P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
August 18, 2020
LIST 238
I know, it has been months since I sent out any kind of offering. This is mostly because I really have not had a lot of “new” stuff to offer. I still wouldn’t (aside from Nothing) as I have gotten very little new material lately (and have been hesitant to go try and find some until it looks like things might start getting back to normal). Most of this stuff is pieces of Texas meteorites that I offered years ago and then had hidden away. A new potential collector from Texas showed up several months ago, wanting (not surprisingly) Texas meteorites. I sold him a couple easy to access pieces at the start but he wanted more. So, looking over my inventory records I saw that I had some of these older pieces in a box that was inside another box that was buried in the back corner on the bottom shelf in my closet (some digging required). I pulled these out, cataloged them and offered them. I got a few “I’ll be back and pick a few specimens to buy soon” e-mails shortly after. Well, it has been a couple months now and no response. Rather than leave these set out for someone that has seemed to have already drifted on to other interests or put them back in their deep storage spot I decided to offer them here. This offering also allows me to make an announcement concerning the (at this point) still happening Denver Show next month.
NOTES ON DENVER:
Yep, it seems that there will be a show but there are some substantial changes (Crowne Plaza DIA – 15500 E. 40th Ave). The show dates have been trimmed back to September 11th through the 15th. The show times have been extended to (I believe) 8am to 8pm. I certainly don’t mind the 8pm thing but the 8am thing might be a problem some mornings. My room will have a different lay-out as I am required to keep wide isles (I’ll only put tables along the outer walls – no center tables this year). I also will only be able to have a couple chairs in the room. I think I can only have about 5 people in the room at any given time and with Mike and I needing to be there it is unlikely I can have the usual people hanging out (which is an important part of the show for me), unfortunately. Also, we already know that there will be pretty much no buyers from overseas (and many of the overseas sellers won’t be attending either). I suspect that many US buyers that would normally fly won’t show up either. As such, I plan to try and have a fairly good set up but already knowing these things (and having a shortened show) I probably won’t bring nearly as much stuff as I usually do (so contact me if you plan to come and there is anything you want me to bring or there may be a chance it doesn’t get brought). Given the unusual (and potentially dangerous) situations this year I had though of skipping this year’s show (particularly considering that Linda had a medical emergency earlier this summer that has her on immuno-suppressant drugs i.e. she is a very high risk person now) but have decided I just can’t risk it. I do need the sales it may (or may not) generate but more so I can’t risk loosing my current space. We were offered the chance to skip this year and were told by e-mail that we could have our “normal” space in 2021. And this I seriously considered (but Mike is really anxious to do a show). However, I do know that there are a LOT of other dealers that desperately want the space I have. If I skip this year and someone else is given the spot, and (to the management’s eyes) they “fit in the spot better” there might be a pretty high risk of getting scrapped off into the main ball room or a motel room (and given that this spot has completely changed the show for me, that would be economic suicide in the longer term). So, with some degree of financial need, Mike’s strong desire to go I will be there (trying to suck air through a _amned mask all day).
Anyway on to the goodies:
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| List #238 (Click on Image to Enlarge) |
DIMMITT, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H3.7). Found 1942. Tkw = about 200 kilograms.
Here I have a nice complete individual and a complete slice. The slice I had set aside as part of a research set I put aside years ago. You see, there has bee a LOT of confusion concerning the Tulia and Dimmitt stones. I set aside distinct samples of each of these so I could recognize the different meteorites from each other in the future. Well, I have not done any field work in that area now (so no new meteorites coming in from there) for over 25 years now. The stone is a nice complete, interesting shaped Monig specimen that I got from David New very early when TCU first started allowing some of their “excess” materials go (nope, they are no longer doing this so don’t go to them for material). Unfortunately, back then they required that the Monig label (be it an actual Monig one or a late Huss one) be removed (though you can still see some hints of it) from the material in what turned out to be a futile attempt to keep it somewhat secret that they were releasing stuff.
a) 47.4 gram complete slice – 75mm x 40mm x 5mm - $90
b) 515.0 gram complete individual – 115mm x 55mm x 40mm - $650
GOMEZ, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found 1974. Tkw = about 27 kilograms.
I’ve had this on my old original sent out by mail catalog for years.. I don’t send out more than a few a year these days. I haven’t offered any of the tiny amount I have remaining to more recent collectors in years so I thought I’d do it here. This stone was found in a roadside ditch near the town of Gomez. It is likely that it was put there by a farmer that had just bunged up his plow hitting it and wanted the damaging rock out of his field (this actually happens fairly often and is why I am often paying too much attention to the road-side ditches than I should when driving through farming areas). To me (as I have handled both stones) this looks like it is likely related to the earlier reported Seagraves C stone that was found on the porch of an abandoned house.
a) 7.8 gram part slice – 25mm x 15mm x 6mm - $20
b) 13.5 gram part slice – 27mm x 22mm x 6mm - $35
c) 19.3 gram part slice – 32mm x 25mm x 6mm - $53
d) 41.6 gram part slice – 55mm x 33mm x 6mm - $110
PLAINVIEW (a), Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H5), brecciated. Found 1917. Tkw = about 700kilograms.
