Wednesday, 6 December 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- LIST 269 06DEC2023

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

LIST 269 - December 6, 2023

Dear Collectors,

This will likely be my last offering of the year. I got done doing the tedious job of “Inventory” – where I open every box/ bag on every shelf and corner and weigh and catalog all the stuff I have around here. As usual, I found a few things that I forgot I had and a few things where I only had one piece left. IF I can sell those, then I don’t have to have an extra line in my inventory records (no inventory of a particular meteorite present = no need to have that name in my records any more). I did find a couple items I picked up in Denver as well that I kind of forgot I had. Overall, I am pricing all of these well below what I was normally asking on them (and below what I thought I might ask on the “new” things). Again, sell them now then I don’t have to record them and keep them on the inventory list at the end of the year.

NOTE: It seems that every day I get a problem dropped in my lap from out of nowhere. One I did nothing to create (other than existing I suppose) but I still need to deal with it. Yesterday’s was a small 4” by 5” post card. I almost tossed it out as junk mail. Glad I didn’t. It was my internet provider with a ‘Reminder” that I needed to IMMEDIATELY contact them and find a different way to have internet service. Odd that it was a “further reminder” as I had, up until that moment, received NO notification that there was a problem what so ever (including on or with the bill I received not that long ago). It seems that much of the equipment they use to provide internet service to lots of people is no longer being supported by the manufacturer of said equipment. As such, once anything breaks in that system, it cannot be fixed. I WILL lose my internet. I tried to play their game and see “what are your options” but could not get them on the phone (it seems that they have already. Somehow, disabled the web account we had set up just for such things). So, onto looking for new service. Thankfully, an internet service associated with our electric service had brought fiber optic onto my property back in April. I am now in the process of changing over to that. However, I have been informed that many hundreds pf people in my area are signing up (for the same reasons I presume) and it might a considerable amount of time before I can get hooked up on the new service. I am making this all public as IF a part breaks in part of the old service before I am connected to the new service, I will be “off line” pretty much completely (aside from the occasional sit in a restaurant parking lot WIFI connection or such but I REALLY hate doing ANYTHING even remotely private (like signing into my e-mail account) on such systems. So, IF you e-mail me with something important (an order/ question, etc. Sending a link to an interesting video sometimes don’t get responded to anyway) and don’t get any response from me – CONSIDER CALLING, my e-mail might be completely gone (the phone though, for the time being anyway, is a land line and should continue working regardless of my internet situation).



CALDWELL, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (L impact melt breccia). Found 1961. Tkw = 12.9kg.
L-impact melts used to be one of the most desired meteorites. I think the first was the strange slag looking Cat Mountain, Tucson AZ meteorite that Robert Haag had. That stuff sold for well over $100/g. Then there was (some pieces, much of the stone was truly “ordinary” chondrite) of Chico, New Mexico. Steve Arnold (of Meteorite Men, not Chicago) worked for years trying to get a piece of this stone from the person that had it. Years of “No” eventually turned into “yes” and we bought (finally) some of it. Unfortunately is was not particularly cheap and (more unfortunately for us) plenty of really nice impact melt meteorites had come out of NWA (I still have pieces of a number of really nice different ones of those). This is my VERY LAST piece of this named L impact melt. Frankly, this is not a particularly pretty meteorite BUT this is your last chance to get a piece of this from me (and I don’t think there is a lot of this material floating around out there either). I priced it at (or even slightly below) what one of my NWA impact melts normally sell for.
41.2 gram part slice – 80mm x 60mm x3mm - $150 SOLD

GUADALUPE y CALVO, Mexico: Iron. Hexahedrite (IIAB). Found 1971. Tkw = 58.63kg.
I had a fair amount of this stuff pass through my hands the past few years. It has proven to be popular material. This is the meteorite that was used for years as a dog-food bowl on a ranch in Mexico before it found its way to Tucson and then onto a group of collectors and dealers. I sold all of the pieces I got back when we bought it together years (decades?) ago. I got these pieces from the collector that ended up with the biggest piece of this meteorite once we cut it up. I am now down to my last piece. Jim has no more to sell either (whatever he has remaining of this meteorite, he is keeping). I originally had this piece priced at $1100 (and have come close to selling it at a show once or twice). Now I am pricing it (temporarily) as a “year-end special”. If I don’t sell it from this offering and do end up having to carry it over into next year’s inventory records, then I’ll probably put it back up in the $1100 range. This does come with a(more recent copy) card I made up when I sold my pieces years ago as well as a Jim Schwade collection label.
349.1 gram part slice – 120mm x 70mm x 5mm - $750  SOLD

HAJMAH (C), Oman: Ordinary chondrite (L5/6). Found 1958. Tkw = 1132 grams.
Can’t say that I have ever seen a piece of this meteorite before. We have LOTS of meteorites from Oman but the Meteorites A to Z book shows that there are (were anyway) only 6 actual named meteorites back before 2008 (when the book was published). The British Museum “Catalog of Meteorites” says that 2 pieces were found (one 1065g and the other 67 grams) during oil prospecting in the area in 1958. This (like the Libyan Glass below) is from a collector who bought it at an auction long ago. It looks like he may have paid $583 for the piece. That is $10/g! These days it is easy to find fairly nice stone meteorite slices for a dollar or two a gram (I still have nice slices of Ghubara available for around $2/g). However, back 20 plus years ago, this was not the case. As, at the time, there few to no Oman meteorites on the market, I can see someone paying pretty good money to add this country to their collection. That along with the fact that so little of this was found certainly could explain a $10/g valuation. This looks to be a piece that likely came from the British Museum (they had all but 55g of it according to the Catalog). It certainly has the old-style museum cut - really thick. It seems that most museums prefere(d?) to have thick slices. We collectors came along and decided we want thin. Thin gives you more surface area texture for less weight (and cost). As such, if one were inclined, this piece could easily be split into 3 (or even 4) thinner equal sized slices (you’d have to use a wire saw to get 4 though). The auction tag has this at 58.3 grams and that is indeed spot on for the whole specimen. However, it looks like someone was starting another cut on one corner of this piece (looks like they tries a couple times to get a cut started there. One of the cuts did get around 1cm into the piece. The resulting thinner piece (1cm x 15mm, 1.0g) has broken off, but still remains with the specimen.
57.3 gram slice – 42mm x 37mm x 12mm - $200  SOLD

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS:
This is a piece that I picked up in Denver. It came to me as part of a collection from a collector that picked it up at an auction decades ago. It looks like he may have paid $330 for the piece (this comes with the auction ID slip). However, that has the weight of this wrong. The dimensions match just fine but they had the weight as 55grams. It is really 28.8 grams. So, it looks like this might have cost the buyer a bit over $10/g. Actually, at the time (this was bought not long after the first pieces of this stuff in recent history started coming out – sometime around 1988 maybe) this would have been a fair price. This is a nice higher quality piece that is really quite clean and clear. It does have a “fresh” (but still possibly hundreds of years old) chip (about 15mm x 6mm) on the bottom but is, otherwise all natural wind sculpted surfaces. The auction tag indicates that this is from the Walter Zitschell collection. That makes perfect sense as, I seem to recall, he was the one who first obtained marketable quantities of Libyan Glass (most of the pieces were really big. Hundreds of grams plus. Big enough such that I could not afford one as the starting price was $10/g. I probably would have gotten a piece this size myself when it first came out, had one been offered to me).
28.8 gram natural fragment – 65mm x 25mm x 15mm - $70  SOLD




NWA (4502): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2008. Tkw about 35kg.
This is actually not a piece that I’d normally put on a “get off of inventory” list at the end of the year. Actually, I pulled this out from some pretty deep storage as I had a museum ask me for “pass around” specimens. One of the things they wanted was a carbonaceous chondrite. Well, I don’t really have too many of those big (or solid) enough for that purpose. Deep digging back then brought this end piece to light. After months and months of waiting for their decisions on what specimens they wanted (I had multiple options of some of the other type meteorites they were looking for) they finally (like a few weeks ago) admitted that the deal was NOT going to happen. Rather than go through the effort of putting this back in deep storage (which I could have done had I remembered I had it pulled out and set aside elsewhere when doing inventory) I decided, since its been a long time since I have offered any of this meteorite, to offer it here and now (if it sells, I won’t have to pull things apart to put it where it belongs). This is a nice solid end piece. The back, natural side, has a 6mm x 4mm CAI that fluoresces pinkish purple under the right UV light.
63.1 gram end piece – 65mm x 42mm x 10mm - $250  SOLD

SALAICES, Mexico: Ordinary chondrite (H4). Found 1971. Tkw = 24.5kg.
I kind of picked this one up because I have a customer who runs a store in Mexico. He, generally, has an eye out for any Mexican meteorites that have not been easily available recently (and isn’t stupidly priced). This one certainly meets that criteria. I usually see him at the major shows (Tucson and Denver). I thought I’d see him in Denver this year (where he would probably buy this piece) but he did not show (but, to be honest, a lot of people I thought I’d see didn’t come this year). Not wanting to carry this over in inventory until Tucson (the next chance I have to see him) I decided to offer it here. This is set up in a Riker and has a Michael Casper Meteorites label with it.
21.5 gram part slice – 36mm x 23mm x 6mm - $90  SOLD

THUATHE, Lesotho: Ordinary chondrite (H4/5). Fell July 21, 2002. Tkw = about 30kg.
It has been awhile since I have any of this one. This came to me in Denver. It belonged to Fred Olsen and was put into a COMETS auction during one of the Denver shows years ago. It is a nice piece. Nicer than many of the pieces I have had of this fall. It has really good crust coverage (only one 5mm x 5mm chip). The crust is really fresh and shows evidence of several breakage and crusting levels (as well as some minor “roll over rims”). A superior specimen of this meteorite fall! This comes with the COMETS auction tag (green paper), one of Fred’s Mineral & Fossil Supply business cards (that has auction notes for this piece on the back) as well as one of the cards I made up for this meteorite when I had pieces of it.
39.9 gram complete individual – 31mm x 30mm x 20mm - $250  SOLD

Shipping:
USA- It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things.

