Description
What looks like stone is, on closer inspection, frozen time. Suevite is impact breccia containing glass bombs and shocked minerals — the concrete of asteroid impact craters. Nördlingen Ries, formed 14.5 million years ago by a 1.5-km asteroid, produced suevite so abundant that the medieval city of Nördlingen was built almost entirely from it. The city’s walls contain millions of microscopic diamonds formed by the impact pressure.
This specimen originates from Nördlingen Ries Crater, Bavaria, Germany, one of the world’s most significant localities for this type of material. Collectors and scientists have drawn from this region for generations, and for good reason: the combination of geological conditions here produces specimens of exceptional quality and clarity.
Every specimen is unique. Photographs approximate the visual experience, but the real thing — its weight, its luster under a raking light, the way it catches the corner of your eye — can only be experienced directly.
