Dear Collectors
I survived Tucson, though there were some difficulties. Those “difficulties” were that I managed to catch whatever bug it was going around early in the show. It seems that everyone ended up catching it at some point during the show. I just seem to have gotten hit harder than pretty much anyone else around me (I think this has to do with one of the medications for gout I am taking. Apparently, it weakens the immune system making it more likely for you to get ill and be more ill when it happens. I am dropping that med from my routine for now). It wasn’t that I was feeling all that bad, actually, I was just tired and was fighting a fair amount of “brain fog”. These things caused me to alter my usual M.O. at the show. I felt fine during the day but, as evening set in, I’d get really tired. I just couldn’t stay fully awake, with it and social. So, this year, I ended up closing up early (around 9:30 or so) compared to what I’d usually want. I hated to be anti-social this way but I just needed the extra rest. Hopefully, things will be back to normal next year (but then who knows what bug will be going around next year’s Tucson Germ and Malady exchange. There always seems to be something).
Anyway, this first “after Tucson” offering is composed of things that are consignment and fairly expensive (overall price, not when considering price/gram and/or what they are). I want to see if I can sell some of these things BEFORE sending them back to whatever home they may need to go to. I am pricing most of these a bit below what they were priced at the show. All of these are in Riker (where possible), even if the “group photo” does not show them that way.
GARNETT, Kansas: ordinary chondrite (H4). Found 1938. Tkw = 4788grams.
Here is a piece of a meteorite that I am not sure I have ever had a piece of. This probably not terribly surprising as some 3400g of this stuff is locked up in museum collections. Regardless, this piece must be a slice (complete slice) right out of the middle of the meteorite. This is a (comparatively) large complete slice weighting 276.8g (a bigger piece of this meteorite than many/ most museums have). This is a nice looking thing, actually. The interior shows some breccia texture and lots of metal in a mixed/ mottled greenish and brown matrix. This meteorite was obviously found a considerable amount of time after it fell. The exterior edges have the nice softened, rounded edges you’d expect but there is no (apparent) remaining fusion crust. The edges are weathered to a distinct orangish brown. This weathered edge is actually about 1/8”thick. This really looks nice and offsets the interior beautifully. The best part of this specimen is that it is a NININGER piece and has its original early AML label! This label supports the thought that there are probably not that many pieces of this meteorite out there (or, at least, that this was an early/ important piece of it) as it has the number 428.3 (the 3rd piece of this meteorite Dr. Nininger cataloged). This particular label also has handwritten info (in pencil). That consists of “#36” and “contains Cu” (this meteorite contained grains of native copper). This also comes with a David New label. A nice piece that is probably rarer and more important than it looks at first glance.
276.8 grams complete slice – 140mm x 100mm x 8mm - $2900
KENNA, New Mexico: Achondrite (Ureilite). Found 1972. Tkw = 10.9kg.
This will most likely be the most expensive thing I have on any of these “after Tucson” lists. This is a Huss American Meteorite Lab specimen. It has a very clear number (H159.80) painted on its back side and comes with its proper matching paper AML label. This is a one half slice. It has one cut edge. The remainder is natural/ fusion crusted edge. It is obvious, looking at the back of this specimen, that Kenna is NOT a soft meteorite to cut (as most Ureilites are not). Glenn Huss used his wire saw to cut this (he had one many years before any of the rest of us even knew about them). The deep, meandering grooves tell the story that the saw had considerable trouble cutting this. There is easily 1/8” variance in the cut surface levels. I really hate to think the time (and diamond sanding belts) Glenn had to use to polish the front side of this. Can’t recall the last time I even saw a piece of this meteorite. Not sure I have ever had one in my hands that had the AML label either.
31.7 grams part slice – 90mm x 35mm x 3mm - $7900
NOYAN-BOGDO, Mongolia: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Fell Sept. 1933.