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).


Monday, 6 November 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 268 6NOV2023

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

LIST 268 - November 6, 2023


Dear Collectors,
  Here is another assortment of things that (mostly) came home with me from the Denver show. There are a couple “expensive” items here but most of these are more in the realm of normal collectors as opposed to high end collection or museum kind of priced things.



ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
I sure remember when this stuff was common. I had several multi-kilo bags of pieces. Granted, most of those were just broken (but fresh) fragments I got in a museum trade. I have long since sold all of those. This is a piece that is a typical “individual” from this fall. This has the usual edge chipping, broken areas (these things obviously came in through the atmosphere tightly packed as almost all pieces of this meteorite show evidence of banging into each other and late in the fall breaking). This is a quite fresh piece. It has a couple spots of minor adhering dirt but is otherwise very fresh (I remember some of the stones I got late in the recovery process. They were being brought to the shows by a guy straight from the area and were “recent” finds. These things were very weathered and some even had lichen growing on them!). This has around 40-50% primary fusion crust with the remainder being chipped/ broken or (very) thin secondary crust. A nice example of a typical stone from this high demand but kind of hard to come by these days fall.
28.3 gram individual – 24mm x 24mm x 23mm - $565

LAAYOUNE(002), Western Sahara: Lunar (feldspathic breccia).Found Jan 2022. Tkw = 5.15kg.
I like these because they may be fragments but they look entirely like complete, natural individuals. They have (likely wind) rounded shapes, smooth somewhat shiny surfaces. No recent fresh breaks. These may not be whole individuals as they fell (but, then again, they might be) but sure loom the part regardless. These are clean and nice – no caliche or dirt stuck to these.
1) Natural individuals as found:
a) .68 grams – 15mm x 7mm x 4mm - $28
b) 1.22 grams – 13mm x 11mm x 4mm - $49
c) 2.60 grams – 20mm x 11mm x 8mm - $100
d) 5.30 grams – 22mm x 13mm x 13mm - $200

LIBYAN GLASS SCARAB:
Here is a piece of Libyan Desert Glass that has been carved into a scarab. Not high end art work on this (it also has an (eye of Horace???) carved on the bottom flat side) but it is still kind of neat. One of these was found in king Tut’s burial mask. Every so often that info gets out in a TV program of one sort or another. I often know when this happens as my phone starts ringing with lots of people asking for Libyan Glass whenever one of these programs goes on the air. IF I knew when one was going to run, I’d probably be better hanging onto this particular piece and offering it 9at a substantially higher price) then. This piece was part of the 2014 COMETS (Colorado Meteorite club) auction during the Denver show that year (it was September 14th to be exact). This comes with the Comet Shop label that came with the piece from that auction.
6.9 gram carved scarab – 29mm x 21mm x 9mm - $65

MOLDAVITE:
This is the largest piece of moldavite I have had in a long time. I would have sold this if I just had it a day or two earlier at the show (I had a customer that was looking specifically for a large, rounded moldavite specimen. All I had was a fairly large (18g) flatish piece). Anyway, this is an entirely complete (no recent chips or dings) that is almost egg shaped. It has really nice texture/ etching that radiates out from the center (giving this an oriented look). The only “problem” I see with this is that it still has some of the conglomerate matrix they find these things in (when they find them at the source instead of as rounded, water tumbled specimens found down- stream after they have naturally weathered out of the matrix) I suspect that this piece was found very close to where it was locked in the conglomerate gravels. This allowed it to keep its really fine etching but did not have the chance to weather out the last of the matrix pieces still stuck to it. This is really, really pretty when a light is put behind it.
. 25.8 gram intact individual – 45mm x 30mm x 15mm - $700





NWA (989): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2001. Tkw = 146grams.
This is another piece that the collector I got it from picked up at the Comets auction. It turns out that it was the same auction (September 14, 2012) that the Libyan glass scarab above came from. This is a nice ½ slice (one cut edge, rest are natural) and is an excellent representative of this type of meteorite. Not a lot of known weight on this piece, but I have no idea how many/ how much (if any) pairings turned up on this. As such, I am pricing this at (or slightly below – I didn’t have to pay a huge amount to get this) what a common NWA CV3 of this freshness would normally cost these days. This comes with the “Wondering Wonders” (Andrew Abraham – a friend I have not seen in a couple years now, unfortunately) info card that came with it at the auction.
11.99 gram ½ slice – 30mm x 27mm x 5mm - $95

NWA (14041): Lunar (feldspathic breccia). Found Jan. 2021, Tkw 11.7kg.
I didn’t get this at the show. I actually had it sent to me as I had (for a while after Tucson) a customer that was trying to get moderate samples of every Lunar meteorite that they did not have (and they did not have this one so…..). I did sell them a piece (but then have not heard back from them since) and had these nice pieces left over. These are all part slices. They have a really glassy look to them (this material obviously suffered some high shock levels). It has a nice overall color/ texture look to it. It has mostly rounded clasts (light tan, gray, some kind of pinkish) in a greenish gray matrix.
1) Part slices:
a) .48 grams – 11mm x 10mm x 1mm - $45
b) .93 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 2mm - $85
c) 1.54 grams – 20mm x 18mm x 1.5mm - $135
d) 2.95 grams – 39mm x 19mm x 1mm - $255 - best surface for the $.
e) 4.67 grams – 32mm x 25mm x 2mm - $395
f) 7.10 grams – 45mm x 19mm x 3mm - $550

NUEVO MERCURIO, Mexico: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell December 15, 1978. Tkw = 9+kg.
I think a similar piece to this was my very first chondrite witnessed fall. It also came from the same place – Robert Haag. I am quite certain though that this was a piece that was picked up after I got mine as it has some browning to the crust. However, this DOES still have the original Robert Haag label/ info card that came with it! I don’t see to many pieces of this meteorite floating around these days but I am pretty certain that the label is far, far rarer than the meteorite these days. This is an absolutely complete specimen (no chips or dings) and is set up in a small Riker box.
2.64 gram individual – 16mm x 11mm x 8mm - $75 – has Robert Haag label.
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Shipping:
It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things.

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).

Monday, 23 October 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 267 23OCT2023

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

LIST 267 - October 23, 2023


Dear Collectors
Here is an offering of some of the more interesting (and often expensive) items I either had out on display or brought home from the Denver show last month.
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ALETAI, China. Iron. IIIE anomalous. Found 1898, Tkw = over 50 tonnes.
The find date is for the “Armanty” iron meteorite which had been listed as a single piece recovery and the 4th largest meteorite known. I suspect that this “fall” (old fall, fairly new find) will be, possibly, the largest known meteorite in total recovered (I think Gibeon may still be ahead in this department but maybe not for long if they keep finding multi-ton pieces of this thing). It appears that the strewn field for this might be 425km long! That is a lot of area to search and find things. The piece I have here is an interesting “bookend” (an end piece that has been cut in half such that it stands up nicely on its own). Back in the summer, I had a museum approach me asking to have a “pass around” set of basic meteorites (stone, iron, stony-iron…..). I didn’t really have anything for a pass around iron that was etched. I did/ do have some several hundred gram or so whole Canyon Diablos that would be great pieces for this “pass-around” purpose but only (and still have pretty much only) small etched pieces. I managed to come up with this piece for them. I had a nice assortment of affordable things for them set aside for considerable time. They finally (recently) admitted that this project was “not going to happen”. So this piece is now available. It is a very deeply etched specimen that is quite interesting to look at. If this does not sell, I am happy to hang on to it and maybe make it part of my “pass-around” collection (however, whatever I have for that just sits in boxes on a vault shelf these days).
579.2 gram deep etched book end – 100mm x 75mm x 23mm - $600

GUFFEY, Colorado: Iron, ungrouped. Ataxite. Found 1907. Tkw = 309kg.
I remember having a few pieces of this some years ago. I seem to recall it was NOT cheap back then (possibly why I didn’t have one set aside except for, possibly, in my extensive “micro” collection I sold years ago). I looked up the nickel content on this (I suppose I could have booted up the XRF and gotten the data that way) and it is around 10.5% That does not seem quite high enough for a nickel-rich ataxite (heck, the Aletai above runs close to 9.8% and it has a medium octahedrite structure) but yet, here it is. One side of this has been etched and, as an ataxite should, it shows pretty much nothing. Just a uniform gray with a couple small (really small) darker inclusions. I tough name to get these days. I do have quite a number of people that specifically look for any and all “ungrouped” irons as they each likely represent a new/ different parent body.
30.4 gram part slice – 34mm x 24mm x 4mm - $600

