Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 121 My rarest dollar and misc meteorites

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 121 My rarest dollar and misc meteorites

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 121

May 22, 2012

Dear Collectors,

I had to get back from the eclipse trip earlier than I had expected. It turns out that I had a big heating/cooling system job that got scheduled for starting today (or I could wait another few weeks for the next available time with the installers. With temperatures already hitting the 90's and soon to be 100's I want this system running as soon as possible). There is already a five foot deep trench across my driveway (barely had time to get my cars on the other side before they started digging this morning.

The eclipse was quite enjoyable. It was not the jaw dropping spectacle that a full eclipse is but it was still pretty cool to see the sun turn into a thin ring of light. It was really surprising how few people knew (or cared) what was going on. I guess they were all in a hurry to get back home to their bread and circuses.

As with the last list, there are quite a few specimens here that are Lang collection origin and labeled. There are also some that are TCU/ Monig collection labeled and some are Mike Farmer labeled. I'll make note of these in their descriptions.

CAMEL DONGA, Australia: Achondrite (Eucrite). Found 1984. Tkw = 30+kg.
Here are a few small pieces I picked up in Tucson and promptly forgot about. The "end piece" is highly polished and has a nice interior texture but no crust on the back side. The other 2 pieces are partial individuals that have around 50% or so crust coverage. These are somewhat weathered so I suspect that they are relatively recent recoveries but they do still flow lines and some shiny crust.
a) 2.7 gram end piece – 20mm x 11mm x 9mm - $40
b) 3.5 gram ½ stone – 20mm x 12mm x 10mm - $55
c) 4.7 gram ~ ½ stone – 21mm x 14mm x 11mm - $75

DAR al GANI (332), Libya: Carbonaceous (CO3). Found 1997. Tkw = 280 grams.
This is undoubtedly another piece (and my last one I believe) of the large number of DaG (CO3) meteorites that got many different numbers assigned to them but (many anyway) were likely from a strewn field formed during a single fall even long ago. This is an unpolished complete slice (and has a lighter color and more visible chondrules than the polished pieces I had earlier). This is in a Riker box and has a Lang Collection label.
26.8 gram complete slice – 48mm x 37mm x 6mm (a bit wedged actually) - $240

DAR al GANI (429),, Libya: Carbonaceous. (C3), ungrouped. Found 1998. Tkw = 253grams.
I really suspect that the total on this is really closer to 800grams as DaG (430) is also an ungrouped C3 meteorite. These are rare enough (I have only had a few over all the years) that I would really be surprised if these two were not paired. This is a Lang Collection labeled vial of fragments (small up to around 5mm x 10mm in size) in a glass bottle in a Riker mount. This looks very fresh as it is very light gray in color and the largest fragment has a small sanded area that shows lots of metal. Interesting and no doubt rare.
5.1 grams of fragments in vial - $175

NWA (801): Carbonaceous (CR2). Found 2001. Tkw = 5kg+.
This has always been one of my favorite meteorites texturally. This piece does not show quite as well as some as it has been highly polished. Polishing has made this a little darker overall but closer inspection reveals lots of metal hiding in this slice. Most of it is surrounding chondrules (lots of armored chondrules in this) but some is as round blebs or metal "chondrules" (I have seen them called such in some research work). This piece is in a nice plastic box and has a Michael Farmer label.
4.47 gram complete slice – 35mm x 17mm x 3mm - $100

NWA (1939): Achondrite (Howardite). Found 2003. Tkw = 100.4 grams.
At first glance, I thought that this was likely just another piece of the NWA (1929) howardite (probably the most commonly available NWA howardite, listed under many different numbers) with a miss-typed label. Closer inspection shows that this is very likely NOT the case. The natural edge (this is a complete slice) shows a texture and weathering rim different from any NWA (1929) pieces I have seen. More importantly, the internal texture is very different form NWA (1929). This has a similar light gray background matrix but the inclusions in this are far different. One roughly 1cm sized inclusion is really interesting. It is an almost microscopic mix of white and orange brown crystals – looking much like a shrunk down piece of Dhofar (007). This is in a plastic box and has a Michael Farmer label.
8.48 gram complete slice – 45mm x 27mm x 2mm - $150

