List 95, mailed list posting Saturday, October 16, 2010 4:21 AM
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
..LIST 95
October 15, 2010
Dear Collectors,
Here is an electronic copy of my just mailed paper list. That should have been in the hands of every body on the mailing list by now, but I have only gotten calls from overseas and Hawaii (I send those out earlier in an attempt to have everyone everywhere get the thing at the same time). Something got goofed up this time. Probably delays and such from the holiday Monday (Columbus Day) that I had completely forgotten about. I decided to go ahead and send this out now (usually I wait until I start getting calls from a wide selection of regions) so that collectors in the main parts of the US will have a shot at some of this (I have already sold my 2 largest Gebel Kamil individuals and the smallest NWA (5782) complete slice). Many of you are on both the paper mailing list and this e-mailing one so I guess there is only a bit of "unfairness" in doing this now.
I finally pulled together this list from stuff I have had and stuff I picked up at the Denver show a couple weeks ago. I have been very busy with many things (some good some bad, unfortunately) so this is going out a bit later than I would have liked. This also means that the typical time frame that I usually see orders come in from one of these mailings will overlap with a couple out of town trips I have to make (leave a message if you do find you want to place an order during these dates, I will set aside samples for you and get back in touch with you when I get home). These are:
Denver: October 21st - 25th.: Not meteorite related, but if any of you in Denver really want me to bring some samples to look over, let me know.
Socorro, New Mexico Mineral Symposium. November 11th - 17th. This "show" I have been attending longer than any other. I think the first time I went was in 1985 (first set up and offered samples in 1986). This year the "informal tail-gating" (specimen sales) will be at the new Comfort Inn at the very North end of town (1259 Frontage Rd NW - West side of the interstate). I am supposed to be in room 119. I should be set up and open by about 5PM on Friday Nov 12th and open again about 6PM Saturday (generally open until 12 each night - this is a drink in hand, wander and look at specimens kind of thing - very relaxed and enjoyable). I will also likely be open much of Sunday as well - not putting things away until around 5PM or so that day.
GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008. Tkw = about 1600kg.
A 45meter (148ft) diameter crater was discovered on Google Earth satellite photos in 2008. Field expeditions in February of 2010 confirmed that it was indeed a meteorite impact crater. Many shrapnel type fragments of Ni-rich (close to 20% nickel!) iron meteorites were found surrounding the crater. It is currently estimated that this fall occurred less than 5000 years ago. When I first saw some of this stuff (at the Denver spring show in April) I was quite suspicious. The external texture looked VERY much like how man-made materials weather (but then an iron of fairly uniform composition in a sand-blasting type environment probably should end up looking the same). But, the slices (that are obviously cut from shrapnel type fragments), clearly show schriebersite and other meteoritic minerals (and I now have some scientific reports on the stuff - something I did not have at all then). I have both nice complete shrapnel fragments (the large ones are really neat) and some really nice super thin slices that are etched (some on one side with the other side highly polished and some etched on both sides).
1) Complete shrapnel fragments as found:
a) 52.7 grams - 45mm x 30mm x 10mm - $70
b) 92.4 grams - 55mm x 30mm x 15mm - $115
c) 211.4 grams - 58mm x 40mm x 22mm - $250
d) 339.0 grams - 65mm x 60mm x 23mm - $390
e) 595.8 grams - 105mm x 65mm x 23mm - $640 - yes, this is available. It was a replacement for the 691g piece on the mailed list.
f) 908.1 grams - 120mm x 80mm x 30mm - sold
2) Complete slices, etched:
a) 26.5 grams - 70mm x 40mm x 1.5mm - $80
b) 39.5 grams - 80mm x 60mm x 1mm - $118
c) 57.5 grams - 90mm x 60mm x 1.5mm - $170
BENSOUR, Morocco/ Algeria: (LL6). Fell February 11, 2002. Tkw = 45+kg.