HOWE, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1938. Tkw = 8.63kg.
This is a piece I picked up from a collector at the Denver show (so I have not had it long). He got it from an auction, I believe he said. This does have a number sticker on it (M 131) that does match a little strip of paper that (briefly) describes the item and seems to indicate a realized price of $1010. I probably have had a small piece or two of this meteorite float through my hands over the years, but I cannot distinctly remember any. This is an almost cube/ block that has one face the natural exterior of the original meteorite and all the rest are cut with 3 faces polished and 2 not. IF this meteorite is fairly scarce on the market (I suspect it is) someone might do well to cut this thing up into smaller slices (wouldn’t be hard to chock up in a saw vise) and sell those off to waiting collectors (Texas meteorites are a pretty high demand thing these days).
200.4 gram block – 45mm x 39mm x 36mm - $600

KELLY, Colorado: Ordinary chondrite (LL4). Found 1927. Tkw = 44kg.
I sure remember this thing! Back in earlier days, getting an LL4 for your type collection was pretty much impossible (now, thanks to NWA you have a fairly nice selection of them to choose from. But they are still quite a bit rarer than LL3s). I, for the life of me, cannot remember where I got the piece, but I managed to get ahold of a rather large/thick slice of Kelly. It didn’t have a Nininger number on it or I would not have committed the sin I did to this – I split that thick piece into two thinner pieces using my 10” lapidary saw. David New ended up with one side and I broke the other down into nice collector sized pieces. I think this was the FIRST TIME an LL4 became available to collectors in the “recent” (early 1980’s and on) era. A LOT of people were excited at this and I sold out rapidly (at around $25/g I think). Kinda made me wish I didn’t sell off the other half of the slice so fast. Well, that “other half” is back in my hands right now! It turns out, David sold the piece intact to Jim Schwade way back in March of 1987. This is a 210g ¼ slice that is around ½ as thick as it was to start with (back in the “older” days, museums generally liked to have thick slices. Great if you ever need to re-polish them. Some seemed so thick they’d practically stand up on their own). Of course, free-hand splitting this with a 10” saw means it turned out a bit wedged, but surprisingly little (I do worse on some of these jobs even today- with 30 plus years more experience under my (expanded) belt). Even so, this could be wire-sawed into yet thinner slices if one so desired. This is a really rare bird! I think the only Kelly that has been floating around the collector’s world since 1987 has been my pieces from that slice I got (maybe I need to dig out really old tax records and see where I got this. Now I am really curious). NOT cheap as an overall specimen (a good number of grams here) but cheaper oer gram than it was 36 years ago! This comes wit one of my old labels (well, a reprinting of the original labels I sent out with this stuff back then) and Jim Schwade Collection label.
210.0 gram part slice – 125mm x 88mm x 5mm - $4500
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NWA (8043): HED achondrite (diogenite). Found 2013.
I didn’t put a TKW on this as this is certainly a pairing but I KNOW I can use the 8043 number because it is mine. A fair amount of, mostly small crumbly fragments of this stuff (I still have a handful or two of those) came out all at once. Regardless, I don’t think there was a whole lot (10-15kg maybe) and VERY few pieces were big enough (or solid enough) to cut. That is a shame as this is one of the neatest/ prettiest diogenites. The hypersthene crystals in this are quite gemmy and many pass light (like the olivines in a nice pallasite). What I have here is a LARGE thin cut slice that I have framed up between glass so you can see the light transmittance of the crystals. I realize that this is a big piece (I sold a similarly framed 60g piece in a flash in Denver) but IF you want a really big piece of one of the (very) few meteorites that pass light nocely, this is your chance! I CAN offer an alternative for those wanting something a bit smaller. I do have another similar slice (loose/ unframed) that I can cut in half or even ¼. So, let me know if you might like a roughly 60g (1/2 slice) done up this way (around $1700) or a roughly 30g one (around $950) and I’ll make one up (you’d have to give me some time on that part. I have to hand cut the frames, the intricate mats, etc. These take a good solid day to put together).
144.7gram complete slice in custom frame – 190mm x 135mm x 1mm - $3700





THIEL MOUNTAINS, Antarctica. Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1962. Tkw = 31.7kg.
There once was a time when we collectors/ dealers COULD get an Antarctic meteorite from time to time. Generally, it was something common and abundant in the collections (I am thinking Alan Hills 76001 here) or something that researchers didn’t (generally) find all that interesting (sorry to say, pallasites ARE really pretty but they are not super interesting from a research stand point). I think it was Robert Haag that managed to spring this stuff loose (some kind of museum trade). He originally had really nice thin slices but, back then before we learned about Opticon) the crystals liked to fall out of them (the crystals are quite rounded in this meteorite. That combined with a thin slice that has very little crystal/ metal boundary gripping surface presented a problem. This is a (slightly) later piece that was cut thicker and has, consequently, held onto its crystals. This piece is wedged but it could still be split into thinner slices if one wanted to (and with the advancement of Opticon, they would very likely hold up just fine). This is an old piece that was bought be the current owner (it is in consignment with me from the Denver show). He seems to recall that he got it directly from Robert many (like 30-35) years ago. I have a LOT of people asking for any Antarctic meteorites. This is the first I’ve had in many, many years.
11.61 gram part slice – 47mm x 15mm x 5mm - $4000

VIKING LANDER COIN:
This is something I found at a local store fairly recently. I did not know that such a thing existed. It is 29mm diameter aluminum coin that has a “picture” of the Viking lander (and “Viking 76 Landing/ Martin Marietta”) on one side and “This Medallion contains material from Viking which landed on Mars July 20, 1976” on the other. As near as I can tell, these are quite scarce. Somewhere I saw something that seems to indicate that these were not a “any Martin Marietta visitor can get one” kind of thing but more given to special people that worked on the project (if anyone out there knows more about these things, I’d love to hear it. However, that runs the risk of making me want to keep it, perhaps).
39mm diameter Viking coin in Riker - $100

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Shipping:
I have, over recent weeks, gotten a better handle on the new shipping costs and methods.

US Shipping: It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things.

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).


Wednesday, 4 October 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites- LIST 266- 04OCT2023

