Fulgurite Specimens For Sale!

What is fulgurite?
Fulgurite is created when lightening strikes soil or sand or rock. The power and heat of the lightening strike fuses the soil into solid rock, often with a hollow glassy core. Most available Fulgurite is formed from sand and the specimens are small, fragile and rather uniform. The fulgurite fans out from the point of impact, repeatedly spliting and forming ever smaller branches, just like the roots of a tree.

What makes these fulgurite samples so unusual?
Our fulgurites are unique in that they were formed in very coarse soil (almost a fine pea-gravel consistency), and are MUCH larger than most fulgurite samples. They show lots of rock grain and whole rock inclusions (cobbles) on the outside as well as nice white, black and green glass-like formations inside. Almost all of them have exposed open bubbles.

Cut in half, they display an intriguing and beautiful interior sure to delight even the friends of the rock hound. Any one of these unusual samples would make an excellent addition to your collection or a super gift for the person who adores oddities. Found in Colorado on a bare ridge above timberline on the continental divide at about 12,000'. The orange is lichen on the outside. The parent rock is a coarse orangish or pinkish granite, the coarse soil has little organic material..

Comparison between one of our SMALLEST samples (left) and the largest sand-based fulgurites (right) in our own collection. Even in this very small sample, you can see the pale glassy interior in the exposed stub (upper left) and individual rocky grains of different colors.

Each of the following pages has a number of fulgurite specimens displayed.
Fulgurite tends to have an irregular shape, making measurements of dimensions somewhat arbitrary.
Instead, I have photographed them on a background with about a 3/4" square grid. Yellow label is 1.5 x 2" wide.
Horizontally, four pink blocks is about 3". For close-up detail of grain, see Series D photos.
Please ask if you need more information on any item.

 

Show me more!

Monsters! (several inches across) : Series A
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Sets (contiguous pieces) : Sets
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Large samples : Series B

Medium samples : Series C

Small samples : Series D

Oddities : Series ODD

Grab bag : Assorted Small samples, generally about 1" x 1/2", no photos. $3 each or 4 for $10.

Mini Grab bag : Assorted very small samples, up to 1/2" long. 4 for $1 or 25 for $5

Glasses: For Scientists interested in studying the mineral content of the fulgurite glass.
Five varied samples, average size about 1" across. 5 for $75 or all 15 for $180. See also B-5, D-12, D-13.

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