Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 155

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 155

Blaine Reed

P.O. Box 1141

Delta, CO 81416

Ph/fax (970) 874-1487

…………………………………………………LIST 155

June 24, 2014

Dear collectors,

Here is a small offering of some interesting items I got a few days ago. I know, this list should have gone out last week but I did not have this new material (or much of anything new for that matter). I will also likely be missing the next scheduled offering time (July 1^st) as I will be leaving town a day or two later. I’ll be gone for the long holiday weekend and should be back home around July 8^th.

ABEE, Canada: Enstatite chondrite (EH4), imb. Fell June 9, 1952. Tkw = 107kg.

Here are a few small slices (actually, the smaller pieces are more like little bars with polished edges) or those of you that want a piece of this rare and important meteorite in your collection with out spending a fortune. These piece are all very fresh and show lots of metal and brecciation (even on the small ones). The “big” one is very nice (such that I was tempted to hang on to it for my micro collection).

a)       .22 gram slice – 8mm x 3mm x 2mm - $15

b)       .56 gram slice – 12mm x 4mm x 3mm - $30

c)       1.44 gram slice – 13mm x 11mm x 3mm - $75

ALLENDE, Mexico: (CV3). Fell February 8, 1969.

Here is a super fresh broken fragment that has some patches of crust (around 30mm x 10mm and another around 12mm x 10mm). Not much to look at honestly, but it might be a good piece to make some nice small slices (or thin-sections) from. The rumor I got with this piece is that the researcher that it had it years ago got it from Dr. King. Now way to prove that at this point, but this piece is fresh enough to make that story more than believable.

                30.9 gram fragment with some crust – 30mm x 28mm x 20mm - $250

KLAMATH FALLS, Oregon: Specimen bottle.

I got excited over seeing this one in the “collection” as I have never had a piece of Klamath Falls before. It seems I still haven’t. There were two small cut fragments (and some powder) in a small bottle that is labeled “Klamath Co. Museum” and gives an (old) address. This was then in a bag with a card labeled “Klamath Falls”. However, close inspection revealed that this had a some what grainy texture to it (Not something you want to see in an iron meteorite). I checked it with a magnet and, sure enough, it did not stick, My XRF says that this is mostly copper (around 60%) with arsenic (17%) and lead (11%) and a bunch of other stuff. So, not a meteorite but the bottle is cool. This was from an old research collection and I suppose it is possible that the person who had this years ago was working on something from the area (that the Klamath Falls Museum had) that was not a meteorite. No telling now.

                “Klamath Falls” museum labeled bottle containing two mineral fragments - $20

MBALE, Uganda: Ordinary chondrite (L5/6). Fell August 14, 1992. Tkw = 108+ kg.

This was readily available years ago but I rarely see it these days. None the less, it is still among the cheapest of witnessed falls. This is just a nice fragment with a polished face (curved though. I think someone simply polished out a naturally broken edge as opposed to cutting first). This has some crust – an area around 12mm x 11mm. This is not one of the earliest recoveries as it shows some minor rust spotting but is still very fresh so it is not a late recovery either. This comes with a nice specimen card that is generic (no collection name) except a note that says something like “from Pieter Heydelaar” I believe. This makes sense as I know Pieter (a famous gold dealer that dabbles in meteorites a bit) had quite a bit of Mbale years ago.

                3.3 gram fragment with polished face – 20mm x 10mm x 11mm - $15

PLAINVIEW (1917), Texas. (H5) breccia. Found 1917 but may have fallen spring of 1903.

Here is a really nice aesthetic little “micro” slice. It has one crusted edge (one of the shorter edges, unfortunately) with lots of metal and some shock veins in a nice mottled light brown matrix.

                2.1 gram slice – 20mm x 10mm x 3mm - $15

St. MICHEL, Finland: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Fell July 12, 1910. Tkw = 25.4 kg.

I probably priced this on wrong. I know I have heard of it and had pieces of it in the past but I, unfortunately, don’t have any idea what this stuff is “going for” out there so I guessed (more than something like Mbale but less than L’Aigle). So, either someone out there is going to get a great deal or I’ll have this one in Denver. This a thick part slice that is all cut sides except one broken edge (no crust, unfortunately).

                4.3 gram slice – 22mm x 10mm x 10mm - $80 -SOLD

SULTANPUR, India: Ordinary chondrite (L6), black. Fell July 10, 1916. Tkw = 1711 grams.