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

LIST 265 - October 4, 2023

Dear Collectors

Here is my Fall/ after Denver list. Sometimes, I have a list already set to go before I head off to the Denver show. Not this time. Kind of glad I waited. I never know what I am going to pick up at a show. Sometimes I get something new or exciting. This time I got something fairly special while at the show and I am glad I did not have to wait until my New Year’s list to offer it.
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DRONINO, Russia: Iron (ungrouped), Ataxite. Found 2000. Tkw = >3000kg.
I have had pieces of this meteorite off and on for some 20 years now but I think this is the first time I have ever had enough pieces to offer on a catalog. The first piece of this (a 40kg specimen) was found in July 2000 by a guy while he was heading home from mushroom hunting (something I like to do myself when we actually get enough moisture. This year, I was only able to get a couple handfuls of Chantrelles). It was a few years later before it was recognized as a meteorite. Of course, that set off a rush (both scientific and meteorite hunters) of expeditions to the area. It is suspected that a crater (guesstimated to be around 30m diameter) is hidden/ buried in the area. These are all small polished slices that show the classic shiny metal with rounded blobs of troilite texture of this ataxite. Part slices; polished both sides: a) 5.1 grams - 23mm x 13mm x 2.5mm - $20
b) 10.1 grams - 29mm x 13mm x 3mm - $35
c) 15.5 grams - 37mm x 23mm x 2mm - $50
d) 25.5 grams - 39mm x 37mm x 2.5mm - $80
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NWA 11615: Ordinary chondrite. (LL3), S2, W2. Found 2017. Tkw = 3.11 kg.
Though I am glad to have gotten this at the show, this is not the “special” thing I brought back from Denver. A single 3114g stone was found before August of 2017 (when it was sold to a dealer who bought it in Temara, Morocco). The interior shows lots of closely packed, well-formed chondrules (mostly lighter grays, tans to almost white) set in a finer-grained matrix that has altered kamacite (giving it kind of an orange brown coloration that sets off the chondrules quite nicely). Unfortunately, as with most “3s” these days, the sub-typing was not done on this (meeting the Nomenclature Committee’s updated requirements to do this is a very expensive and time consuming process so few type 3s are getting this done these days). So, a nice, affordable representative type 3 chondrite but no idea what the subtype (3.2, 3.5, 3.7……) might be.Slices: a) 6.0 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 4mm - $21
b) 10.9 grams - 30mm x 21mm x 5mm - $37
c) 23.5 grams - 45mm x 31mm x 5mm - $75
d) 52.1 grams - 90mm x 47mm x 4mm - $160
e) 102.8 grams - 90mm x 88mm x 4mm - $310 – complete slice.
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NWA 15893: Enstatite chondrite (EH6). Found 2022. Tkw = 3.4kg.
This is the item that I am glad to have waited on for this list. It has been a loooong time since I have had a decent fresh enstatite chondrite of any type to offer (I think NWA (1910) was the last one more than a decade ago and that was priced at $50/g). These things (particularly fresh ones) are incredibly rare. This particular meteorite is only the 9th of its type known (with the total of type being not much over 8kg). To be honest, at first glance, this does not look a whole lot different that an H5 orH6 (this could blend in quite nicely with the slices of Cassilda I recently got back from cutting). However, in prepping this for sale (breaking large pieces down) this clearly showed its type. The smell of sulfur was quite obvious (E chondrites smell so bad this way they are a challenge to cut and polish without good air flow). It took several washings to get the smell off of my hands after preparing the pieces listed here. Here is an affordable chance to up-grade the enstatite chondrite in your collection (I know I already have).Slices: a) 2.2 grams - 21mm x 14mm x 3mm - $33
b) 4.4 grams - 26mm x 20mm x 3mm - $65
c) 8.5 grams - 34mm x 29mm x 3mm - $125
d) 16.1 grams - 45mm x 36mm x 3mm - $235
e) 32.1 grams - 60mm x 55mm x 3mm - $450
f) 89.2 grams - 120mm x 80mm x 3mm - $1150 - not in photo.
g) 117.9 grams - 125mm x 118mm x 3mm - $1500
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BECHAR (003), Algeria: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia). Found 2022. Tkw = several kilos +
It seems quite a lot of pieces of this have been found since its discovery on March 2, 2022. However, MOST of those pieces are very small, angular (often caliche covered) fragments. I managed to acquire a batch that had, generally, slightly larger pieces and more pieces that were clearly surface-find individuals (all be it highly wind-polished). It is samples of these (after air abrasion cleaning to remove most of the dirt and caliche) that I am offering here. I don’t recall really ever offering any “natural individual” Moon rocks before. Perhaps a single specimen here or there over the years but not an assortment of such. These are all rounded/ sub-rounded specimens and not the usual obvious angular fracture (freeze-thaw?? Deserts are often warm but they often do get moisture and cold enough to have this action of destruction occur from time to time) fragments. As mentioned above, I have cleaned these quite extensively (this stuff has clearly been on the ground a loooong time) so they do have an obviously cleaned look to them. As such, many do show the brecciated internal structure. These, by far, are the cheapest (by more than half) of any Lunar material I have ever offered.Individuals: shape as found but cleaned: a) 1.50 grams - 15mm x 9mm x 6mm - $45
b) 2.28 grams - 16mm x 13mm x 10mm - $68
c) 3.24 grams - 18mm x 13mm x 10mm - $92
d) 4.51 grams - 19mm x 18mm x 10mm - $120
e) 6.60 grams - 24mm x 16mm x 10mm - $165
f) 10.44 grams - 20mm x 17mm x 16mm - sold.
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TRINITITE: Glass from first nuclear explosion.
Thanks to the (little bit) of hype concerning the movie “Oppenheimer” that came out in July there has been something of an “explosion” (pun intended) of interest and demand for pieces of Trinitite, I decided to go ahead and offer these larger pieces that I picked up some years ago now. These are pieces I lucked into during the Socorro Mineral Symposium and are bigger and nicer than pretty much any I have ever had before. I got these from old inventory from a rock shop (in El Paso Texas I think where it was) that was being cleared out from a shed full of rocks as the (long retired) owner was moving to California. As all of the pieces of this I have had, these are natural, as found, rounded blobs of glass from sand that was melted by the world’s first nuclear explosion on July 16, 1945 about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico at 5:29 in the morning. This material has gotten quite expensive lately (for a long time it could NOT be sold on E-Bay as it was “man-made radioactive”. True, but not very radioactive (My equipment shows this material to be less radioactive than many/ most brick buildings). They have changed the rules on E-Bay concerning this material causing demand (and prices) to increase a lot the past couple years. Once these “bigger” pieces are gone, I will have only the usual one or two gram pieces available.Natural pieces as found: a) 6.7 grams - 35mm x 23mm x 9mm - $65 - not piece in photo..
b) 8.2 grams - 30mm x 26mm x 12mm - $82
c) 11.5 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 15mm - $115
d) 14.1 grams - 47mm x 28mm x 15mm - $150 - only piece this size.

“WRONG BUTTON” copper coin.
I picked these up in Denver and thought they were kind of neat. I put some out with the (much smaller than above) Trinitite pieces I had at the show and sold a few. These are pure copper 1 oz (28.35g ounce/ 16 to a pound NOT troy ounce, 31.1035g used in precious metals) coin that has an American eagle (with olive branches in one claw and arrows in the other) on one side. The other side is why I got them. It is a couple aliens sitting in lawn chairs watching fire-works (much like many of us do on the 4th of July). However, the main fire work is clearly nuclear mushroom cloud with the words “Wrong Button” above it. Kind of works with a piece of trinitite as a display.
a) coin on its own - $7 each
b) coin with purchase of any trinitite piece (including my smaller ones not listed) - $5 each

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Shipping:
Shipping costs are something of a confused mess since the post office changed rates a few months ago. I can still send small US orders for right around $6. However, this is by way of “Ground (advantage)”. “First-class” (air mail) no longer exists. So far, I have not noticed much in the way of delays using this “Ground Advantage” (or packages going missing but, to be honest, I have not sent a lot of packages out the past couple months). IF you want true “air-mail” the only option is “Priority” now: What little I have done with that lately shows that the cheapest this can be done is the “small flat-rate box” for a little over $10. I have found that for items that are just a little too big for those kind of boxes prices get expensive very quickly (often making the medium flat-rate box (aside from the ridiculous amounts of extra packing materials often needed) at $17 the next best option.
For overseas (or Canada for that matter) I will have to custom quote shipping on each order. IF no alternative to “Priority” remains (first class (which used to be around $15) can’t really do “ground” on overseas) it may mean that the only remaining option is (once again) a Priority small flat-rate box (which is around $48 to most places these days!!!!).

Thursday, 24 August 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites- LIST 265- 24AUG2023

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

LIST 265 - August 24, 2023

Dear Collectors

Here is a modest offering of some things that I have had here for some time but have not had a lot of time to catalog/ sort out. This will be my only offering until sometime after the Denver show (coming waaaayy to soon) – notes on that below).

Denver Show: I will be at my normal spot – Crowne Plaza (15500 E. 40th Ave – I-70 and Chambers Rd) in the “Frisco” meeting room (on the WEST side of the actual Convention center building – near the actual Hotel building). I will (or should) be open from Friday morning the 8th until Saturday afternoon (the 16th). I am scheduled to be open at 10am but will try to be open a bit earlier than that most days. My official closing time is 6pm but I do hang around and keep the door open however late (within reason) people are visiting (PLEASE NOTE, if you are wanting to visit “after hours” you will likely have to got through the hotel lobby doors as they often turn off and lock the doors that are right next to my show space). I will be “on the road” for this trip from around the 5th until the 18th. I’ll be VERY swamped once I get back home as it looks like I may have to unload and then turn right around an head back over the mountains to Wichita, Kansas (the guy I get my watch repair parts from is looking to retire and is getting pretty insistent that I go out to their NAWCC watch/ clock convention (starting on the 20th!!!) to buy whatever parts I think I might need or risk, in the future, going without). Basically, this whole next month is going to be a big, difficult mess for me.



ABADLA (002), Algeria: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2).
Found 2021, Tkw = 800 grams.
Here is about the only “affordable” CM2 that I am aware of. I have only a few crumbs of Murchison, sold all of my Aguas Zarcas. I’d love to sit on these pieces and wait to see what the asteroid return missions (one back already, one back soon) shows what those asteroids are made of. IF it is basically this kind of stuff, expect a pretty good run on all things CM2 (or CI1??). These are all the “usual” small fragments/ individuals as found.
1) Natural fragment:
a) .54 grams – 11mm x 7mm x 5mm - $35
b) .84 grams – 12mm x 9mm x 7mm - $50
c) 1.07 grams – 14mm x 8mm x 6mm - $65
d) 1.20 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 6mm - $70

ADMIRE, Kansas: Stony-iron (Pallasite).
I don’t remember exactly where I got this, just know it has been quite a long time now. This looks to be a “cleaned” (tumble polished?) individual of this meteorite. I didn’t know that many small individuals were actually found. This is actually quite pretty (I just don’t need it collecting dust at the back of a shelf here any more as it has for the last decade or so). It has obvious large somewhat gemmy olivine crystals in a blue-gray looking (on the exterior anyway) metal matrix. A nice piece that I wish I had bought a bunch of IF it was available affordably back when I got it. I have not had trouble with this rusting BUT I would recommend keeping it in a sealed desiccant container if you live in a humid area.
24.7 gram cleaned individual – 40mm x 28mm x 17mm - $150

