Rare Material Manning Fused Glass

[Garscale]

I have had several requests for pics of artifacts made of manning fused glass so here we go.

MFG is a natural glass occurring only in a small area of East Texas. It was formed from an underground lignite coal fire that melted the minerals above it and formed a glass. The material is highly fractured and comes in small pieces so virtually any artifact made from it will be small and extremely rare.

I was fortunate to excavate an amazing site very near one of very few quarry sites for MFG. I have over 300 points made from it from paleo to birdies. The material is rare enough that we generally even save debitage of it. It comes in colors ranging from bright red to sky blue. Often the color abruptly changes in the same stone but remains slick when flaked across the color change.

 

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[Garscale]

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[sandchip]

Fascinating material. We learn something new every day. Thanks for sharing the pics and the info.

 

[Georgivs]

Awesome! Reminds me of the story about the natural nuclear reactor that formed in Africa
https://blogs.scientificamerican.co...ral-fission-reactors-in-gabon-western-africa/

 

[Older The Better]

Fascinating material. We learn something new every day. Thanks for sharing the pics and the info.

Yeah if I saw those in a collection my first instinct would be they were probably fake now I’ll know could be a rare Texas material.

 

[newnan man]

Thanks for showing us that really nice and unique material. The colors are amazing!

 

[ToddsPoint]

You could grind and polish that stuff into some dandy jewelry. Beautiful colors. I met a guy that worked at the Hanford Nuclear Site in WA state. At one time they experimented with putting used radioactive material in glass. They dug a trench and filled it with some material...not sure what. Then they put high voltage to it and melted it all together. He called it "synthetic obsidian". I still have a few pieces I got from him. Looks like dark green obsidian. Gary

 

[PetesPockets55]

Absolutely gorgeous colors. Love seeing your posts.

Any idea what mineral or element is causing the red in the sand, that was fused together?

(I'm assuming red sand was part of what formed these pieces?)

.... Beautiful colors. I met a guy that worked at the Hanford Nuclear Site in WA state. At one time they experimented with putting used radioactive material in glass. They dug a trench and filled it with some material...not sure what. Then they put high voltage to it and melted it all together. He called it "synthetic obsidian". I still have a few pieces I got from him. Looks like dark green obsidian. Gary

Any chance you could provide some images as well in this thread or another, for reference?
(thanks in advance.)

 

[Garscale]

You could grind and polish that stuff into some dandy jewelry. Beautiful colors. I met a guy that worked at the Hanford Nuclear Site in WA state. At one time they experimented with putting used radioactive material in glass. They dug a trench and filled it with some material...not sure what. Then they put high voltage to it and melted it all together. He called it "synthetic obsidian". I still have a few pieces I got from him. Looks like dark green obsidian. Gary

Some jewellers have done just that. I saved ant chunk I found in the site for many years. Two years ago Jim Hopper (FogMan) stayed a few months with me. I talked him into making points out of it for me. Ill get pics of the frame this weekend. He made some pretty points.

 

[Tony in SC]

That is some cool stuff!!

 

[Rookster]

That's what im talkin about. Very nice

 

[joshuaream]

That's like 50% of the global supply of MFG. ����

 

[old digger]

That is some very beautiful material, thanks for sharing!

 

[welsbury]

Made that Gary in next to last pic a smoker. Pretty material.

 

[Garscale]

That's like 50% of the global supply of MFG. ����

I may literally have 50%

Pretty sure I have more than 50 percent of the points made from it. I think I'm around 330.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Amazing material. Glad to see you post these for us.