, and they reveal a geometric pattern found nowhere else in nature. Stony-irons called pallasites supply the gem-quality olivine sold as meteorite peridot.
The Widmanstatten pattern
Iron meteorites consist mainly of two iron-nickel minerals. Kamacite has less nickel. Taenite has more. In many iron meteorites these two minerals form interlocking plates arranged along the faces of an octahedron. When a cut surface is polished and etched with a weak acid, the two alloys react at different rates. The result is a crosshatched pattern of bands meeting at angles, called the Widmanstatten pattern after Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstatten, who observed it in 1808. The English mineralogist William Thomson had published the same finding a few years earlier.
This pattern forms only when the metal cools extremely slowly, on the order of tens to thousands of degrees per million years. That kind of cooling happened deep inside asteroids early in the history of the solar system. No laboratory or foundry can reproduce it in a real iron alloy, which is why the pattern is the clearest sign of a genuine iron meteorite.
Meteoriticists classify iron meteorites partly by band width:
- Octahedrites show the Widmanstatten pattern. Fine octahedrites have narrow bands, which look best in small jewelry pieces.
- Hexahedrites contain almost pure kamacite and show only fine parallel lines called Neumann lines.
- Ataxites are very rich in nickel and show no visible pattern.
Gibeon and Muonionalusta
Two fine octahedrites supply most meteorite jewelry. Both belong to the same chemical group, called IVA, and both have a tight, even pattern.
The Gibeon meteorite fell in prehistoric times over a wide area of southern Namibia. Local Nama people used its iron for tools and weapons before Europeans reported it in the 19th century. Hundreds of pieces have been recovered, some weighing hundreds of kilograms. Gibeon has a clean, silvery metal with a crisp pattern and relatively few inclusions, which makes it the classic choice for rings and watch dials.
The Muonionalusta meteorite was found in northern Sweden near the Muonio River, with the first piece discovered in 1906. It fell long before the last ice age, and glaciers moved and buried its fragments. Muonionalusta has a sharp pattern similar to Gibeon. It became a common jewelry material in the 2000s as more pieces were recovered.
Other iron meteorites also appear in jewelry. Campo del Cielo from Argentina is coarser and often contains graphite and troilite inclusions, so it is used more often as rough-surfaced pendants.
How meteorite jewelry is made
Iron meteorite is cut with saws, ground flat, polished and then etched to reveal the pattern. For rings, makers usually use a thin meteorite inlay set into a band of a stronger, rust-free metal. Titanium jewelry, zirconium, cobalt chrome, gold and platinum are common choices. The inner sleeve keeps the meteorite metal away from the skin and protects the thin inlay from bending.
Pendants, cufflinks and earrings often use a solid slice of meteorite. Watch companies have used meteorite slices as dials for decades.
Rust and care
Iron meteorites rust. They contain iron, and many also hold small amounts of chlorine minerals that react with moisture. Rust shows up as orange or brown spots, usually in the etched lines first. Makers seal the metal with a clear coating, but coatings wear over time.
To keep meteorite jewelry in good shape:
- Take it off before showering, swimming, washing dishes or exercising.
- Keep it away from chlorine pools, hot tubs and salt water.
- Wipe it dry after wear. A few drops of rubbing alcohol on a soft cloth remove moisture and skin oils.
- Store it with a desiccant packet in a dry box.
- If rust appears, a jeweler can clean it and, if needed, repolish and re-etch the surface.
Meteorite iron is softer than most jewelry metals and scratches more easily. Heavy wear can polish away the pattern, which re-etching restores. The general guide to cleaning jewelry does not apply here, because soaking in soapy water is exactly what meteorite metal should avoid.
Pallasite peridot
Pallasites are stony-iron meteorites made of olivine crystals set in a sponge of iron-nickel metal. Many scientists think they formed near the boundary between a metallic center and rocky mantle inside an early asteroid. Polished slices with light passing through the yellow-green olivine are popular with collectors.
Gem-quality olivine is peridot, and a small amount of pallasite olivine is clean enough to facet. Such stones are usually under one carat, because the olivine in pallasites is heavily fractured. Known sources include the Esquel meteorite from Argentina and the Brenham meteorite from Kansas. Labs can separate meteoritic peridot from earthly peridot by trace elements, since the meteoritic material formed in a different environment. Peridot is also an August birthstone, which gives pallasite peridot extra appeal.
Moldavite and other tektites
Moldavite is a green natural glass found mainly in southern Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is a tektite, a glass formed when a large meteorite struck the Earth and melted surface rock, throwing molten droplets into the air. Moldavite formed about 15 million years ago in the impact that created the Ries crater in Bavaria, Germany. The name comes from the Vltava River, called the Moldau in German.
That makes moldavite Earth rock melted by an impact, with no material from space in it. It has a hardness of about 5.5 to 6, a refractive index near 1.48 to 1.51, and a specific gravity around 2.3 to 2.4. Rough moldavite has a sculpted, deeply etched surface. Inside, it holds round or elongated gas bubbles and swirled streaks, plus threadlike inclusions of nearly pure silica glass called lechatelierite.
Green bottle glass and manufactured glass are sold as fake moldavite, often with molded surface textures. Real moldavite rarely has the uniform, bright green of man-made glass. The page on glass in jewelry explains how gemologists spot man-made glass, and a lab can confirm moldavite by its inclusions and properties.
Other natural glasses used in jewelry include Libyan desert glass, a pale yellow glass from the Sahara whose impact origin is widely accepted.
Telling real from fake
Etched stainless steel or laser-engraved patterns sometimes imitate meteorite. A real Widmanstatten pattern runs through the metal and has slightly uneven, three-dimensional bands at varying angles. Printed or engraved patterns look flat and repeat. Iron meteorites also contain nickel, which a lab test can confirm. For costly pieces, ask the seller for the meteorite's name and classification. Meteorites accepted by the Meteoritical Society have official names and catalog records.
Frequently asked questions
Is meteorite jewelry really from space?
Iron meteorite and pallasite jewelry is cut from meteorites that fell to Earth. Moldavite is different: it is Earth rock melted by a meteorite impact.
Can you wear a meteorite ring every day?
Yes, if it is lined with a stable metal and you keep it dry. Remove it for swimming, showering and hand washing to slow rust.
Can a meteorite ring be resized?
Usually not. Inlay rings in titanium or zirconium are very hard to resize, so most makers replace the ring instead.
Why does my meteorite ring have orange spots?
That is rust from the iron in the meteorite. A jeweler can clean it and reseal the surface.