DAR AL GANI (400), Lunar meteorite (anorthositic breccia). Found 1998,Ttkw = 1425 grams.
Boy oh boy do I remember when this discovery was reported. I think it happened right AFTER I paid $87k for a piece of the DaG (262) that was about the size of a nickel (and not much thicker). I think it might have been right before I got that piece in my hands and prepared it for selling. Nervous time indeed (were many kilos about to found, flooding the market making my little 262 nickel worth a fraction of what I paid?????). Anyway, the DaG 400 did come out but there was never a lot of it available. This piece IS the piece I picked up for myself at the time (much larger surface area than the small DaG 262 piece I kept for myself (and still have). Not super exciting these days, given the volume of Lunars available now but still a historic and interesting little piece.
.243gram slice – 20mm x 7mm x 1mm - $250

NAGJIR (001), Western Sahara. Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2012, Tkw 4.8kg.
Here are a few slices of a nice, really classic looking CV3. These are this, show lots of chondrules and even a few of the CAI inclusions fluoresce a bit (pink/ purple).
1) Slices:
a) 7.5 grams – 48mm x 40mm x 1.5mm - $110
b) 12.2 grams – 90mm x 38mm x 1.5mm - $170
c) 15.9 grams – 110mm x 45mm x 1.5mm - $200




NWA (10401): Lunar meteorite (anorthositic troctolite). Found 2015. Tkw 354 grams.
This is kind of different from other lunars I have seen. It kind of looks like a plae green/ tan version of an Aubrite. It has distinct shock veins, many of which are large/ wide enough to have gas bubbles. I remember when this first came out. Being “something new and different” it was NOT particularly cheap (and me, being a cheap ------- ahh skate, I didn’t pick any up at the time). A bit (but only a little) more expensive than some of the other Lunars available BUT definitely interesting and worth the little extra (I’ll be keeping a piece myself). I can break a piece up into smaller pieces if anyone out there wants a smaller piece of this. I just didn’t want to start breaking apart these rather pretty pieces until I had a distinct need to.
1) Slices:
a) 4.3 grams – 30mm x 23mm x 2.5mm - $525
b) 7.3 grams – 35mm x 30mm x 2.5mm - $900 - complete slice
c) 11.3 grams – 47mm x 28mm x 3mm - $1200

SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron (Pallasite).
Now (unlike the similar Admire above) I do remember where I got this (if not exactly when). I got this as a trade in from a local Tucson collector towards something a bit bigger/ better I had that he wanted (he shows up each year with a small bag of “trade stuff”. He never buys, just trades). This, like the above Admire, does not look like a fragment of a much larger mass (though this one might be ½ of a slightly larger natural piece). Like the Admire above, I am not aware of many small seymchan pieces having been found. This shows a fair amount of visible olivine in the (in this case, mostly brown) metal matrix. This does have some fracturing. I don’t think that this is from it rusting after recovery as much as it is probably freeze-thaw fracturing. These things are found in the far north in an ancient glacial moraine. Being near the surface (where such a small piece would be findable with metal detector equipment) in such an environment would make it highly likely to suffer this fate.
60.7 gram natural fragment – 50mm x 25mm x 20mm - $280

TIGLIT, Morocco: Enstatite achondrite (Aubrite). Fell Dec 9, 2021. Tkw 2.22kg.
I remember the big hoopla when this fell. I had a lot of people telling me to “buy it now” (right after it fell). Well, the price was really high at that point (these days, even a common chondrite fall is many $hundreds/ gram until it is seen if there will be enough to satisfy the “will loose sleep if I don’t own a piece of the new one – will pay (almost” any price to get it” collectors. This one had more going for it. It had (has) a classic Lunar breccia look to it. That is what it was believed to be initially. As such, I seem to recall its price was around $1000/g. IF I were in the area (and had my XRF, I could have sorted this out in about a minute. I would have known it was NOT the world’s first Lunar witnessed fall but a (still quite interesting” Aubrite fall. These are all natural fragments as found. DON’T mix them in with any of your lunar meteorites or you’ll need my help sorting them back out.
1) Natural fragments as found: $175/g
Sizes available: .31g, .75g, 1.33g, 1.69g

Shipping:
Once again, the post office had turned everything upside down as far as shipping costs go (changes were made back in early July). I still can ship small US orders for around $5 BUT that is by way of something they are now calling "Ground Advantage". They have COMPLETELY eliminated "First Class" (which used to be "air-mail"). I have used this a number of times in the last month or so and it does not seem like it is taking all that much longer to get where it needs to be. I am a bit concerned though that being now "Ground" shipping that I may start to see more damaged and lost packages as these will now be mixed in with ALL the large, heavy things that are still going by the old "Parcel post". The problem here is that now, thanks to these changes, the cheapest I can send anything by air is in a small or medium Priority flat-rate box (using my own boxes for anything is drastically more expensive I have found. It seems the Post Office is doing everything they can to "standardize" shipping containers and is forcing us into flat-rate boxes only). So, sending things by air will be a minimum of $10 ($17 for larger things).

As for "Overseas" (any out of US orders) I am not quite certain yet how this effects things, I just know it will. As such, I will have to custom quote shipping on any out of US orders. I suspect though that this will force me to use Priority for these sales with "First Class" no longer existing and no possible "Ground" option available. I suspect I'll be forced into the flat-rate boxes here as well (and those START at nearly $50 for a small!!).

Tuesday, 11 July 2023

BLAINE REED METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 264 11JUL2023

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

LIST 264 - July 11, 2023


Dear Collectors,

   Here is another assortment of odds and ends from the big pile of small specimens collection I bought a couple years ago. In fact, these are the last of the specimens from that collection (I sold most of the material to one buyer for resale in their large and popular retail store).

  I will be gone from August 3rd through the 7th for this event. The show itself runs the 4th, 5th and 6th. I believe the show times are 10am to 5pm each day. IF you think you might go (loooong drive from many places in Colorado but nice (for me anyway) to get out of the heat for a few days) let me know if there is something you want me to bring as many of the more collector oriented things tend to get left behind as this is pretty much a “retail” (generally more common, more affordable items) show.
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DAR AL GANI (082), Libya: Carbonaceous chondrite (CO3)
. Found 1995. Tkw = 860 grams.
The Meteoritical bulleting says one piece was found. I actually remember when pieces of this (well, likely pairings anyway) first started to come out. Up until then, I think Colony, Oklahoma (and maybe a small piece of Kainsaz) were all I had for CO3 meteorites (and neither was cheap). I ended up buying several of these things, more than doubling my suite of CO3 meteorites in my collection. There were a fair number of these that came out (and it IS likely that many are paired) but I have not seen any of these for a while. This is a natural fragment that has two cut faces roughly perpendicular to each other (so, kind of a “book end” cut). This comes with a Hupe Collection label.
7.3 gram cut fragment – 17mm x 11mm x 15mm - $65

DAR AL GANI (437), Libya: Ordinary chondrite. (L6). Found 1998. Tkw 239 grams.
Two pieces were recovered. The cut face on this end piece matches the structure/ appearance of the photo of a piece of this meteorite that is posted in its Meteoritical Bulletin listing. The cut face is roughly 27mm x 13mm in size. The remainder of the specimen is all natural – no fresh broken surfaces. This comes with a “The Meteorite Shop” (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) CoA/ label.
16.3 gram end piece – 27mm x 13mm x 23mm - $50

GIBEON, Namibia: Iron. Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
This is a small rectangular etched (on both sides) slice. I remember the days when I had LOTS of these. Right now, I think this my ONLY piece (aside from a small batch of similar pieces I have in deep, deep storage. I brought those back from Munich on the Concorde. I suspect that those are the only Gibeon pieces that have been back to supersonic speeds (a tiny tad over Mach 2) since their fall). I have this piece only because I had consigned it to a store in Ouray years ago. Unfortunately, health issues required the store’s owner to sell out and retire. The new owners did NOT want ANY consignment items. So, I “rediscovered” this piece while going through all the display cases looking for material of mine before the new owners got handed the keys (anything I left behind would become the new owner’s property in full). Years ago, this would have been a $20 piece maybe. Lately, I have heard things about etched Gibeon pieces selling for closer to $6 to $10/g lately!
16.1gram rectangular part slice – 34mm x 18mm x 3mm - $70

IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1822.
Not sure how I missed this one. If I had seen it earlier, I would have simply put it on the last offering with the nice single olivine crystal I offered (and still have, I believe) on the last list. Oh well, here it is on this one. This is a much more typical pallasite piece. It has both metal and olivine (though it does lean heavy on the olivine side). This is in a gem-stone holder and comes with a Moritz Karl label.
1.38 gram slice – 17mm x 11mm x 3mm - $55