This is one of those "rumor of a fall" while we are at major shows (these are surprisingly common) that later turned out to be true (actual falls during or near Tucson and Denver show dates were the subject of this year's Tucson wine glass I made). I sold the last of this I had (at $7 to $8/g) some time ago and have not seen much of this meteorite since (aside from the bag of really small fragments I had earlier this summer that is). Luckily I picked up a nice bag of fresh material. These are the usual broken fragments that show a light gray, fine textured interior (and the occasional metal or troilite grain) with large patches of fresh black crust (covering roughly 30% or more of most of these pieces). Nice, affordable, pieces of an LL fall!
1) Fragments with crust as found:
a) 1.0 grams - 9mm x 8mm x 7mm - $7
b) 2.1 grams - 12mm x 11mm x 6mm - $14
c) 3.0 grams - 22mm x 8mm x 7mm - $20
d) 5.9 grams - 18mm x 17mm x 11mm - $38
e) 12.8 grams - 25mm x 18mm x 15mm - $80
NWA (5778): (H4). Found before September 2008. Tkw = 1560 grams.
This is yet another "thought it was something better" when I got it stones. The seller thought it was an H3 and, given the large number of chondrules it showed on the cut surface it had, it looked like one to me as well. Alas, it turned out to be an H4 (the science on this one is irrefutable - equilibrated olivine = type 4 or higher). This is quite weathered (no real visible), but yet it still has a pleasing light almost pinkish brown color with lots of chondrules clearly visible (many H's get so dark when oxidized that the chondrules get hidden - Dimmitt, TX is one example).
1) Slices:
a) 11.7 grams - 47mm x 22mm x 2mm - $10
b) 22.1 grams - 60mm x 30mm x 5mm - $18
c) 44.0 grams - 72mm x 45mm x 5mm - $35 - complete slice.
d) 71.1 grams - 103mm x 44mm x 6mm - $55 - complete slice.
2) End piece:
a) 336.9 grams - 100mm x 43mm x 45mm - $235 - Main Mass!
NWA (5779): (LL5), polymict breccia: Found before October 2008. Tkw = 815 grams.
This is a stone I wish I had much more of. I asked the source for more of this but was told "there is none", darn it. This is a fantastic LL breccia that has a light tan/ brown matrix and lots of angular to rounded fragments that are generally different shades of brown and gray to some that are weird swirled mixes of both (those are impact melt clasts, most likely). These fragments are of different compositions than the host rock - making this a "polymict" breccia. This does still show metal grains and troilite in proper amount for the type stone this is, so it is not weathered to any great degree either. A real interesting stone scientifically and great visually.
1) Slices:
a) 6.9 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 5mm - $30
b) 16.0 grams - 45mm x 30mm x 4mm - $68
c) 24.6 grams - 70mm x 50mm x 3mm - $105
d) 56.3 grams - 90mm x 65mm x 4mm - $225 - complete slice.
NWA (5782): Acapulcoite/Lodranite. Found Before September 2008. Tkw = 130 grams.
This was special enough to get special treatment in its reporting. I did not know that this one was "finished" until I saw a picture of it in the most recent Meteoritical Bulletin (a picture Blake took that the bulletin miss-labeled as having an inch scale for size when it was really centimeters). This is a breccia containing fragments of both acapulcoites of various compositions (making up 45% of this stone) and lodranites (also of variuos compositions and making up 25% of this stone) with a matrix composed of fine debris of both types. This is the only such thing known in the world. It has been called the "Rosetta Stone" of the acapulcoite/lodranite parent body. It is too bad that so little was recovered (and even that was by accident in a batch of L6 stones I picked up some time ago). After I got done sending pieces of all sizes all over for research work (that is still continuing on this thing for clues about its parent body) I was left with only about 41 grams to offer to collectors.
1) Slices:
a) .13 grams - 9mm x 5mm x 1mm - $50
b) .26 grams - 12mm x 6mm x 1mm - $100
c) .52 grams - 17mm x 9mm x 1mm - $200
d) .86 grams - 17mm x 15mm x 1mm - $325
e) 1.50 grams - 24mm x 21mm x 1mm - sold.
f) 2.93 grams - 33mm x 26mm x 1mm - $1070 - complete slice.
g) 4.98 grams - 37mm x 31mm x 1mm - $1800 - complete slice.