NWA (2871): Achondrite (Lodranite). Found 2003. Tkw = 2.5kg.
This was originally classified as an Acapulcoite and was supposed to be switched to Lodranite due to its large grain size (slower cooling, deeper buried in their shared parent body). I have seen a note or paper on this (by Ted Bunch I believe). Unfortunately, it seems that this has not been officially changed in the Meteoritical Bulletin yet. This is a triangular shaped part slice that has one cut edge. It is a Lang Collection piece that is in a Riker mount and has the Lang label. The original price on this was $1345 and even that was not on the high end of prices I have seen on this material. I have a few pieces of this in my inventory but nothing nearly this large or nice.
16.4 gram slice – 40mm x 30mm x 3mm - $985

ROUND TOP (b), Texas: (H4). Found before 1939. Tkw = 7166 grams.
This is a stone that Oscar Monig turned up and these all come with a Monig Collection label. I have only a few pieces of this.
1) Slices; all have natural edges/ no cuts.
a) 4.8 grams – 35mm x 12mm x 4mm - $15
b) 8.0 grams – 35mm x 19mm x 4mm - $24
c) 11.1 grams – 40mm x 17mm x 5mm - $33

SaU (290), Oman: Carbonaceous (CH3). Found 2004. Tkw = 1.796kg.
Thanks to the Sutter's Mill fall in California (believed, at this point, to be some kind of odd carbonaceous chondrite), I have had collectors asking about other weird carbonaceous chondrites I have (the reason I am "re-listing" this now. I offered pieces on an e-mail offering a couple years ago). This does not look like much – some sparse fine metal grains in a dark brown matrix. But, this is only the second CH I have seen and the only one I have had to sell.
1) Slices:
a) .57 grams – 8mm x 7mm x 3mm - $60
b) .73 grams – 11mm x 7mm x 3mm - $75
c) 6.40 grams – 32mm x 25mm x 3mm - $690

SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron. (Pallasite). Found 1967.
This is a wonderful little end piece from a really pallasitic piece of this find and very rare as such. I have only seen a couple end pieces of this and they have all been quite large (I have 6.7kg one myself). Even better, this is really thin so you get the surface area of a slice but in the form of an end piece. This is definitely a piece that collectors of end pieces should consider.
25.1 gram end piece – 50mm x 40mm x 5mm - $200

1853 PROOF SILVER DOLLAR (US): Mintage – about 12 pieces.
This is, by far, the single most expensive coin I have ever owned. However it is also, by far, the rarest US coin I have ever owned (I have a few foreign coins that have slightly lower supposed mintage numbers). This is technically a "restrike" as the mint did not make any proof dollars in the actual year of 1853 (coin collecting was not at all an in thing then, there were virtually no collectors at that point). This was made a bit later – probably around 1862. At that point coin collecting in the US was beginning to take off and collectors began to notice that they needed an 1853 proof dollar to fill a hole in their collection. The mint director was only happy to oblige (often using such later made pieces to trade for "Washington Medals" to fill in holes in his collection of those). There are no clear records of exactly how many were made of these. Interestingly, proof coins in that era were not considered to be actual coins (money-wise anyway, but they were preferred by collectors) and did not have to be accounted for in mint records. There were some records thought that indicated that only "dozen" of these pieces were struck (and the number of pieces known of this coin do supports this). I have had a few people (potential buyers) complain that this is kind of not valid as it is a "restrike" (even after being told how and why this coin came into existence). However, this was indeed made at the Philadelphia mint, under direction of the mint director, using full mint equipment so this would really be better termed a "Novodel" – a term often used for the more famous 1804 dollars. Those super famous pieces which are worth, thanks to that fame, between $2 million and $4 million apiece now are actually a tiny bit more common than this coin (15 known versus around 12) all had their origin in later years as restrikes for collectors just as this coin did.
1853 PCGS slabbed Proof 55 silver dollar - $13,000