Blaine Reed Meteorites List #76

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………LIST 76
September 1, 2009

Dear Collectors,

Here is my first offering in a bit over two months. Things have been very busy this summer, both personally and business wise. I am just now beginning to think about the too soon to be here Denver Show (notes on that below). Many of the items listed today are special things that I have had set aside for quite a long time for my collection. The simple reason for this decision to offer them is that I just replaced my old, and until recently reliable, Toyota with a newer used car. Selling a few things here (or anywhere) will make the modest note I am carrying on that newer car go away. Maybe not the smartest decision from a longer term financial view (despite the "economic crisis" meteorites seem to be doing just fine and are, if anything, going up in value once again) but it will help me rest easier.

About the Denver Show:
I will be at my usual spot - Room 224 of the Holiday Inn at the intersection of I-25 and I-70. I will be open from late morning Tuesday September 15th through late afternoon Sunday September 20th (but will be gone from home roughly September 11th through September 22nd to allow some time to visit with a couple relatives fighting very serious illnesses a bit before and after the show). I know there is word spreading that many people will be showing up and selling by Saturday the 12th. It was against the show rules to be open before Tuesday noon before. No longer. Now many dealers are trying to endlessly stretch this show out (thinking that "the early bird gets the worm" - fine if you want worms I suppose) by arriving and opening a couple days earlier than anyone else. Soon this will get stretched out into another two week plus Tucson like event. I am sorry to say that I have no intention of playing this game. I have arrived a day or two early a couple times in the past. I never gained any extra sales from it. Most (if not all) meteorite buyers hold onto their money until they get a look at all that is going to be available before spending their money. The early days I have been at this show simply cost a lot in food (including beer, of coarse) and a really inflated motel room bill and generally did not generate enough sales to come close to covering those expenses.

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Graphite nodule.
I have not had one of these in a long time. This is a complete nodule that has been lightly brushed to clearly show its shiny gray graphite color. It does have the same color as a typical brushed Diablo for the most part. I showed it one person who did not believe that it was a graphite nodule. A simple demonstration of how well and easily you can write with the thing rapidly removed his doubts.
113.3 gram individual - 65mm x 35mm x 30mm - $150

NWA (5777): (H5), W2, S1. Found before February 2008, Tkw = 581.1 grams.
I picked up a single stone of this at the Tucson show in 2008. It was another one of those that the Moroccan seller kept telling me "primitive achondrite" but was not. It really does resemble the NWA (725) stuff though. It has the same external texture (even showing a large patch of nice black crust) and a virtually identical internal texture as well (lots of metal, very porous). Of coarse, it is the research that matters. This turned out to be an H chondrite, not an Acapucoite or Winonaite. I am offering ALL the pieces I have remaining after research specimens and thin-section pieces were removed. I thought about cutting it all up (the slices would be quite nice) but decided that it would be nice to leave it as intact as possible.
a) 10.0g complete slice - 35mm x 34mm x 4mm - $10
b) 515.7g main mass - 72mm x 67mm 50mm - $350

RICHFIELD, Kansas: (LL3.7). Found 1983, Tkw = 40.8 kilograms.
I once owned all of this, now I am down to just a few small pieces (I do have a 1714g complete slice that is likely the word's largest LL3 slice in private hands, but I think I already have a home for that one - but ask if interested just in case it turns out that I am wrong on that). I just got this little beauty back from a collector who was selling part of his collection. Someone though has polished both sides of this to a polish that I have never been able to achieve with my equipment. It was obviously polished by someone that has the super fine diamond equipment used for preparing thin-sections. This is a great specimen and priced (for now) a bit lower than what I have my other remaining specimens of Richfield at on my basic catalog.
19.8 gram slice - 50mm x 35mm x 3mm - $175

DHOFAR (1286), Oman: (Polymict eucrite). Found December 2005, Tkw = 898 grams.
I got a few bits of this in a trade some time ago. I set it aside as it was labeled NWA (1286), polymict eucrite (this, by the way, means that it has fragments of eucrite material from several different original rock sources that got mixed together rather than just one that got smashed up and re-solidified) . As no such thing turned up in the official listings, I was at a loss as to what to do with this stuff. A call to the person I got this from quickly fixed the problem. They informed me that it was Dhofar (1286) and not NWA material. Yep, this one is listed. This is mostly a medium gray with some lighter fragments mixed in (looking very much like a howardite, but it lacks diogenite material or hypersthene) .
a) 3.1 gram cut fragment - 25mm x 9mm x 8mm - $37
b) 11.4 gram cut fragment - 30mm x 20mm x 10mm - $130

MILLBILLILLIE, Australia: (Eucrite). Fell October 1960. Tkw = 150+ kilograms.
Now this is not your average Millbillillie. It is a complete individual that shows thick shiny black crust with lots of thick flow lines (there is a small natural chipped area from its fall - about 4mm by 20mm perhaps - on the bottom). There is some of the usual adhering orange dirt (mostly on the bottom again), but very thin and very little compared with most Millbillillie specimens. I have this set aside for probably 20 years or so. I got it back when Millbillillie first came out in quantity. This is a superior piece and I have priced it only a bit higher than what I have sold more typical Millbillillie specimens for (per gram wise) recently.
109.3 gram individual - 60mm x 38mm x 35mm - $1200

ZAGAMI, Nigeria: (Shergottite) . Fell October 3, 1962. Tkw = 18.1 kilograms.
This is just a nice basic rectangular shaped slice (with only one cut edge). It is thick enough that it could be cut into a couple (perhaps more if you have a wire saw) thinner slices. This is all the finer grained material (some pieces of Zagami were quite coarse grained) and only has a few small shock veins at one edge. Just a nice basic sample of a witnessed fall Mars rock (and my last substantial piece).
6.9 gram slice - 27mm x 19mm x 4mm - $3500

MOLDAVITE:
Here is something really special. At least I have never seen anything like it. This is a nicely sculpted large flat-ish individual. When I got this I noticed that it had a fairly long (about 17mm) crack that went all the way through the thicker portion of the specimen. I originally thought that this was a recent or water erroded break. WRONG! Careful inspection reveals that this is actually a break that occurred just as the specimen was really solidifying. Looking with a lens, you can see many fine needles of glass that connect both sides of the crack. These are stretched glass fibers that formed because the interior of this specimen was not quite solidified yet when this crack was formed. Really neat and really rare (?) and admittedly priced as such.
13.1gram individual - 38mm x 33mm x 8mm - $300