IRIDIUM: The element
Iridium is a very important to meteorite impact research element. Iridium is one of the very rarest metals in the Earth's crust (making up less than .001 parts per million on average). In meteorites, however, it is "relatively common" - making up around .5 parts per million. Large impacts bring a large dose of this element to the Earth's surface. This is then deposited into accumulating sediments in the area (smaller impacts) to all over the globe (as in the Chicxulub impact). Thus, an increased Iridium content in a rock layer tends to indicate that a large impact may have occurred at that time. These are fine crystals (maybe mm sized) that were vapor deposited during the process of making crystals for high power lasers. I have these in a capsule in a magnifier box in various sized lots (I, as an element collector would prefer a "mole" sized lot - but that is some 192 grams!).
1) Crystals in a capsule in a magnifier box:
a) .10grams - $10
b) .25grams - $15
c) .50 grams - $25
d) 1.0 grams - $40
LIGHTED LOUPE:
This is what most of us know as a hand lens. I bought one of these a year or so ago (for $20) and have used it almost exclusively ever since. These are 20X magnification and have a fairly large lens area (about 19mm diameter) and have a couple really bright L.E.D.s built into them to light what you are looking at - $15 each.
Please include postage: a couple dollars on small U.S. orders and $10 on large items for first class (insurance is extra, if desired). On small overseas orders, $3 to $5 is generally plenty (I'll have to custom figure the rate for large items). Registration is also recommended on more valuable overseas shipments - an extra $12.00.
If you are sending a fax, simply begin transmitting when my line is answered. My fax will turn on automatically to receive (or I will start it if I answer) when you begin transmitting.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Monday, 4 October 2010
-- List #94
List 94, some "after Denver" stuff
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 8:14 AM
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax: (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………..LIST 94
September 28, 2010
Dear Collectors,
Sorry this is going out so late. I have been very busy today (lots of calls, visitors and such). I have been working on this since 11AM this morning and wanted to be done by 1 or 2PM. Here it is after 5.
Most of these are things that were sent to me for the Denver show or things I picked up while there. I had a couple more boxes of things that were sent, but did not arrive in time to make it to the show with me as well (I still have not opened them). Those should make for the next offering or three. I am also desperately trying to get a mailed offering pulled together before too long (I usually would have the bulk of an after Denver paper listing ready to go and by now, but all of the difficulties health wise this summer left me waaay behind in cutting, polishing and cataloging stuff for such an offering). We have really nice weather now, so I am trying to get that caught up as well (but it will likely be a couple weeks before I have envelopes stuffed and sent).
ODESSA, Texas: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
This is a sample I got in a bucket of mixed irons I picked up this summer from a mineral dealer in California (he got them as part of a large mineral collection he bought). This one looked like it was simply about to rust into two pieces (along an almost perfectly straight and flat surface that I originally assumed was simply along one of the internal etch structure boundaries). I had considered simply cutting the last little bit of this break and polishing and etching the resulting two pieces to make two end pieces. I am glad I didn't. On closer inspection, I realized that this "rusting crack" is really a troilite or Schiebersite inclusion that has mostly broken out of this specimen (some of this is still visible in the narrow end of the split). Very interesting and unusual, but I am pricing this at the same as a more common Odessa specimen of this size.
1270 gram brushed individual - 125mm x 70mm x 30mm - $900
TAZWELL, TN: Finest octahedrite (IIICD). Found 1853. Tkw=27.2kg
Tazwell is the only finest ocathedrite I have ever seen and this is only the second sample I have ever had of it. I had this hiding in a "do something with later" stuff and forgot about it for many years (it came too me from Tom Palmer's collection). Actually, the "do something" was to trim the slightly larger specimen down into two pieces; one for my type set micro collection (I had goofed and accidently left my last specimen in with "extra" specimens from that collection that I was willing to part with and, of coarse, it sold immediately) and this one to sell. It has been decades since I got my first piece (and a good 7 or 8 years since I got this one) and it may be as long before another specimen of this turns up again.