Plainview is an interesting meteorite all around. First, it is likely that this should be classified as a witnessed fall. I large piece was found in nearby Cotton Center that had smashed a fence of a horse corral right after a large fireball was seen in 1903. The rest of the strewn field was discovered in 1917 around 10 miles away (and yes, the stones do match type and texture). Also, this meteorite is a regolith breccia from the surface of the H parent body. As such, fragments of many different kinds of meteorites (things that smashed into the H parent) have been found in it over the years. These two part slices are actually pieces left over from some research work long ago. They are basically the same size surface area wise but the heavier could certainly be easily split into thinner slices if someone wanted to.
1) Part slices:
a) 15.9 grams – 55mm x 23mm x 3mm - $50
b) 35.0 grams – 55mm x 25mm x 7mm - $90
TULIA (a), Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1917. Tkw = 78+ kilograms.
I know, I know, the official bulletin report has this meteorite listed as an H3-4 (which is how Dimmitt was listed until more research work on it showed it to be an H3.7). What happened those many years ago when this was studied is that all the meteorites that were found in the general area were mixed together. Yep, Dimmitt (and the associated real Dimmitt meteorite strewn field) are NOT very far away from where the Tulia pieces are found. So, when work was done on this meteorite the work was actually done on a mislabeled Dimmitt and not a Tulia stone. Tulia is not a type 3, it is a type 5. It is also generally fresher than Dimmitt (but not always – it really depends where the particular stone sat in the ground moisture environment).. Dimmitt very, very rarely shows any remaining fresh metal blebs. Many Tulia pieces do show substantial metal remaining (and the smaller pieces listed here do. The largest specimen is a bit sparse in this department but it certainly has the texture of an H5). I know these things because Glenn Huss informed me of this and I worked the area for years (and have actually found my own 8kg Tulia (a) piece) The two largest pieces both have the old Monig white letters/ numbers on black label and the largest specimen (which was once a complete piece that I cut in half many years ago) also has a white painted Huss label (M12.26) that he put there when he sorted and labeled much of the Monig collection years ago.
a) 14.4 gram end piece/ cut fragment – 45mm x 20mm x 7mm - $30
b) 22.6 gram end piece/ cut fragment – 43mm x 20mm x 10mm - $45
c) 78.0 gram part slice – 65mm x 65mm x 5mm - $150 – has 6mm x 3mm carbon looking inclusion.
d) 254.1 gram end piece – 70mm x 43mm x 40mm - $440 – 12AI Monig label.
e) 702.4 gram individual cut in half – 95mm x 70mm x 45mm - $1100 – 12JZ Monig label M12.26 Huss.
TULIA (b), Texas: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found 1917, recognized much later. Tkw = 4.4kg+.
To even confuse things more than just the Dimmitt Tulia problem mentioned above, there was yet another overlapping strewn field – an L chondrite this time. A couple specimens (one in the Chicago Field Museum and another in the British Museum) were noticeably fresher than the typical Tulia/ Dimmitt stones. Cutting and research work revealed that these stones were L6 chondrites and were thus a new previously unrecognized meteorite. It turned out that TCU had one as well. I got some of this and sold all I wanted to sell quite rapidly years ago (there really is not a lot of this available).. I kept these pieces as part of my “Tulia research/ sorting things out set” for many, many years. The largest piece (a really nice full slice) had broken along a natural fracture. I put it back together to retain the nice complete slice form (it shows some nice fusion crust an sculpted shape along the edges). The others were from a smaller already broken specimen so I broke it down a bit more to be able to offer more and smaller pieces here.
a) 11.7 gram part slice – 35mm x 17mm x 7mm - $40
b) 24.7 gram part slice – 37mm x 30mm x 7mm - $80
c) 66.2 gram part slice – 60mm x 55mm x 7mm - $200
d) 204.1 gram complete slice – 100mmk x 90mm x 6mm - $560
Last, but not least, I bring you absolutely:
NOTHING, Arizona: Iron. Medium octahedrite (IID). Found 2010. Tkw = 3.7 kilograms.
I really knew nothing about this meteorite when it was first mentioned to me. It was sent to me along with a couple other specimens that I had actually purchased as the owner is hoping I’d put it out in Denver. I am certainly happy to do that but figured why not offer it here first? This wasn’t a real big recovery – only around 8 pounds total. It was found by a gold prospector using a metal detector. It was found buried a couple feet down about 4.5km north of the (now ghost town I believe) of Nothing.
199.8 gram etched end piece – 85mm x 27mm x 26mm - $1700