NWA (1459): HED achondrite (olivine Diogenite). Found April 2002. Tkw = 49 grams.
I certainly remember when this first came out. It was the very first of its kind. No one had seen a diogenite with a fair amount of olivine in it before. As such, and with so very little of it known at the time, it was certainly very expensive. I cannot recall the price on this stuff back then (many hundreds$ to some thousands$/ gram I think), just that it was high enough that I chose not to add a piece to my collection at the time. As happens often, more similar material was found not long after. Some of that material, held by other people, was “self paired” to this first one and fights (verbal and legal) soon developed. Ultimately, a sizable amount of “olivine diogenite” was found (not really all that much, but plenty to more than satisfy anyone who felt the need to have a piece of this type material at high prices). I think I ended up getting pieces for closer to $20/g or so before I added some to my collection. Not super long after this “discovery” was made, I managed to come into the first known Vesta Dunite (a rock this is pretty much all olivine. Actually, Chassigny is the Martian version of a Dunite). However, just as I was starting to bring this “new and exciting” material to market, the folks with the Meteoritical Bulletin decided to lump ALL Diogenites (regular, olivine diogenites and dunites) together under the simple “Diogenite” classification. You now have to dig into the research reports a bit to see if any particular “Diogenite” is what was considered and olivine diogenite or a dunite (that last one is highly unlikely though. I think only a couple Vesta dunites are known even today). Regardless, this is a small piece of the real deal (NOT a later, other party “self pairing”). It is a fragment from the very first recovery. This comes with its original Hupe Collection label. This may not be particularly rare/ pricy type material these days BUT this little piece is kind of historic.
.08 gram fragment – 6mm x 3mm x 2mm - $40

NWA (2126): HED achondrite (Eucrite, polymict). Found 2003. Tkw 227 grams.
The Hupe Collection label that comes with this has the TKW as “2227 grams”. The Meteoritical Bulletin has it as 227 grams. I suspect that a “fat finger” accident happened (adding and extra “2”) when this card was being made (I have plenty of these events myself). The “polymict”part does not show up at the top of the classification report. This just means that this is all eucritic material BUT there are fragments of eucrites of differing composition and or structures in this breccia.
3.6 gram part slice – 17mm x 16mm x 5mm - $40

NWA (4293): Ordinary chondrite. (L6). Found 2005. Tkw 25 kilograms.
The Meteoritical Bulletin lists one piece as being found. Personally, I think it was more like “one bucket full” of pieces. This is a completely natural on all surface fragment (no fresh breaks). This has an interesting deep “Y” shaped crack on one face that has a number of largish sand grains stuck down in it. Nothing rare or special, just interesting and affordable. This comes with a “Gary LaDuke” (???? – don’t know who that is, to be honest) that says that this specimen was “originally from the world famous Hupe Collection”.
33.0 gram natural fragment – 30mm x 26mm x 20mm - $35

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: HED achondrite (diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931. Tkw = 13.5kg.
These are both lots of the typical weird generally angular (with some rounded edges) green crystals. The smaller lot has fewer (but generally larger) pieces and comes with a P.A. Swartz Collection label. The heavier lot has many more specimens but they range from a couple mm or so to around 5mm in size. Those come with a “Meteor Center Collection” label. Either of these batches would be great for someone that wants to break them apart and have small pieces of a weird diogenite fall to sell to new collectors.
a) 3.28 gram (5 pcs) lot of natural pieces - $35
b) 10 gram lot - $100

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Shipping: For small US orders $10 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $10. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still losing a little even at $10. Larger orders are now $9 to $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 around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

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. However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail when possible.

Monday, 26 June 2023

BLAINE REED METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 263 25JUN2023

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

LIST 26 - June 26, 2023

Dear Collectors,

Here is an assortment of things I picked up as part of a large collection (like 9 beer flats full) I bought several years ago. Most of the pieces in that collection were very small/ cheap items (like .1 or .2g $5 or $10 kind of items). I sold most of it off as one large lot to someone wanting the pieces for a retail store. These pieces represent some of the pieces I decided to hang onto for sale at my shows or E-mail offerings like this. I did not offer any of these things earlier as I had quite simply misplaced them. I had looked for them off and on over the past few months (but not real intensely), while nice, these aren’t really “new” items. They are all things I have offered at some point in the past (the shatter cone being the only exception). While looking for something else (a Lunar Gabbro slice) that turned out to quite elusive in my inventory, I discovered the bag that had these (and other) specimens in it in the completely wrong box (with “consignment” items). Not sure how/why it ended up there (likely “cleaning up” in too big a hurry at some point) but, thankfully, I have them out and ready for sale now.

Now this is going to seem a bit strange but, for this offering, I am going to reduce the price of items 5% for folks that are willing to pay with a credit card. Nope, this is certainly NOT normal for me. I usually prefer a simply mailed check (slower but no fees), The reason for this is I am setting up a new credit card processing system (one that has chip reader, tap pay – things that will really only be useful at shows) and I really need to test it a bit before I completely shut down and destroy my old (like 25 years old) machine and processing system. I am hoping to get this new machine/ system tested a bit in the next few days and (assuming it works well for me) shut down and cancel the old system before those folks hit me with a stupid high amount of fees for July (they DRASTICALLY increased their fee structure for me back in January. Now something like $130 a month in fees BEFORE I run a charge (more fees added as soon as I do). I wanted to dump them (and the old machine) ASAP then BUT I didn’t dare risk it as I needed something I could fully trust for the Tucson show (I got this new one in a “slow” sales period so I can play with and test it plenty to iron out any problems before the next show). So, if you want something off of this offering please do consider using a card (5% discount) for this. This will not be repeated unless I find further issues that need to be ironed out (with any “upgrades” needing further testing).

A further note: I have a couple things that I forgot I need to do today. Each will have me "out of the house" for half an hour to an hour maybe. I will honor reservation requests (should there be any) made while i am gone (by phone or E-Mail in the order I receive them (yep, both the e-mail and phone message system have time stamps on them).



IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1822.
This is actually kind of a cool specimen. It is one quite large olivine crystal that obviously popped out of a slice at some point. This crystal is quite gemmy and probably could have a couple nice (but not large) gemstones cut from it. This is (appropriately) in a gemstone holder and comes with a Moritz Karl label.
.33gram olivine crystal – 12mm x 9mm x 1.5mm - $25

JUANCHENGE, China: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell Feb. 15, 1997. Tkw = 100kg.
Like the Murchison below, if I knew had this, I could have sold this several times over by now. I remember when this first came out (Denver show 1997). It was not particularly cheap ($10/g or so I seem to recall). However, it was not long before far more material showed up than buyers who were willing to pay those kinds of prices. Of course, the prices dropped (to around $1/g or so at one point!). However, another “issue” turned up as well. Pieces of this “new” meteorite were showing up looking far more rusty/ weathered than they should have been for something that had just fallen a month or three earlier. It turns out that someone had offered to buy these things from the finders “By Weight” (as we pretty much all do in this biz/ hobby). Well, the folks in China realized that these things are quite porous. As such, they can absorb a surprising amount of water. Water adds weight. So, soak your rocks in a bucket of water for a day or two and you get more money for the same rocks! Maybe good for the finder/ seller but not so much for the specimen. This piece is basically a complete individual. It has something around 80% or so thick primary crust and the remainder being late atmospheric breaks with thin secondary crust. Though this piece is not terribly rusted, I do think it was a piece that was one of the “enhanced weight” pieces. Nice pieces of this meteorite bring some pretty good money these days (Chinese collectors want them back) – equal to or more than what the original first available pieces brought. I am offering this piece for around half of that. Not a bad piece, just not as nice and fresh as some (but has a story to tell).
40.7 gram complete individual – 30mm x 25mm x 20mm - $200

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS:
I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with this specimen. I had thought about simply tossing it in with my other Libyan glass pieces but this one is not the same style. Most of my usual pieces are kind of mid to higher grade – more clarity (but substantially higher price). This one is quite “foggy” - has lots of internal air bubbles, many filled with milky white cristobalite (high temp/ high pressure form of quartz). This is a complete natural fragment. Nothing real exciting, just a nice sample in a style (somewhat milky) that is, generally, the easiest (and cheapest) to find. This comes with a Michael Farmer Meteorites label.
25.2 gram natural fragment – 45mm x 30mm x 20mm - $20


MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell Sept. 28, 1969.
If I had remembered I had this (and could have found it) I would have sold this particular piece several times over by now. This is a single solid piece (the Murchison I offered on my last “mailed” catalog were fragments in a capsule). It is really a small slice but it looks more like a cut fragment (one “cut” side is quite small). This is in a gemstone holder and comes with a “Mr. Meteorite” label.
.13gram slice – 8mm x 3mm x 3mm - $80



NWA (8160): Carbonaceous chondrite. (CV3). Found 2013. Tkw = 5.3kg.
The biggest specimen here was probably the most valuable item in the entire 9 beer flat lot. This is the same material that I have been putting out at shows the past few years as my “CV3” material. I got a fair amount of moderate sized pieces of this some years ago. I have cut what pieces I could and have been offering end pieces of this since. This is somewhat weathered material, but not bad. If anything, the weathering has enhanced the appearance of the material. It was turned some of the (very obvious) chondrules shades of orange/ brown, making them really stand out. These all show a really classic CV3 texture (chondrules, CAIs.in a medium to dark gray matrix) and are priced below what I have on them when I put them out at shows (these pieces cost me less). If these don’t sell from this offering, they will be out for sale in Denver this fall.
a) 7.1 gram slice – 25mm x 14mm x 10mm - $35
b) 11.0 gram slice – 40mm x 32mm x 6mm - $55
c) 116.2 gram end piece – 70mm x 30mm x 35mm - $550

