Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 149, more after Tucson things 04MAR2014

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 149, more after Tucson things

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 149
March 4, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is another “after Tucson” list. I’ll probably have a couple more but the one that should go out later this month (on the 18th I believe) may be off in its timing as I may be out of town for a bit around that time.

BROWNFIELD (1937), Texas: (H3.7) found 1937. Tkw = about 47 kilograms.
Here is a cut fragment I sold to a collector many years ago. There are two cut faces that both show lots of chondrules and some metal in a light to medium brown matrix. The natural portion of this specimen is roughly equally divided between old natural break and fusion crust.
36.9 gram cut fragment – 48mm x 25mm x 18mm - $250

DHOFAR (1286), Oman: (Eucrite), polymict breccia. Found December 2005. Tkw = 848 grams.
Two pieces that fit together were found about 30 meters apart. This meteorite contains clasts/ fragments of various compositions and colors – making it look very much like a howardite. However, this lacked enough pyroxene to be classified as a howardite. I recently sold out of what I had of this meteorite (and tossed out the remaining info cards) but then picked up a few more pieces in Tucson (and re-made new cards).
a) 2.0 gram slice – 20mm x 17mm x 2.5mm - $25
b) 4.2 gram slice – 42mm x 20mm x 2mm - $50
c) 6.8 gram slice – 35mm x 25mm x 3mm - $75
d) 20.2 gram end piece – 40mm x 20mm x 16mm - $200

FUKANG, China: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 2000. Tkw = 1003 kilograms.
Here is a square cut slice of this beautiful pallasite. This meteorite probably has the largest, on average, olivine crystals of any pallasite. I tell people that you pretty much need a rodeo belt-buckle sized piece of this meteorite to begin to see its texture. Thankfully, this is pretty much what I have here. The crystals, with the exception of a couple on one side, all pass light, making this a nice natural “stained glass window”. This is a piece that came uncoated from Germany. I have coated it but have left the few minor rust spots alone as I have not figured out how to regain the mirror polish after sanding these meteorites.
100.5 gram slice – 90mm x 89mm x 2mm - $1300

GOLD BASIN, Arizona: (L4). Found November 24, 1995. Tkw = about 127 kilograms.
This is the stuff that many found discarded as simple “hot rocks” by people metal detecting for gold in the area. A new gold rush into the area was started once it was found that these “hot rocks” were often meteorites. I have two as found specimens. The smaller is a blocky piece that might cut fairly well but is nice the way it is. The larger is the largest, by far, Gold Basin piece I have had. It is, at best, half of the original stone so this was a real monster when it fell some 20-25 thousand years ago (I think this strewn field is still reported as the oldest chondrite fall outside of Antarctica). Both pieces show areas of natural breaks as well as clear weathered fusion crust (typical Gold Basin material in other words).
a) 350.8 gram individual/ fragment as found – 80mm x 50mm x 40mm - $435
b) 1483.3 gram fragment/ individual as found – 150mm x 120mm x 50mm - $1500

NWA (845): (R4), W1. Found March 5, 2011. Tkw = 36+ grams.
The total known on this must be wrong. 36 grams is listed but I got a bit over 40 grams of nice thin slices from a German fossil dealer in Tucson. This meteorite appears to have a known find location (the info given with it has coordinates, which are also reported in the Meteoritical Bulletin) but still ended up being called just an NWA. None the less, these are nice thin slices that show lots of chondrules in a nice medium brown (with hints of orange) matrix. Some of these (the part slices) have one cut edge.
a) .61 gram part slice – 16mm x 9mm x 1mm - $12
b) .94 gram part slice – 27mm x 11mm x 1mm - $19
c) 2.1 gram slice – 28mm x 22mm x 1mm - $40
d) 3.6 gram slice – 36mm x 26mm x 1mm - $67
e) 8.1 gram part slice – 40mm x 30mm x 2mm - $150

NWA (853): Achondrite (Ureilite). Found March 2001. Tkw = 720 grams.
I thought about keeping this one (and may yet do so). It is a rectangular blocky piece that shows 3 cut faces. However, the majority of the natural uncut part clearly shows distinct fusion crust (covering around 40% or so of the specimen). I don’t recall having a ureilite before that showed much of any crust let alone distinct heavy black crust. Interesting and no doubt fairly rare. Grab it before I change my mind.
131.8 gram cut fragment – 50mm x 35mm x 30mm - $2000

PORTALES VALLEY, New Mexico: (H6). Fell June 13, 1998. Tkw = 71.4 kilograms.
This is easily the weirdest “H6” I have ever seen. Even the “chondritic” portion looks strange. It does not seem to show any chondrules and has a crystalline texture, fine metal grains and some large metal veins, making it look almost identical to the Fortuna Winonaite I offered earlier. I thought this was “reclassified” into some kind of “achondritic metallic melt breccia” but the Meteoritical Bulletin does not seem to mention anything about this. Anyway, this is a nice partial slice that is mostly silicates but does show quite a lot of metal veins running through it. This has two labels with it; one from the Jake Pelletier Collection and one (with a picture of the specimen) from Robert Woolard. This is supposed to be a 42.8 gram specimen but a small (.2g or so) piece has broken off of one corner at some point (this piece is still with the specimen in its membrane box). There are two cut edges (making up 40% or so of the edge) but the majority is natural and shows some fusion crust.
42.6 gram part slice – 100mm x 68mm x 2mm - $1500