Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
(970) 874-1487
……………………………………………..LIST 75
June 23, 2009
Dear Collectors,
Here is my first e-mail offering in quite some time (I know, it is a week late). Things have been relatively busy here, both with meteorites and plenty of other things (some pleasant like friends visiting, some not like repairing transmissions) . Any way, I pulled a few interesting, mostly larger items unfortunately (my apologies to those of us on a tight budget), to offer to let you all know that I am still out here, raise a little money (partly for above mentioned transmission work) and make a few small openings on the shelves and in boxes in my office.
GIBEON, Namibia: Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
Here is a nice little paperweight I prepared for a customer who decided that they really did not need it after I did the sanding and etching work on it. It is a nice natural golf-ball or so sized individual with some nice soft thumb printing. The customer wanted an end piece of Gibeon (which I did not have). This piece had a nice flat face (40mm x 30mm) that I sanded and etched. Not really an end piece, but a nice little display specimen none the less.
244.7 gram natural individual with 40mm x 30mm etched face - $220
GLORIETTA MOUNTAIN, New Mexico: (Pallasite).
I know, I just had these on my last offering. BUT, I quite rapidly sold out of all of those pieces. I had planned on simply giving a quick "I have more now" note here but then decided it better to take a little space and actually list the sizes I now have once more. These, as before, are all iron (no olivine). They have a fantastic vibrant etch (one of the best of any meteorites I have seen). These are thin, etched on both sides and all have at least one natural edge (and most have much more). I have been told that this is likely the end of this material for me, so get some now if you want a piece, it may not be available in the near future.
1) Slices, etched on both sides:
a) 10.3 grams - 50mm x 20mm x 1.5mm - $40
b) 21.6 grams - 45mm x 27mm x 2.5mm - $85
c) 41.2 grams - 56mm x 43mm x 2mm - $160
d) 62.1 grams - 64mm x 45mm x 3mm - $235
e) 123.1 grams - 82mm x 65mm x 2.5mm - $450
ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Fell February 8, 1969. Huss numbered.
This is a super fresh (likely picked up within a day or two of the fall) end piece. It has pristine black crust covering most (probably about 95%) of the backside. The cut face shows lots of CAIs, including a group that is about a centimeter across. What I had not noticed when I put this beautiful specimen aside long ago (probably 15 years or so) is that it has a Huss number (H103.79) painted on it (sorry, I could not find the associated card. I probably never had it, but I will send it to the buyer of this piece if it does turn up).
105.8 gram Huss numbered end piece - 56mm x 52mm x 16mm - $950
NWA Unclassified: Likely (L6).
I picked up this interesting specimen this February in Tucson. It showed raised black shock lines on a wind polished end (they are more resistant to erosion than the surrounding material). There were a couple obvious pieces that had broken off of the specimen at some time (long ago) that also were clearly fractured along internal shock lines. The remainder of the exterior shows some thumb printed fusion crust and lots of late atmospheric break "slickenside" surfaces (that have also developed small- scale thumb printing). In all, this rock appeared to likely contain tons of shock veins. I cut one nice end off (to give a 130mm x 75mm cut face). The interior was not quite what I had hoped for. There are a good number of obvious shock veins crossing the cut faces, but not the many dozens I had hoped for. An interesting (and affordable) specimen with plenty to show (particularly shock lines and how they effect meteorite break up) none the less.
1837 gram individual with end piece cut off (included ) - 140mm x 105mm x 75mm - $350
HUCKITTA, Australia: (Pallasite). Found 1924.
This is a fairly large chunk of the usual oxidized material. BUT, this is a really solid piece (most were highly fractured and broke apart easily). I did cut a small end (about 30mm x 22mm) off to show the interior (the usual dark angular olivine crystals in the metallic blue-gray magnetite/ hematite matrix). This piece could easily be cut down into lots of slices but is also quite nice the way it is.
506.7 gram fragment with 30mm x 22mm window - 80mm x 70mm x 40mm - $625
VACA MUERTA, Chile: (Mesosiderite) . Found 1861.
This is a LARGE end piece that I had in my display collection for probably 20 years now. I got it from the original source all those years ago and paid a pretty good premium for it due to its size and quality. It is not loaded with metal, but it does have a lot more than most Vaca specimens (including one roughly 1cm sized chunk in the middle of the polished face). It also shows a couple large eucritic inclusions. One (23mm x 13mm) is on the cut face and another (22mm x 15mm) is a round nodule hanging out of the side of the back.
1625.3 gram end piece - 110mm x 85mm x 85mm - $2500
CHINESE TEKTITES: A few select special/ interesting pieces.
1) 43.3g Dumb-bell.
This is not horribly special, just interesting in that it shows a high degree of water wear (smooth except a few shallow pits). With its fairly narrow neck (around 12mm diameter or less) between the two ends, I find it fairly surprising that it did not break while obviously being harshly beat around in a river for many years.
43.3 gram individual - 75mm x 23mm x 23mm - $15
2) 70.4 gram tear drop.
This is an excellent and interesting specimen. It has a very distinct tear drop shape with a thin neck and a large bulbous base. The neck also has a natural cooling (twisting, stretching?) crack that nearly severed the specimen as well.
70.4 gram individual - 75mm x 35mm x 30mm - $35
3) 60.5 gram HOLLOW individual:
This is the really special one. I had read about these awhile ago, but only recently was able to acquire one (actually two - I am hanging on to one for myself). These basically look like a regular rounded tektite, but they are very light for their size. They are basically hollow spheres that supposedly have the ancient high altitude atmosphere still trapped inside them (making them interesting to scientists, but they have to be cut or drilled open for analysis work on these gasses). I did some density work on this one and have determined that it contains a roughly 10 cubic centimeter hole inside. I am including a slightly smaller in volume similar shaped tektite individual that weighs almost 75 grams. Comparing this with the larger but lighter hollow specimen makes the difference very apparent.
60.5 gram individual - 45mm x 45mm x 25mm - $250
FULGURITES: Lightning fused rock from near Ouray, Colorado. Found June 30, 2000.
These are the largest fulgurite specimens I have ever had (I do have access to a huge beer-flat sized piece as well). They were found high on a mountainside near Ouray (about 60 miles south of me) at around 12,800 feet - so they may be some of the highest recovered as well. These are generally roughly tubular with some hints of branching but they re so large that this gets lost on some specimens. These are mostly gray to pinkish in color (due to the rhyolitic volcanic rocks that were fused to form these), but some show various colors (green, brown, bluish) glass among the bubbles and fused cobbles. Really neat pieces!
a) 276 grams - 120mm x 65mm x 50mm - $100 - nice tube with branch stub.
b) 337 grams - 115mm x 90mm x 40mm - $120 - many large attached rocks.
c) 448 grams - 150mm x 90mm x 55mm - $155 - nice branching tube with lots of cobbles.
d) 469 grams - 120mm x 95mm x 60mm - $165 - flattened tube. Shows swirled glass of many colors.
e) 510 grams - 130mm x 95mm x 80mm - $175 - large scale bubbly glass of many colors.
f) 765 grams - 120mm x 120mm x 80mm - $265 - the best of all!
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
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