Well, it is clear that the Catalog of Meteorite and the Meteoritical Bulletin have something wrong on this. The Tkw is listed as 250g. The piece I have here is almost 50 grams more than that. I suspect that more was found at some point (but not terribly long after the fall or reporting as this piece is very fresh). I do see pictures of other pieces that do indeed show that this is “the right stuff”. However, I did not find anyone offering any of this meteorite for sale at this time. This is a really nice complete slice (with fusion crust complete around the edge). I do realize that it IS large and beyond the budget of most collectors. As such, IF I get interest in numerous smaller pieces of this (closer to $20/g) I may end up buying this piece myself and breaking it up for those collectors (like me) that would like to have a smaller piece of this. This comes with its RA Langheinrich Meteorite Collection label.
297.4 gram complete slice – 140mm x 130mm x 6mm - $4900
OURIQUE, Portugal: Ordinary chondrite (H4), brecciated. Fell December 28, 1998. Tkw = 20kg.
Now this piece is NOT in a Riker (for obvious reasons). This is a large natural fragment. It has fusion crust (with obvious thumb-printing) covering about 1/3 of the specimen. The remainder is natural fractured surfaces that clearly show the brecciated structure of the interior of this meteorite. I suspect that this would look really good as slices (a possibility if it does not sell as it is – I wouldn’t mind a nice slice of this myself). Mike Farmer saw this in my case and commented how rare a piece this size is. He could not think of where a piece this large would have come from (he was the original distributer of this meteorite). Well, it clearly came from him, as it has its original Michael Farmer Meteorites label (with his original address that was walking distance from where I set up in Tucson these days). What little digging around I did, it looks like most of this material is being priced right at $20/g (admittedly smaller pieces) these days.
373.4 gram crusted fragment – 100mm x 60mm x 50mm - $4000
PIERCEVILLE (b), Kansas: Iron oxide. Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1952. Tkw = 104.5kg.
I have had pieces of this meteorite in the past. They were all small (10g or 20g sized fragments) and certainly did NOT have a Nininger label. Buchwald’s “Iron Meteorites” book says about half of this meteorite went to London and 22.7kg went to ASU in Tempe, AZ. This piece is a complete slice of whatever fragment it was cut from (it has no cut edges). The interior is the quasi metallic blue-gray typical of magnetite and hematite (which much of this probably is). This has a couple interesting natural holes that go completely through the slice. The edges of these have a quasi- layered look and are likely reflecting remains of the crystal structure of the original metal. Not certain, but I suspect these holes are where inclusions (graphite, troilite) weathered out. This has a fairly strong Nininger number (that was likely white but now is more cream colored) – 675.84 – painted on the edge. This comes with its original and proper AML label.
297.7 gram complete slice – 120mm x 115mm x 6mm - $1900
ZHOVTNEVYI, Ukraine: Ordinary chondrite (H6). Fell October 10, 1938. Tkw = 107kg.
Here is yet another meteorite that I don’t believe I have ever had a piece of. This is (as it should be) a very fresh slice. It does have one cut edge (along the bottom as I have it set up in the Riker. The remaining edged is mostly fully fusion crusted, except a several cm long area (upper right corner in the photo) where the stone probably chipped on impact. Not sure exactly how rare this meteorite is in collections (72kg of it is in Russia), but I suspect that there are not too many pieces floating around out there (I couldn’t find anyone offering any when I looked). I’d hate to do it, BUT if I get enough people asking for smaller pieces (closer to $20/g) I may break this piece up (I’d like to keep a piece myself) like the Noyan Bogdo above. . However, I suspect that someone out there will realize that they can make some good money doing the same (particularly those that have better access to on line retail venues than I have). This comes with its original RA Langheinrich Meteorite collection label.
310.5 gram part slice – 160mm x 100mm x 5mm - $4500
Shipping:
On these items, I'll probably have to custom quote shipping.
This is largely due to the fact that they are far bigger than something I can put into one of my usual small shipping packages (all of these but the Kenna are too big for a small Priority Flat-rate box as well). I might end up having to use Medium Flat-rate boxes for most of these. I certainly WILL look into using other "custom" (not standard size priority flat-rate) boxes. However, with the postage changes (which seem to be happening almost monthly these days) I have noticed BIG penalties (higher costs) for using "your own box". In some cases, you can still get off cheaper than the Flat-rate box big enough for the item (generally by shipping by "ground advantage" which, as far as i can tell, gets things done just as fast as 'First Class" ever did), but it is becoming ever less common.
Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