10.8 gram etched part slice (50% crusted edge) - 20mm x 11mm x 6mm - $300
NWA (6135), (LL3.8). Found 2008. Tkw = 3.8kg.
Matt Morgan got this stone a couple years ago and cut a few pieces off of it. I picked up this fantastic slice from him a earlier this summer (I had a customer that wanted LL3 pieces, but it turned out that he wanted larger, preferably complete pieces individuals). This is not an individual, so it didn't meet the needs, but it is a complete slice. It has a great LL3 interior (lots of chondrules) and a few interesting inclusions. One (the one that caught my eye and got me to take this piece) is a 20mm x 25mm obvious LL5 fragment!.
121.5 gram complete slice - 110mm x 65mm x 6mm - $1100
ASH CREEK, (a.k.a. "West") Texas: (L6). Fell February 15, 2009. Tkw = 11.7kg.
I remember that I was still visiting friends in Phoenix after the Tucson show when this fell. I was unloading my car back at home when the first recovered pieces started turning up. I really wanted to go and look for some of this one (it looked like enough pieces were being found that there was a real chance of not getting skunked on a hunt here - not so with the recent Wisconsin fall). Unfortunately, I had a good 3 weeks of work, bills, etc waiting to be immediately dealt with after being gone so long for the show. These are both beautiful complete, black crusted individuals (the smaller has some hint of dark brown coloration that could be very light oxide - it did rain quite a bit the days after this fell). .
a) 17.9 gram complete individual - 27mm x 20mm x 15mm - $985
b) 27.0 gram complete individual - 32mm x 25mm x 21mm - $1485
TUXTUAC, Mexico: (LL5). Fell October 16, 1975. Tkw = 29.25kg.
This is one of the usual crust free pieces. Much of this meteorite was broken apart by the locals that found it as they thought that there must gold or gems hiding inside it as the price offered for it was really high for just an "ugly rock", even if it did fall from space. Robert Haag had the bulk of this stuff years ago, but it is now fairly scarce stuff (and quite under priced for an LL fall in my opinion).
28.7 gram cut fragment - 48mm x 24mm x 20mm - $150
ALLENDE, Mexico: carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is beautiful super thin slice cut by wire saw. This is a particularly nice piece of Allende it has nice chondrules (not quite as many as the NWA 3118 below, but very nice for Allende) and has a nice 10mm x 1.5mm CAI. I had a bunch of pieces like this at the show and sold all of them rapidly (this one would have sold, but it was mistakenly mixed in with the NWA (3118) pieces that I had extras of so I did not know I had this).
32mm x 23mm thin slice in mylar box - $40
NWA (801), carbonaceous chondrite (CR2)
Here is a really nice LARGE (for this stuff) slice that I wouldn't mind keeping for myself (I am making working on a deal to get one for myself a bit later though). This is a complete slice that was cut with a wire saw, but not polished so it does show some horizontal cut marks. The owner of this did polish down a slice that they kept for their collection and decided that it was best to leave this unpolished (sanding tends to darken the material and you loose a fair amount of the chondrule structure and metal in this material). I did just discover though that he coated the back side with some kind of lacquer, and did a pretty poor job of it unfortunately (though it does really bring out the chondrules really well). This is in a riker mount box so this is the first I have seen the back side of this piece. It is too thin to risk trying to sand and re-coat so I am going to offer it as it is at a price a bit below what I had on it at the show.
35.0 gram complete slice - 135mm x 70mm x 1mm - $875
NWA (3118), carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2003. Tkw = 5895grams.
