Friday 15 April 2022

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 250 16APR2022

Blaine Reed Meteorites  For Sale- List 250  16APR2022

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

Email- brmeteorites@yahoo.com

LIST 250
April, 2022

Dear Collectors,
Part of me thought about not even doing this offering. I skipped last year’s “Spring List” (no ensuing disaster happened) and I have been having considerable trouble getting things bought, studied and prepared to put on these lists. Oddly, I am really short the cheap, ordinary chondrites at the moment. I have looked into getting some studied but most (all?) the research folks are absolutely buried/ back-logged right now. I did send some off to my usual research folks and then found out that they have some 800 (!!!) meteorites ahead of me. Mine might be some years out before they get looked at. Anyway, this shortage of “New” material (and the difficulties of getting affordable, interesting specimens these days), along with the fact that Tucson was SOOO good sales-wise I really, really had considered dropping this Spring offering once again this year. It is usually one of my slowest sales-wise (taxes, upcoming family vacations more on collector’s minds?) and putting this out does potentially jeopardize my ability to put a Fall/ After Denver offering together. However, I have had SO Many calls and e-mails from people asking “when are you sending out a new list” I figured I had better go ahead and make one.
 

SAINT-AUBIN, France: Iron. Fine octathedrite. (IIIAB). Found 1968. Tkw = 472kg.
Here are some nice, etched on both sides, part slices. I picked these up in Tucson just a couple months ago. Originally, 5 pieces of this meteorite were found by farmers plowing. Original research had this meteorite listed as an “ungrouped” iron. More recent work shows that it is actually a high Nickel (at around 11.5%), high Gold (still parts per billion – no mining possibilities here), low Iridium member of the (IIIAB) group. This meteorite contains lots of Phosphorous. It has two related Fe/Ni Phosphate minerals (Sarcopside and Graphtonite) as well as large Schreibersite blades up to 6cm long.
Part slices, etched on both sides:
a) 10.0 grams - 23mm x 22mm x 2.5mm - $40
b) 20.0 grams - 34mm x 26mm x 3mm - $75
c) 30.0 grams - 44mm x 23mm x 3mm - $105
d) 44.1 grams - 45mm x 45mm x 3mm - $145
 

NWA (4851): Ordinary chondrite. (L6), S3, W1. Found 2007. Tkw = 6.3+ kilograms.
I offered this nice, quite fresh meteorite on a list in the past and it proved quite popular (and still sells well when I put out the occasional sample at shows). I had only a few largish pieces until I saw that the person I originally got them from (back in 2007) had another kilo or so of pieces in Denver last year (his initial asking price was higher than I have these priced here). I bought them and now they are being offered here. I generally try not to “duplicate” stuff I have offered earlier BUT, as mentioned above, I am running low on “common” chondrites I can put on these lists and this is nice stuff and will likely be of interest to collectors that have come along since I last offered this material nearly 15 years ago. These are nice individuals and cut fragments. The individuals are all pretty much complete (only the largest piece would be the exception). The cut fragments are all one of a kind, with the smallest pieces being really fresh (ask for a group photo of either the individuals or the cut fragments if interested).
Individuals:
a) 52.8 grams - 32mm x 30mm x 22mm - $70
b) 80.9 grams - 47mm x 35mm x 25mm - $100
c) 122.3 grams - 40mm x 37mm x 35mm - $145
d) 213.1 grams - 55mm x 47mm x 37mm - $235
Cut fragments: all are “one of a kind”.
a) 20.0 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 10mm - $35
b) 47.0 grams - 55mm x 40mm x 10mm - $70
c) 68.7 grams - 60mm x 40mm x 12mm - $95
d) 145.5 grams - 70mm x 60mm x 13mm - $200
e) 276.9 grams - 75mm x 60mm x 5mm - $345 – actually an end piece.

TSAREV, Russia: Ordinary chondrite. (L5). Found 1968, Tkw = 1131kg.
This meteorite was first found in 1968 but was not recognized until 1979. It has been suggested that this fell on December 6, 1922 though my personal belief is that the weathering shows otherwise (but then, it was 46 years and if it is a high ground moisture area….). I have had pieces of this meteorite in the past, but it has been quite some time. Regardless, many of these pieces are a bit different. Most of the slices I have had of this meteorite in the past had pretty a pretty typical L5 appearance;lots of metal grains in a dark matrix, and many (but not all) of the smallest piece here look this way. However, many of the larger specimens (31g and above) show clear impact melt effects. The somewhat “normal” looking areas show lots of shock induced veining. Then there areas showing large scale clear shock melting and flowing (a few slices have what look to be thin almost all glass shock veins). An interesting meteorite with interesting stories to tell.
Slices:
a) 4.3 grams - 22mm x 17mm x 3mm - $14
b) 7.9 grams - 33mm x 25mm x 3mm - $25
c) 15.9 grams - 38mm x 36mm x 3mm - $48
d) 31.5 grams - 92mm x 55mm x 3mm - $93
e) 63.9 grams - 85mm x 80mm x 3mm - $180 complete, ½ shock melt.
f) 117.9 grams - 120mm x 95mm x 3mm - $325 – complete slice.
 