RICHFIELD, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (LL3.7). Found 1983. Tkw = 41kg.
I once had the entire mass of this meteorite. I have long since cut it up and sold it off. I think, right now, I only have a few tens of grams of it remaining in inventory. This sample came from me originally but has had more work done on it. When I had this meteorite cut up, I did not have the classification work finished on it. The part I had cut off myself (for research/ classification work) did not look like this was anything important. This was because, it turned out, this meteorite has a lot of solar-wind implanted gasses (this was sitting on the surface of its parent body for a considerable amount of time). These implanted gasses have darkened some areas of the meteorites to the point that it hides the chondrules, making those areas look like a type 5 at best. As such, thinking I had a big L5 on my hands, I had it cut as I would any common stone meteorite at the time (around 5 or 6mm thick). Now I have cut some of those thicker pieces in two, making them closer to 2.5mm thick. This piece looks like it was probably cut using a wire saw (which, with the right operator, could probably cut one of my original thick slices into three or four thinner ones). This piece is sub 1mm in thickness. As such, it does not have a lot of weight but does have a really good surface area. Better yet, though this piece does show some solar wind gas darkening in spots, it shows lots of chondrules (including one really light tan one that is 5mm or so in diameter) – looking more like the type 3 it is.
2.7 gram slice – 36mm x 35mm x 1mm - $45

Keurusselka, Finland, SHATTER CONE  Can’t saw that I have ever had (or even seen) a shatter cone from this locality. The ancient impact is, apparently, the large of 12 known in Finland. It is also, at 1.15 billion years old, one of the very oldest known. It is not known how big the original crater was as much of it has long since eroded away (not surprising, given its age) but it is guessed to have been somewhere between 14km and 36km in diameter (NOT something you would to have been in the area to see forming). This is a dark “granitoid” rock (looks like a typical granite but with a lot more dark minerals). It is fairly coarse-grained but yet still shows the shattercone structure quite well. This rock is also quite ancient – forming around 1.88 billion years ago. It doesn’t have a label with it but is easily identifiable as it has “KEURAUSSE/LKA” written in black paint (on a white paint background) on one end.
254.0 grams – 160mm x 75mm x 20mm - $40

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Shipping: For small US orders $5 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $5. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still loosing a little even at $5. Larger orders are now $9 to $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 around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

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. However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail when possible.

Tuesday, 13 June 2023

BLAINE REED METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 262 Argentina/ Brazil Things 13JUN2023

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

LIST 262 - June 13, 2023

Dear Collectors,

Here is a list of items I had out in Tucson but few seemed to notice the bin (it was sitting on the bed). These are all items from either Argentina or Brazil. I got them from a friend who got them from an auction I believe. All of these have some kind of labels with them. Some are just stickers on the membrane box with the important info and others have collection labels (sometimes 2) with them. Most of these are in a display of some sort (only the 2 biggest pieces listed here are not). When I set up the group photos for this offering, I took the specimens out of their packaging so they would show a bit better just on their own (the first photo attempt with leaving the pieces in their display set-ups didn’t work out well).
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BALCARCE, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H4). Found June 2, 2000. Tkw = around 2.5kg.
This is one of the two pieces that is not set up in a display of some sort. It is a natural fragment and is a bit too thick to fit in a Riker box (at least any of the ones I have on hand). It does camo with a Southern Minerals label though.
48.1 gram natural fragment – 50mm x 35mm x 20mm -  SOLD

CAMPINORTE, Brazil: Iron, ungrouped. Found 1992. Tkw = about 2 tons.
This was found by a couple miners/ prospectors. One had made the comment to the other that he had found a “steel stone” some years earlier. They went to the area he had remembered seeing it and they located it with metal detectors. As it was on private land, they asked permission to break off a piece and get it checked out. The Museo National confirmed that it was a meteorite. The person who owned the land kept the rest of the meteorite himself. This is an oxide fragment (as was, likely, the piece the prospectors were able to “break off”). It is in a labeled membrane box.
1.6 gram oxide fragment – 15mm x 11mm x 4mm -  SOLD

CASILDA, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1937, Tkw = 18.35kg.
I strongly suspect that these two pieces are ones that came from the piece I had partly cut up some years ago. They then went wandering through other people’s hands before falling back into mine. The smaller piece is in a labeled membrane box and the larger is in a larger plastic box with a Mile High Meteorites label. IF someone wants a big full slice of this I did have a few slices taken off of the main mass end piece I had sitting in a corner for years recently (however, I still have not even opened the box they came back from being cut in).
a) 2.7 gram slice – 18mm x 7mm x 5mm - SOLD
b) 9.4 gram slice – 28mm x 18mm x 5mm - SOLD

GARABATO, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1995. Tkw = 160kg.
A single stone was found while ploughing. Not much else of the story is offered. This piece is in a labeled membrane box. Actually, I have a couple of these (basically equal in size/ weight) but decided to put only one in the photo.
1.5 gram slice – 15mm x 9mm x 3mm - SOLD

NAHEUL NIYEU, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 2005. Tkw = 10.54kg.
Pretty much nothing listed as for the find story on this one. This is the second piece in this offering that is not in display packaging of some sort. However, this comes with TWO labels: one a Southern Minerals label and one a Meteorites USA (John Sinclair) label. This is the largest item on this offering.
148.7g complete slice – 95mm x 90mm x 6mm - SOLD



PATOS DE MINAS II, Brazil: Iron, (IAB). Found 1925. Tkw = 200kg.
Originally, a small rusted piece of this was found in a museum collection, unstudied in 1925. Two pieces were found there, actually. One was a Hexahedrite (now called Patos de Minas I) and this one, an octahedrite. In 2002 a roughly 200kg piece of the octahedrite one was found by a farmer while ploughing a field (and that piece is the source of this particular specimen). This is pretty much a small block, etched on one face. It is set up in a Riker type box with a COA (with IMCA on it) but IO cannot seem to make out the finer details of just who’s label this is.
14.0g slice/block – 15mm x 15mm x 9mm -  SOLD

PUTINGA, Brazil; Ordinary chondite (L6). Fell August 16,1937. Tkw 300kg.
This is in labeled membrane box. However, that label says “found 1937”. This is just a small rectangular slice that does have one edge (one of the longer edges) showing fusion crust.
1.0 gram slice – 11mm x 8mm x 4mm -  SOLD


SANTA VITORIA DO PALMAR, Brazil: ordinary chondrite (L3). Found 2003. Tkw = 50.4kg.
I seem to recall this one had me completely stumped when I first saw it. I seem to remember that they were trying to claim that this was a fall. I thought “no way” – it was far to weathered to be a fall I thought (this has very little visible inside). It was then claimed that it fell in a “salt bog” kind of area. Nope, I thought, the weathering was way to uniform throughout the inside of this meteorite (plus it does NOT absorb moisture and keep developing rust spots as meteorites that have been in slat water like to do). To me, it looked like an NWA stone, frankly. It had that classic Sahara Desert wind-polish look to it. However, it seems that a couple different people have found pieces of this in different years so, in this case, I seem to be quite wrong in my initial thoughts on this meteorite (Pobody is Nerfect!). The first three pieces were found in 2003 by a person looking for ancient arrowheads. In 2004, another (the last?) piece was found in the area. This small slice is in a labeled membrane box.
1.2 gram slice – 9mm x 9mm x 5mm - SOLD

SAO JOAO NEPOOCENO, Brazil: Iron (IVA) anomalous. Found 1956. Tkw = 15.3kg.
This is an interesting specimen. This meteorite is listed as having “silicate inclusions” but this small piece almost pretends to be a pallasite. About ½ of the face that is up in its larger sized gemstone holder is silicate. Some of these silicates look to be olivine crystals. A quick search on this meteorite shows that there is not a lot of it out there, what is is NOT cheap and one thing that seems to indicate that this is similar to Steinbach (a hugely desired meteorite but rarely available). This piece comes with a Big Kahuna Meteorites label.
1.9 gram slice – 15mm x 10mm x 3mm -  SOLD

VIEDMA, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (L5). Found 2003. Tkw = 6.9kg.
Not much is reported on this meteorite other than Matt Morgan has the main mass (well, he did, I think all of this has long since been sold). I seem to recall buying this thing with him when it did become available (well, at least I bought a pretty good sized hunk of the stuff from him when it came available). All of my pieces have been looooong gone as well. This is a little slice/ block of a piece. It is in a labeled membrane box. Not big and exciting BUT it may be the only chance to add this name to your collection for a considerable time.
1.2 gram slice/ block – 8mm x 8mm x 5mm -  SOLD

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Shipping: For small US orders $5 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $5. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still loosing a little even at $5. Larger orders are now $9 to $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 around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

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. However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail when possible.

Friday, 5 May 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites -LIST 261 03MAY2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
LIST 261 - May 3, 2023

Dear Collectors
Here is the e-mail version of my much delayed “Spring/ after Tucson” list. I have been so busy with various things that I came close to not doing this offering. However, I have had a number of people asking me “when is your new list coming out”. The answer is “Now”.
One important note: I have to be out of town May 9th and 10th. So, if you try to reach me either of those days, you will likely not be able to and will have to wait until Thursday the 11th (assuming no disasters that end up getting me stuck on the wrong side of the mountains an extra day or two anyway).