This, to me, looks the same as NWA (2086), which is on of my favorite meteorites (why oh why didn't I keep more of that 33kg lot I sold off back in 2003 and 2004?). This is loaded with chondrules. Some Allende looks like this stuff, but most is positively uninteresting compared to this material. These are more of the super thin cut wire-sawed samples I got on consignment just before leaving for the show. The small specimens are so thin that I am not going to risk trying to take them out of their mylar boxes to weigh them or try to guestimate their thickness.
a) 16mm x 11mm slice in mylar display box - $15
b) 20mm x 17mm slice in mylar box - $20
c) 28mm x 20mm slice in mylar box - $35
d) 3.0g - 65mm x 58mm slice in riker mount box - $75
LAFAYETTE, Indiana: (Nakhlite) Mars Rock. Found before 1930. Tkw = 800g.
This is the important mars rock that also was about the most perfect oriented meteorite. There is very little of this available (it was cut, but, thankfully, not completely cut up so it is still a pretty impressive display piece for showing classic orientation). This is "just" a small (about 2mm x 1mm) crumb (not many larger pieces of this are available, so most of us have to settle for a crumb if we are going to own any of this one). It comes in a neat Riker display that has a picture of the remaining oriented mass and a picture of Mars.
2mm x 1mm fragment in riker box display - $75
Wednesday, September 29, 2010 8:14 AM
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax: (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………..LIST 94
September 28, 2010
Dear Collectors,
Sorry this is going out so late. I have been very busy today (lots of calls, visitors and such). I have been working on this since 11AM this morning and wanted to be done by 1 or 2PM. Here it is after 5.
Most of these are things that were sent to me for the Denver show or things I picked up while there. I had a couple more boxes of things that were sent, but did not arrive in time to make it to the show with me as well (I still have not opened them). Those should make for the next offering or three. I am also desperately trying to get a mailed offering pulled together before too long (I usually would have the bulk of an after Denver paper listing ready to go and by now, but all of the difficulties health wise this summer left me waaay behind in cutting, polishing and cataloging stuff for such an offering). We have really nice weather now, so I am trying to get that caught up as well (but it will likely be a couple weeks before I have envelopes stuffed and sent).
ODESSA, Texas: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
This is a sample I got in a bucket of mixed irons I picked up this summer from a mineral dealer in California (he got them as part of a large mineral collection he bought). This one looked like it was simply about to rust into two pieces (along an almost perfectly straight and flat surface that I originally assumed was simply along one of the internal etch structure boundaries). I had considered simply cutting the last little bit of this break and polishing and etching the resulting two pieces to make two end pieces. I am glad I didn't. On closer inspection, I realized that this "rusting crack" is really a troilite or Schiebersite inclusion that has mostly broken out of this specimen (some of this is still visible in the narrow end of the split). Very interesting and unusual, but I am pricing this at the same as a more common Odessa specimen of this size.
1270 gram brushed individual - 125mm x 70mm x 30mm - $900
TAZWELL, TN: Finest octahedrite (IIICD). Found 1853. Tkw=27.2kg
Tazwell is the only finest ocathedrite I have ever seen and this is only the second sample I have ever had of it. I had this hiding in a "do something with later" stuff and forgot about it for many years (it came too me from Tom Palmer's collection). Actually, the "do something" was to trim the slightly larger specimen down into two pieces; one for my type set micro collection (I had goofed and accidently left my last specimen in with "extra" specimens from that collection that I was willing to part with and, of coarse, it sold immediately) and this one to sell. It has been decades since I got my first piece (and a good 7 or 8 years since I got this one) and it may be as long before another specimen of this turns up again.
10.8 gram etched part slice (50% crusted edge) - 20mm x 11mm x 6mm - $300
NWA (6135), (LL3.8). Found 2008. Tkw = 3.8kg.
Matt Morgan got this stone a couple years ago and cut a few pieces off of it. I picked up this fantastic slice from him a earlier this summer (I had a customer that wanted LL3 pieces, but it turned out that he wanted larger, preferably complete pieces individuals). This is not an individual, so it didn't meet the needs, but it is a complete slice. It has a great LL3 interior (lots of chondrules) and a few interesting inclusions. One (the one that caught my eye and got me to take this piece) is a 20mm x 25mm obvious LL5 fragment!.
121.5 gram complete slice - 110mm x 65mm x 6mm - $1100
ASH CREEK, (a.k.a. "West") Texas: (L6). Fell February 15, 2009. Tkw = 11.7kg.
