Wednesday 4 March 2015

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 169 - after Tucson part 2

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 169 - after Tucson part 2

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………….LIST 169

March 3, 2015

Dear Collectors,

Here is the second “after Tucson” list. This may be my only offering this month as I will likely be out of town when the next one should go out

BILANGA, Burkina Faso: (Diogenite). Fell October 27, 1999. Tkw = 25+ kilograms.
This is simply an “add the name to your collection cheaply” type specimen. It consists of a few fragments/ crumbs (around 4mm x 3mm) of this meteorite in a capsule in a labeled plastic box.
Crumbs in a capsule - $5

GAO, Burkina Faso: (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
Here is a nice end piece that comes with two labels. One is the original Robert Haag paper label (the previous owner bought the specimen from him in 1996) and the other is a metal, stands up on its own “GAO-GUENIE” label (I won’t take the time to go into what I believe concerning that “name” right now). Anyway, it is a nice piece. The interior is lighter than most (and shows lots of metal) and back has quite a bit of obvious fusion crust (2/3 or so).
32.4 gram end piece – 42mm x 30mm x 15mm - $80

IMPACT BRECCIA: Ries Crater, Germany.
Here are two similar sized pieces of this interesting material. It is mostly a light gray rock but contains fragments of many different materials. One of the more interesting fragment inclusions are the frothy black glass pieces. These come with their original Bethany Sciences “Certificate of Authenticity”.
22.8 grams – two pieces - $40  -SOLD

MOLDAVITE, Czeck Republic.
This is an interesting shaped piece. It is oblong in general but has a knob hanging off of one end (making it the perfect pendant shape). Overall this is what I’d call a medium grade. It is not chipped and shows nice surface features, though they are not real deep (like the high end Besednice pieces). Not sure where the previous owner got this one. It may have been from me (as many of his pieces were). The card is the one I use, but then that is one that I “stole’ (with permission) from Robert Haag many years ago.
6.1 gram complete individual – 35mm x 22mm x 7mm - $35 -SOLD

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
Here is the “mate” to the 4kg complete crusted individual I offered earlier. In fact, it was consigned by the same person. This sits nicely on its own and shows a strong, bright etch (something I have never seemed to master brining out in my etching attempts). The back- side is fully and deeply thumb-printed to the point of showing some interesting shape features, though the crust clearly has been fairly heavily cleaned (but then who wants to cut up a pristine crusted individual?).
2265.1 gram end piece – 135mm x 95mm x 50mm - $4500

SLATON (b), Texas: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Found 1940’s. Tkw = 6 kilograms.
Here is an item that I am offering before sending it back home to its owner in Texas. This interesting meteorite has a bit of a controversy attached to it. Though it has been heavily studied and is fully accepted in the Meteoritical Bulletin (Link here, I hope: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Slaton+%28b%29&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=58497 )
there are some that believe that this is really a miss-placed Campo. The photo I have seen of it as a whole piece don’t argue against this (looks oddly orange and rust scaled – like an old salt bog Campo might look after years in a humid environment). However, the interior certainly looks completely different than any cut and etched Campos I have see. The etch on this has a strange taffy pulled look to it, something I don’t recall ever seeing on an etched Campo. In fact, the etch looks more like an etched piece of Sikhote-Alin shrapnel than a Campo. It seems that this particular meteorite has been in a serious collision at some point. As I don’t think there is a crater associated with this find (at least none is known) so I’d guess it happened in space. Also, this slice shows some silicate inclusions. One is fairly large (around 17mm x 9mm). It shows obvious orangish brown silicate minerals with no real graphite or troilite surrounding it. Both are features I don’t recall seeing in Campo (Campo generally has dark geenish black silicates that are usually surrounded by things like troilite and graphite). Anyway, an interesting (but certainly NOT cheap) “new” discovery.
89 gram complete slice – 150mm x 10mm x 3mm - $2500 -SOLD

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: (Diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931.
This is strange stuff. It blew apart low in the atmosphere leaving mostly small waxy green fragments. Most believe that these pieces have no fusion crust. Careful inspection reveals that some do have very small (1mm or so) patches of black crust hiding on them. This piece is among those. This has a lot of smooth ablated looking surfaces but only a few tiny black patches of actual fusion crust. This is a piece the previous owner bought form me many years ago.
2.7 gram fragment with some tiny fusion crust patches – 15mm x 10mm x 9mm - $35 -SOLD