A note concerning the photos in this offering:
I want everyone receiving this post with imbedded group photos of the items on this list that the item pictured MAY NOT be the identical item you receive (except for cases where I have clearly labeled an item as “the only one this size” or similar). I usually have (and sell) multiple pieces of each size of the items listed (sometimes MANY of them – far to many to put all in a photograph for people to pick from). What I normally do is send the first person that asks for a particular item the largest piece available in whatever size range it is that the specimen they are buying belongs to (when I send a piece that is not in the photo, you generally get a very similar but slightly larger piece). This came about as MOST of my sales from these periodic (three times a year) catalogs come from the paper mailed version of this offering where no photos exist so customers don’t know exactly what the piece they ordered looks like (and are usually quite happy to receive a slightly larger specimen instead). So, you can certainly request the exact item in the group photo and I am happy to send it if someone else hasn’t already requested it. Please let me know if you would likely ONLY be happy with receiving that actual pictured piece(s) and I will NOT do any substitution(s) in your order.




GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Iron. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008.
Yes, I know I have offered plenty of this in the past. However, these pieces are special. It has been said that “meteorites do not hit the ground hot”. Yes, that IS true for something like 99.99% of them. However, these pieces are clearly an exception to that “rule”. These pieces each have a substantial patch (or several) of black bubbly glass adhering to them. This is from them hitting the local sand after the impact still hot enough to turn some of that sand into glass that ended up sticking to the meteorite. I suppose this should not be too surprising, given that Gebel was a crater forming impact, We have all (well, most of us anyway) seen impactites and impact glasses from some of the larger impact crater meteorites. However, I think that this is the first meteorite that I have ever seen showing melted stuff attached to it (aside from a very special and very expensive Portales Valley, NM piece I had years ago that had just the right wide metal vein trapped in the center of a mostly stone meteorite that melted a small patch of blue tarp to it when it landed). I went through a pretty good pile of this material and found few pieces that had any glass on them and much fewer still that showed relatively large (easily visible) amounts of it. Not cheap for “Gebel” in general, I realize, but these are special pieces!
1) Individuals as found
a) 2.8 grams - 5mm x 10mm x 4mm - $15 - not in the photo
b) 5.1 grams - 18mm x 15mm x 5mm - $25
c) 8.0 grams - 22mm x 18mm x 6mm - $38
d) 12.3 grams - 22mm x 21mm x 6mm - $57
e) 20.0 grams - 37mm x 17mm x 11mm - $90
f) 24.9 grams - 27mm x 24mm x 11mm - $110



ABA PANU, Nigeria: Ordinary chondrite (L3), S4, W0. Fell April 19, 2018. Tkw = 160kg.
Here are some slices of a really nice and really fresh type 3 chondrite. The fireball from the fall of this meteorite was recorded by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Objects Studies. The meteor arrived traveling at 20.9 km/ second and detonated at 30km high, releasing .23 kilotons of energy. Cutting reveals a beautiful light to medium gray interior filled with lots of chondrules, chondrule fragments and some angular to sub-rounded clasts (both light and dark). This meteorite has suffered very strong shock. This shock hardened this meteorite to the point of making it the currently hardest known meteorite (I know I had trouble even breaking these thing slices down into smaller pieces). Most of these pieces have not really been polished. They were cut with a wire saw, so saw marks remaining are not very visible (you have to really look for them to see them). I choose not to try and “fix” this as any polishing attempt at all would likely only result in making the chondrules harder to see (mushy) and just darken the overall appearance of this beautiful as is meteorite.
1) Slices:
a) 2.9 grams - 25mm x 12mm x 2mm - $35
b) 4.9 grams - 33mm x 19mm x 2.5mm - $56
c) 10.0 grams - 45mm x 26mm x 2.5mm - $110
d) 19.5 grams - 50mm x 45mm x 2mm - $210
e) 36.4 grams - 65mm x 53mm x 3mm - $370
f) 71.0 grams - 120mm x 62mm x 3mm - $700
g) 150.9 grams - 140mm x 120mm x 3mm - $1450 – beautiful full slice.




NWA (11026): Ordinary chondrite. (LL4), S4, W2. Found 2016. Tkw = 385 grams.
A single stone was found and later classified at UCLA. The research work showed this to be a member of the relatively rare LL4 group. Thin sections showed well-defined chondrules and some twinned pyroxenes but these are hard to see in a hand specimen as they are in a somewhat shock darkened matrix. Reflecting light off of a polished surface shows a lot of chondrules (some armored) and lots of fresh metal and sulfides. Not visually striking at first glance but nice and interesting when looked at closer. I have very little of this material (I got well under half of the stone that was found) so contact me quickly if you want a piece of this one.Slices: a) 4.1 grams - 19mm x 18mm x 4mm - $20
b) 8.0 grams - 35mm x 19mm x 4mm - $38
c) 12.4 grams - 43mm x 34mm x 3mm - $60 – not in photo..

2) End piece:
a) 57.9 grams - 40mm x 34mm x 20mm - $200




MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.
I really, really thought I was completely out of this stuff. I had a person call and ask for a “small” piece of Murchison around the time I was doing inventory work. I told them I was completely out. I later remembered that, at one time, I had small fragments I had put in a capsule and then put that in a magnifier box. I knew I had sold out of all of those that I had in inventory but thought that, maybe, I might still have the “reference” (original) capsule I had made up and used to compare ones I made to sell (I tried to have a roughly equal amount in the ones I sold. The reference one came from my own personal piece of Murchison I had from years earlier). Well, I DID find that as well as another gram or so of “personal collection” fragments and crumbs with it! Still having the capsules and some of the magnifier boxes, I decided to make up more of the same kind of specimens I had offered years earlier (fragments/ crumbs in a capsule in a magnifier box). These all are made up of fragments that are from around 1mm to 3mm or so in size. I did a rough weight calculation (starting material weight divided by the number of capsules I made) and came up with these averaging around .05g (actually, closer to .06g). I wasn’t able to make a lot of these but decided to offer them here anyway as I have had A LOT of people asking for Murchison lately.
1) Around .05g+ of fragments and crumbs in capsule in magnifier box - $40







NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2020. Tkw = 29.4kg.
This is a meteorite I picked up in Tucson. I really liked its Moon rock like look and its really cheap (for any sliced achondrite) price. This meteorite shows angular to rounded eucrite clasts (that range from nearly white to brownish gray) in a “sparse” melted matrix. Some pieces of this show wider melt veins (around a cm or two wide) that show flow structure and often have some vesicles. As with most HED meteorites, this one does not have strange/ unusual isotopic contents or mineralogy and, as such, is a rock from the surface of the asteroid Vesta. This is a great meteorite for people that want a larger specimen with the moon rock look but for a small fraction of the price.Slices: a) 7.5 grams - 25mm x 22mm x 4mm - $30
b) 15.2 grams - 32mm x 32mm x 4mm - $60
c) 24.4 grams - 50mm x 35mm x 4mm - $92
d) 49.2 grams - 70mm x 55mm x 5mm - $180
e) 100.8 grams - 95mm x 95mm x 3mm - sold.
f) 259.8 grams - 180mm x 125mm x 5mm - $850 – complete slice.

2) End piece:
a) 1293.7 grams - 200mm x 130mm x 33mm - $3500




METEOR CRATER POST CARD:
I offered some of these a few years ago. Those ones were based on a slightly different picture of the crater. The ones I offered last time had the entire crater in the picture, on these cards, the left side of the crater falls off the edge. These cards, like the ones I offered earlier, are likely from the 1930’s and 1940’s, and are from a colorized (painted) black and white picture. MOST of these have an added secondary crater North of Meteor Crater. There IS such a thing in reality, but it is very indistinct (I have actually been in it). These cards make it look like a real moon type crater. I have quite a number of varieties of these cards, if you consider various things like “distributed by” the two different (real and modified) picture versions and such. Most of these “varieties” I am gong to offer in sets, as these “different” ones I only had one, two or three of in total (each set will have each picture style in them). I have ONLY ONE SET of each set size available. As I did before, shipping costs are included in the price (to US, overseas may be an extra $1 or so depending upon how many are ordered). For the most part, I’ll be sending these in a regular envelope on their own.
a) “Real” Crater picture: $5
b) Picture with secondary crater added: $5
c) Set of 3 different - $15
d) Set of 4 different - $20

Shipping info:
For small US orders $6 is now needed Larger orders are now $17 (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 around $15 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $20.

IMPORTANT FAX NOTE: My fax machine seems to have blown itself apart a few weeks ago. Someone tried to send me a fax and I hit “start” and sat back waiting for it to do its thing. Nope. The machine pretty much came apart internally.(some plastic gears have broken from age). I have looked into fixing it and have been looking to find a cheap replacement (though I do question doing that as I think I have only used the machine maybe a couple times in each of the past 5 years or so). So far, not much luck (unless I spend real $ and buy new). So, for the time being, I do not have a fax machine.