The Head Of An Angel (Julius Kronberg, 1898)

🇨🇿 💫 #2 and #1 on our Top 10 Finds of 2024…

…Our individual best pieces of moldavite dug this November in Besednice, Czech Republic! We put these pieces at the top of this year’s rockhounding list for their unique beauty, the digging experience that went into finding them, and the adventure of exploring Český Krumlov and the surrounding area.

This is one of the few rockhounding experiences of the year that we didn’t have planned in advance; we didn’t know anything about it until we went to the Munich Gem Show in Germany. But taking the opportunity to visit Czech Republic on the fly ended up being one of our best decisions, and favorite places, on the Europe trip. This area of Czechia has a spellbinding beauty, and a sense of peace that felt different from anywhere else we visited.

Keith found the largest piece of moldavite in the last few minutes of our dig day (by now you know that this fits the pattern for my very gifted, very lucky rockhound of a husband). The moldavite twist was my personal best piece, and the delicate shape and hollow tubes running through it really set it apart from any other pieces we saw. Digging moldavite was something I’ve wanted to do for many years, so it was a real bucket-list experience! The combination of a super cool travel experience, new adventures, and exceptional moldavite from world-famous Besednice pushed these beauties to the top two spots on our 2024 list. Looking forward to the new experiences and new specimens 2025 will bring! 💫 🇨🇿

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Misha Bart,

Very good, she solved the problem...

Alexandra de Steiguer, The Sea Exhales, Star Island, 2008

‘Fragrant Olive Blossoms and Horned Owl’ (1883) - From the series ‘Birds and Flowers’ by Kono Bairei (Japanese, 1844-1895).

Woodblock print. Published by Ōkura Magobei.

Image and text information courtesy Brooklyn Museum.