I remember that I was still visiting friends in Phoenix after the Tucson show when this fell. I was unloading my car back at home when the first recovered pieces started turning up. I really wanted to go and look for some of this one (it looked like enough pieces were being found that there was a real chance of not getting skunked on a hunt here - not so with the recent Wisconsin fall). Unfortunately, I had a good 3 weeks of work, bills, etc waiting to be immediately dealt with after being gone so long for the show. These are both beautiful complete, black crusted individuals (the smaller has some hint of dark brown coloration that could be very light oxide - it did rain quite a bit the days after this fell). .
a) 17.9 gram complete individual - 27mm x 20mm x 15mm - $985
b) 27.0 gram complete individual - 32mm x 25mm x 21mm - $1485
TUXTUAC, Mexico: (LL5). Fell October 16, 1975. Tkw = 29.25kg.
This is one of the usual crust free pieces. Much of this meteorite was broken apart by the locals that found it as they thought that there must gold or gems hiding inside it as the price offered for it was really high for just an "ugly rock", even if it did fall from space. Robert Haag had the bulk of this stuff years ago, but it is now fairly scarce stuff (and quite under priced for an LL fall in my opinion).
28.7 gram cut fragment - 48mm x 24mm x 20mm - $150
ALLENDE, Mexico: carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is beautiful super thin slice cut by wire saw. This is a particularly nice piece of Allende it has nice chondrules (not quite as many as the NWA 3118 below, but very nice for Allende) and has a nice 10mm x 1.5mm CAI. I had a bunch of pieces like this at the show and sold all of them rapidly (this one would have sold, but it was mistakenly mixed in with the NWA (3118) pieces that I had extras of so I did not know I had this).
32mm x 23mm thin slice in mylar box - $40
NWA (801), carbonaceous chondrite (CR2)
Here is a really nice LARGE (for this stuff) slice that I wouldn't mind keeping for myself (I am making working on a deal to get one for myself a bit later though). This is a complete slice that was cut with a wire saw, but not polished so it does show some horizontal cut marks. The owner of this did polish down a slice that they kept for their collection and decided that it was best to leave this unpolished (sanding tends to darken the material and you loose a fair amount of the chondrule structure and metal in this material). I did just discover though that he coated the back side with some kind of lacquer, and did a pretty poor job of it unfortunately (though it does really bring out the chondrules really well). This is in a riker mount box so this is the first I have seen the back side of this piece. It is too thin to risk trying to sand and re-coat so I am going to offer it as it is at a price a bit below what I had on it at the show.
35.0 gram complete slice - 135mm x 70mm x 1mm - $875
NWA (3118), carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2003. Tkw = 5895grams.
This, to me, looks the same as NWA (2086), which is on of my favorite meteorites (why oh why didn't I keep more of that 33kg lot I sold off back in 2003 and 2004?). This is loaded with chondrules. Some Allende looks like this stuff, but most is positively uninteresting compared to this material. These are more of the super thin cut wire-sawed samples I got on consignment just before leaving for the show. The small specimens are so thin that I am not going to risk trying to take them out of their mylar boxes to weigh them or try to guestimate their thickness.
a) 16mm x 11mm slice in mylar display box - $15
b) 20mm x 17mm slice in mylar box - $20
c) 28mm x 20mm slice in mylar box - $35
d) 3.0g - 65mm x 58mm slice in riker mount box - $75
LAFAYETTE, Indiana: (Nakhlite) Mars Rock. Found before 1930. Tkw = 800g.
This is the important mars rock that also was about the most perfect oriented meteorite. There is very little of this available (it was cut, but, thankfully, not completely cut up so it is still a pretty impressive display piece for showing classic orientation). This is "just" a small (about 2mm x 1mm) crumb (not many larger pieces of this are available, so most of us have to settle for a crumb if we are going to own any of this one). It comes in a neat Riker display that has a picture of the remaining oriented mass and a picture of Mars.
2mm x 1mm fragment in riker box display - $75
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