NWA (13382): Ordinary chondrite. (L3) S2, W1. Found: Before February 2016. Tkw = 875.0 grams.
A single stone was purchased from a Moroccan dealer during the 2016 Tucson Show. This stone showed an interesting large (4cm plus) dark clast on its surface. Cutting showed many well-formed chondrules, fresh metal in a finer grained matrix along with a large dark gray/ black melt rock clast. Research work indeed showed that this was the case. The bulk of this stone is an L3 and the large gray clast is a melt-rock clast. I only cut a few pieces off of this stone such that each resulting piece has a good sized piece of this melt rock inclusion. As such, all the pieces listed below are strictly “one of a kind”.
a) 24.0 gram slice – 60mm x 45mm x 4mm - $40 melt clast roughly 30mm x 20mm.
b) 112.9 gram end piece – 75mmx 52mm x 14mm - $140 – melt clast 30mmx 17mm.
c) 660.3g end piece/main mass – 80mm x 50mm x 50mm - $595 – melt clast 40mm x 40mm.

NWA (5423): Rumurutiite. (R3.8), S2, W5. Found before February 2008. Tkw = 1120 grams.
It has been quite awhile since I have had an R-chondrite on a mailed list. Frankly, its been quite awhile since I have been offered a new “out of the field” piece either (I have had a few slices of known ones come in as part of collection purchases). Matt and I got this 10 plus years ago and I set it aside and kind of forgot it. Most of this was quite weathered and would fragment when cutting. I managed to cut one solid piece into some nice solid slices. This has a color (kind of gray-brown) that is noticeably different from other R’s.
Slices:
a) 1.2 grams - 15mm x 9mm x 3mm - $18
b) 2.6 grams - 25mm x 13mm x 2mm - $39
c) 5.7 grams - 45mm x 20mm x 2mm - $85
d) 11.2 grams - 45mm x 35mm x 2.5mm - $160
e) 20.1 grams - 50mm x 40mm x 3.5mm - $275

NWA (13677): Primitive achondrite. (Winonaite). Found 2020. Tkw = 2.3+ kilograms.
Many pieces of this rare meteorite were found in the same area. Though there are large variations in metal content between various pieces, research work showed that they are all part of the same meteorite. Primitive achondrites (of which Brachinites and Acaplulcotites/ lodranites are members) are a rare type meteorite that have chondritic compositons but have been heated/ melted enough to have an achondritic texture (but not melted enough to change their elemental chemistry). Winonaites appear to be closely related to and likely came from the same parent body as the IAB iron meteorites. I think this is only the second time I have offered a Winonaite on a list. The first time was years (decades?) ago and was (very small) pieces of the actual Winona, Arizona meteorite, the name sake of this group of rare meteorites.
End pieces/ cut fragments:
a) .70 grams - 12mm x 9mm x 3mm - $20
b) 1.40 grams - 13mm x 12mm x 4mm - $40
c) 2.52 grams - 20mm x 12mm x 6mm - $66
d) 5.0 grams - 35mm x 18mm x 5mm - $125
e) 10.8 grams - 31mm x 25mm x 10mm - $270

MICROBIAL MAT: Dresser Formation, North pole dome, Western Australia. 3.49 billion years old.
I had some of these several years ago (May 2016 I believe) and sold out almost immediately (these ancient rock things are very popular with meteorite collectors). I was able to get around 8 more of these since. These are also in the little square 3.5cm on a side plastic “perky box” but are quite a bit larger than the samples I had last time. These are almost twice as big but yet priced the same as the last offering. This time I have also made up a card that has a little more information on these. These are basically fragments of rock that show structures (“microbial-induced sedimentary structures” or MISS) that formed from microbial mats interaction with sediments. These particular samples are currently thought to be the oldest such known – being around 100 million years older than the famous Strelly Pool stromatolites.
Roughly 30mm x 20mm x 10mm fragment in perky box - $50

Please note:
Shipping: For small US orders $5 is now needed. Larger orders are now $16 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it). Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are now (thanks to yet another recent rate increase) around $17 for small, first-class packages (starts at $43 for Priority). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $18.

I do have a fax machine that seems to work (but I have to answer it and manually turn it on), so overseas people can contact me that way if they must. How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.