Don’t get scammed! What is ‘Agni Manitite’?
Following on from the recent explosion in popularity of Moldavite, a new material has reared its somewhat mysterious head.
There are posts on every mineral sales group I’m a member of offering “Agni Manitite”. The sellers insist it is “just like Moldavite”, an ‘extra terrestrial stone’, or go far enough to insist that it is a tektite. It is not.
This material seems to mostly be sold by Indonesians, and then to crystal healing/new age shops, who are advertising it with all sorts of claims lies.
The names used include “agnimanitite”, “pearl of fire”, sometimes “cintamani”.
There is a type of language that often seems to be used in the posts – the language refers to everyone as being in a ‘tribe’, or a family, or as brothers, or sisters, part of the family.
So what is this material?
The correct term for it would be “Obsidian”, or if you want to be generous, a pseudo-tektite (fake tektite). These are nothing more than water rounded nodules of Obsidian. It can’t even be called rare – I found numerous Facebook posts offering hundreds of kilograms each.
The cheapest piece of this on eBay UK currently is £9. It’s 9.6 grams. I sell 100 grams packets of black Obsidian for just under £2, or rounded nodules known as ‘Apache Tears’ for 75p. The most expensive pieces of Agni Manitite on eBay can be hundreds of pounds.
A trained eye will quickly notice that this new material doesn’t have any of the characteristic shapes of tektites.
I don’t have a piece of what is being sold as “Agni Manitite”, but I did have some Apache Tear Obsidian and some Indochinite tektites handy. Here are some photos for your reference. Note that the Tektites are significantly more opaque – we’d have better results with thinner pieces, but you can see that the Obsidian is significantly more transparent and has a flatter grey-brown colour – coincidentally just like the Agni Manitites…
If you happen to have purchased one of these and wouldn’t mind me having a look, I’d appreciate it! Also, sorry I’ve ruined it for you.
If you do have any questions about Tektites, I would recommend the Facebook group ‘Tektites’.
Well anyone that knows anything beyond book knowledge knows as soon as they touch it what the value is… Only an idiot would write it off as a scam… I paid 10$ for both at a local crystal shop, i was instantly drawn to them, i had no idea what they were until i got home… But however as soon as i picked it up i knew it was obsidian… Ive never seen anything saying anything false about it… In fact everywhere ive seen it saws ots not from impact of a meteorite. . It’s created from lava being shot into the atmosphere atmosphere… To write ot off as fake or anything other than magnificent makes you look bad … Get your nose out of the books go experience things… As long as its not man made its a gemstone… Cosmic or Earthly… You shouldn’t have the voice to speak on this matter
Not even sure where to start here.
– anyone that knows anything beyond book knowledge knows as soon as they touch it what the value is:
No, they don’t. This is especially obvious as this has very limited value and is found all over Java laying in riverbeds.
– Ive never seen anything saying anything false about it… In fact everywhere ive seen it saws ots not from impact of a meteorite
Pretty much every single google, ebay, and etsy search result will tell you its a tektite. Which it isn’t.
– It’s created from lava being shot into the atmosphere atmosphere
That would be how a tektite is created; terrestrial material catapulted into the upper atmosphere and melted during reentry. However, this material is Obsidian, which is formed when lava cools rapidly and doesn’t form crystals.
– As long as its not man made its a gemstone
That’s not remotely true. A gemstone is a material which is rare and precious, typically used for jewellery. This is neither.
– Cosmic or Earthly…
No part of this is in any way cosmic. It’s terrestrial Obsidian.
– You shouldn’t have the voice to speak on this matter
Yes, the internet would be a much better place if only the people lying about this material were allowed to speak on this matter.
I bought one yesterday. I had never heard of it, which surprised me, because I am well versed on the subject of minerals and identification. It was indeed marketed as a tektite. I spotted a piece that was super cool looking, but didn’t take the time to look it up (I try to stay off my phone as much as possible). After reading this, yes, it is a crappy thing to do when you advertise a stone as something it is not, but unfortunately, you also have to be aware that people will always market certain stones as something that they are not (for example, colorfully stripped “onyx” is actually calcite).
Oh dear. I just bought one😕
If it called to you, it’s for you. Don’t feel bad or like you got scammed. The energy in it resonated with yours. Enjoy it.
There’s some controversy about the actual origin/formation of the stone but I’ve worked with that and its power is incredibile, for me even more effective than Moldavite. When I got my first piece I didnt even know it was Agni Magnitite. Give it a try, work with that, get into magic and have fun.. it has not to be always about discernment and control.
I’m writing this for the people who will read your article and will get worried about buying a piece. Just buy one since it’s so cheap and try yourself.. if you’re sensitive to crystal energy this one will blow your mind. Peace🙏
I so agree with you on this . I work with agni manitite, I have many pieces and the energy it has is incredible. call me crazy and many will , but to me the energy to me feels like the stone is alive. I bring it with me whenever I do meditation , work as a medium or card reader and it is phenomenal. people just need to work with it make it part of your work.