Now this one I priced high as there seems to be very little of it known and very little of it distributed. I think I have had crumbs of this in the past but this is a much larger “crumb”. This is a small cut fragment that likely broke off o a larger slice sometime in the past.

                .26 gram cut fragment – 8mm x 5mm x 3mm - $100

TENNASILM, Estonia: Ordinary chondrite (L4), veined. Fell June 28, 1872. Tkw = 28.5 kg.

This is a small fresh flake/ fragment. Thankfully, its thinness actually gives it a pretty good surface area.

                .30 gram fragment – 10mm x 6mm x 2mm - $25  

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 164

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 164

Blaine Reed

P.O. Box 1141

Delta, CO 81416

Ph/fax (970) 874-1487

…………………………………………………LIST 154

June 3, 2014

Dear collectors,

I wasn’t going to send out an offer this week as I had hoped to visit the Colorado Springs show this weekend (leaving only a couple days to take and pack orders). I didn’t sign up for the show as a seller (stupidly). I thought I had a couple schedule conflicts that quickly evaporated once I made the commitment that I was not going as a seller. However, a recent development has me trapped at home and in need of raising some money. It seems that my car now suddenly needs a new engine. I am not certain what happened but it happened quickly. I have had some issues over the years with this thing randomly using oil at times (usually weeks to months with no loss and then suddenly a quart disappearing over a weekend, or so it seemed). I did a fancy oil change on the thing last week, using high end long life synthetic oil and a high end long life specially made for synthetic oil filter to go with it. I then drove the thing to Ouray (a town about an hour’s drive south of us) and more the past week. Saturday I noticed some subtle but strange and scary noises coming out of the engine on one of my stops (glad I left the engine running for my quick out of the car there otherwise I might not have had ANY clue to a problem developing). I got home and put the thing in the garage. Sunday, having already forgotten about this noise, I pulled the car out to go to a hanger party some friends were having. Getting out of the car to pull the garage door shut I once again heard the noise. However it was much louder and scarier this time. Back in the garage it went (we took Blake’s car). On Monday I did a little more “research” (putting the thing on ramps listening with a make shift stethoscope) into the issue. It was very obvious very quickly – the engine is coming apart (crank and rod bearings are pretty much gone). In fact it is now to the point that I don’t even dare drive it to the shop that I plan to have put a new (well, a good used anyway) engine in the thing around 6 miles away. I am still at a loss as to what could have created this problem but I suspect that it may be a faulty oil filter or just plain old-fashioned coincidence. When I checked the oil Monday, that now supposedly had some 150 miles or so on it, it still looked like it was new and had just come from the container. I know it is synthetic but it should have had some coloration if even just from mixing with the little residual old oil that is always still left in an engine when doing an oil change. I then swapped out the oil filter (already thinking that this MIGHT be the issue). Running the car the few minutes after this to diagnose the issue did indeed seem to bring a little coloration to the oil. The new filter, unfortunately, did nothing to quiet the noise, the damage has already been done. So now I have only the big ugly (and fuel hungry) Suburban to drive until I get this fixed (I can borrow Linda’s car from time to time but not for any serious trips and only at times that she does not need it). I did manage to luck out and find a local shop that has a guaranteed good used engine (with warranty) that has somewhat less miles than my now roasted engine. Unfortunately, my car (a 2001 Subaru Forester) has a bit of a rare engine (used in only 1 year I think) so this is not going to be all that cheap. Linda’s more common 1993 Subaru could have an engine and have it installed for a total of only $1300. The engine on mine alone will run that much. With installation (and, if you are smart, a new timing belt, water pump and oil pump) I’ll be looking at around $2500 or so. A fair amount of money (particularly annoying as taxes are due in a week or so again), but certainly a better option than buying a different used car and finding it has ONLY the engine in good shape (the rest of my car is quite solid and sound mechanically).

So, here is a rather slapped together offering of some odd (and mostly expensive, unfortunately) items that I had set aside for collection or display that are now up for grabs. ALSO, please look over the last few lists I have sent out (those since the beginning of March – Lists 149, 150, 151, 152 and 153. I have many (most?) of the items (or suitable replacements except for perhaps Fukang, and NWA (8302) at this point) listed on those offerings still available. I’ll be happy to try and make you a special private “car repair funds and quarterly taxes” price on anything I still have that you are interested in off of those offerings (at least on all of the items that are mine. There are a few consignments floating around on these offerings).

