Description
There are objects in this world that carry the weight of unimaginable time. Obsidian is volcanic glass — lava that cooled so fast that atoms had no time to arrange into crystals. Mahogany obsidian from Oregon’s Glass Buttes shows concentric bands of black and mahogany-brown (iron oxide) laid down as separate lava flows mingled. Indigenous peoples made obsidian blades sharp enough to outcut surgical steel by single-molecule-edge fracturing — a technology not matched by metal until the 20th century.
This specimen originates from Glass Buttes, Lake County, Oregon, USA, 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.