I agree. Agnimanitite is even more powerful than the over rated moldavite. even campo del cielo is even more powerful than moldavite.
i wonder why that green glass is over priced?
Do you not think that the Owners of moldavite would want this material getting out as it will kill there outrageous rip off price structure!!
Who else would even care about this , only the moldavite mafia
Well, I’m not Czech and I’m not selling any Moldavite. Weird that.
you didn’t get scammed it is phenomenal, if your a intuitive it is great for 3rd eye work. meditation. as you work with it you can feel it heat up and vibrate . I have 8 piece I keep them together and work with them all together. it called to you .it is meant for you to work with it.
This person who wrote the article wasn’t trying to take the wind out of your sails , he was trying to educate you , and help you be aware of how you are spending your hard earned money! If I buy a Colombian emerald , it had damn well better be from Columbia ! Same with this stone …..if it’s not a true tektite , but obsidian , I deserve to know that if I’m buying it! All over Etsy , it’s being sold as a tektite which it’s not ! If it’s obsidian , then sell it as such!😡
well someone gave my wife a piece and told her something she couldn’t remember except that it was from Indonesia and obsidian [ we lived in Bali for 20 years and I never saw one like it] I Buy and sell a lot of crystals so was curious – when she showed me I thought it did have a similar look to moldavite so I looked up Indonesian tektite and found bits that looked like what we had – on that site it was listed as
– Agni Manitite / Pearl of Fire / Agni Mani / Pseudo Tektite / Obsidian / Agni Manitite Crystal / Raw Agni Manitite / Java Stone / Agni Stone
Price:$7.70+
HMM Pseudo Tektite – so I looked to see if there was such a thing as real Indonesian Tektite – only got this far so far – ok so when it comes to “andara” which in Indonesia comes in Many colours – I get it GLASS – Manmade Glass as apposed to obsidian – so the price of that and the hype ,, I can appreciate the disdain, and I guess I also feel its equally bad to call this a tektite or even psudeo Tektite [ which to me would rais alarm bells but… 🙂 – of course in the crystal Marketing business as in, to the new age buyer, a glamorous name makes it sound more desirable – now my gemologist friend and crystal shop owner Hates it when a customer comes in and says what does this or that stone will do for them what is its healing energy – or will this attract love or abundance AND YET he sells crystals labelled Lemurian lasers. they [ as far as I know and he would agree ] don’t come from Lemuria and have only a meteforacal connection to lasers – the same is true with the name ” apache tears” which I think [ or was told ] they were given that name by native Americans and had some legend around them regarding the European abuse – what ever !!! I like Pearl of fire 🙂 and if it were labelled that with a description of how it was formed it would not bother me at all – and if the price is to high and I don’t seek a comparison and find out later that I paid to much I will write it of as a teaching expense and only blame myself – now I know what this is I rather like it more than when I firs saw it – looking like a dul moldavite greyish brown – I recon I will buy some more for my collection [ and pay the right price 🙂 however thanks for the explanation –
I’m at a loss is it fake is it to be shunned. Even if it is just Obsidian it looks amazing, for more transparent, lighter in color like a grey transparency? What’s wrong with it?
It is not what it is sold as – it’s not acceptable to sell a piece of Quartz as Topaz, afterall!
“You shouldn’t have the voice to speak on this matter.” What’s with the hostility? The article doesn’t say it’s “fake.” It says that the stone is marketed incorrectly, and that it is actually obsidian. Also, Mr. Burrows schooled you… Hats off you, sir.
I’m from UK but in Chiang Mai north Thailand right now. I just bought a piece from a trustworthy Italian guy who owns an excellent mineral shop here. I paid 900 Thai baht for a 25 g piece.
So, what happened….I was sat on a chair leisurely browsing and I picked up a small bag with 4 pieces inside. No label on bag. I held the piece I ended up buying and was blown away by the overriding fire element energy. I have been meditating for over 25 years and have studied with some of greatest Enlightened Masters in the Indian Yogic and Tibetan Buddhist tradition, so I’m quite sensitive to vibrational frequencies.
I wear a particularly special piece of Tektite and have been interested in minerals most of the 46 years of my life….so I have some reasonable experience in feeling different mineral energies and I have a collection from over the years, including various fossilized objects. This is not like anything I have ever held….it does have some of the Moldavite type energy and some tektite type frequency, but it’s amazing how it is so saturated with fire element.
The shop owner told me what it was after I had made my own perception on the stone. So I bought it and am now sitting in a restaurant doing some research.
Of course in all probability, as in usual situation, there are real and fake ones. Anyway, I have no doubt this is genuine Agni Mani but I need to meditate more to understand how it was made.
I’ve spent many many years in India and been close friends with various shop owners who have massive varieties of beautiful mineral collections for sale…..many months I’ve spent with these friends in their shops and still, with this whole mineral history I have, never have I held any type of volcanic or Tektite or anything that has such an intense fire element stored within it. I’m both surprised and very very interested in what exactly this is😊