Note:  Some of you will likely notice that I am no longer putting the “name” numbers in parenthesis. This may make it a little harder to read these offerings. However, I have been informed that having the parenthesis in my posts makes them very hard for people to find these specimens if they do an online search for these particular meteorites.

 

DAR AL GANI 476, Libya: Martian. Shergottite. Olivine phyric. Found 1998. Tkw = 2.20kg.

Here is a complete slice that I have been using as my Mars rock to let people handle. It is a complete slice but it is fairly thick (and thus safe to handle). This has the classic DaG look to it. It has dark (brown surrounded by black) inclusions (olivine) in a really obviously green matrix. Note: I will sell either this OR the NWA (6963) listed below but not both as I need SOMETHING to show people what a Mars rock looks like that is bigger than a thumb-nail sized slice. 
                10.4 gram complete slice – 40mm x 30mm x 4mm - $3500

MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.

Here is a fragment I had set aside for a customer way back when I offered this on a mailed list around a year and a half ago. It has sat on a high shelf, forgotten (apparently by the potential customer as well) since then. I don’t remember who asked me to “set this aside” for them so now it is back up for grabs. This is a nice natural fragment that has a nice patch of fusion crust covering around 30% of the piece.

                .56 gram fragment with crust – 10mm x 9mm x 8mm - $80

NWA 032: Lunar Mare Basalt. Found October 1999. Tkw = 300 grams.

I really hesitate to sell this one. It was (and is supposed to be) in a collection of Moon rocks I have on display at a shop in Montrose (in hopes that those people in that town that want to see what a REAL moon rock looks like will get a chance to do so). I had a customer that wanted a “classic” Mare Basalt so I brought this one home to offer to him. He wants something larger and thicker. I have a number of other Lunar meteorites classified as basalts, but this is the one that truly looks like a basalt you’d find here on Earth. Anyway, I have not gotten the chance to get this back over to the display in Montrose so I will offer it here but, admittedly, not cheap. I have no idea what this stuff is going for on the market these days. I am not certain there really is any available. I got this as one of my very first (after DaG 262 anyway) Lunar meteorites (certainly my first Lunar basalt) from Alan Lang many years ago.

                .206 gram slice – 13mm x 10mm x .5mm - $600

NWA 6963, Morocco: Martian. Shergottite. Found 2011. Tkw = 8 kilograms.

This one actually has a known find location and coordinates. According to the Meteoritical Bulletin, this found in south Morocco near the river Oued Touflit. I got this nice piece from Steve Arnold in Tucson this past show. I liked it because it is an end piece and has nice crust (even showing some hints of flow lines) covering the back- side. The internal texture of this looks very much like Shegotty or the coarse grained areas of Zagami. This specimen has a few small dark shock melt pockets in it as well. This has a cut edge to it so it is not a “complete” end piece but this cut edge is such that the specimen is aesthetic none the less. A note on this one: As with the Dag (476) above, I will sell one of these but need to hang on to the other for display purposes (these two are my only “substantial” Martin pieces at the moment). So, the one that sells first is the one that I sell, the other I’ll hang on to (unless another sudden automotive or other disaster hits that is).

                5.45 gram cut end piece – 30mmx 25mm x 3mm - $1700 – nice crust covering back.

NWA 8010: Lunar. Feldspathic breccia. Found 2013. Tkw = 58 grams.

Matt asked me if I wanted to “share” a new lunar meteorite a source of his had turned up. I was hesitant as it was a lot of money. Once he cut it open though, I was sure glad I agreed to take part in this one. This is completely different than any of the other Lunar meteorites that I am aware of. This has large rounded clasts with a brown/ pinkish tinge that are filled with smaller angular to rounded light gray to white clasts. This part is neat and different. However, the really neat thing is that these larger clasts are surrounded by thick black bubbly melt veins! This thing is full of vesicles. UNM has a grad student doing work on this thing (to see what gasses and its origin that formed the bubbles among other things). I had planned to wait until this work was done before offering this thing but circumstances change. This is an end piece and is certainly tough enough to pass around and let people handle it (this is what I was doing with it). About the only thing I can fault this thing for public display/ handling purposes are that is to weird, having the big, bubbly melt veins. I have had enough local trouble with a local loon that thinks he has been finding meteorites that contain gas bubbles. I really don’t want to publicly display this one that IS real and DOES contain bubbles to the locals (and why this piece did not end up as part of the lunar display I have in Montrose right now).

                18.32 gram end piece – 50mm x 25mm x 8mm - $12k