Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
LIST 273 - October 14, 2024
Dear Collectors
Here is an offering of some things I have picked up over time by buying a couple smallish collections. I had a few of these in Denver for the show, but they were in a corner of a display case that was not really in “center view”. Also, I had few actual collectors visit the show this year, so people that would likely be interested in these kind of things simply did not show up in any real numbers. I had thought about holding these back for Tucson. Many of these would be ideal for my tall glass display case in Tucson (right next to the door). Some of these may yet end up there if they don’t sell before the show.
I do have more travels to do. Right now I am thinking one of those longer trips will be kind of near the end of this month. I am trying to pull together meeting with multiple people and, at times, that feels a bit like herding cats. So, until I have them all corralled (or as many as I am going to be able to) I will not know the exact dates (but it shouldn’t interfere with this offering).
There also is a pretty good chance that I will be gone all morning and part of the afternoon on Wednesday (the 16th) this week.
 |
| Click on image to enlarge. |
ALLENDE, Mexico; Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a nice little, interesting end piece that some may consider to be somewhat “historic” (in addition to its actually being a piece of a historic fall). Just looking at the cut surface (in its little 2” x 2” display box) you can see that it is mostly the classic Allende texture. There is one obvious (but not terribly large) CAI in this. Using the filtered UV LED light I have I can see that this does fluoresce a bit (pinkish purple). However, the more interesting feature is the fine-grained inclusion at the top of the piece. It has a texture (though not the same really black color) of a CM2 meteorite. I have seen these things in Allendes over the years, but these inclusions are not terribly common. This comes with a meteoritelabels.com metal label. However, it is the other label/ “info” that comes with this that will likely make it interesting to many collectors. First, this comes with an ACTUAL original Robert Haag Allende label. This is NOT one of my rip-off copies that I have made and given away for nearly 40 years now (yes, Robert gave me permission to use some of his labels. Off hand, I can only think of Canyon Diablo as another one he gave me permission to copy). What is more interesting is that this comes the original Robert Haag sales invoice (showing the buyer paid $25 dollars for this piece back in January of 2004. Heck I think I was buying this from Robert for closer to $.35/g – but that WAS 40 plus years ago.
4.6 gram end piece – 28mm x 19mm x 8mm - $110
CANYON DIABLO, Arizona. Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
This is a piece I picked up in Denver, like the Sikhote below, this came out of an old collection. Actually, I got several Canyon Diablos out of that collection but THIS is the winner. The other two were, putting it nicely, “genuine”. They were what they were but they were pretty un impressive in their size, shape and condition (they both required considerable work to get them in sellable condition and once there, I simply dropped them in my Canyon Diablo bucket). This is super nice specimen. Actually, one of the nicest I have seen in its size range. It has a great sculpted shape and is really solid (not rust scaling like the two it came with). This was purchased years ago from Alan Lang and comes with an Lang’s Fossils, R.A. Langhienrich Meteorites business card and one of his smaller Canyon Diablo paper labels.
438.4gram sculpted individual – 60mm x 60mm x 20mm - $825
MILLBILLILLIE, Australia. HED achondrite (eucrite). Fell October 1960. Tkw = about 330kg.
When this material first came out, it was the first true eucrite I had ever seen (well, one I could actually own anyway). There was quite a lot of it around. Now it is quite scarce. The only pieces I have seen recently are some larger individuals that Mike Martinez had to sell (and may still have some) in Tucson. I have had very little lately. This is a nice small end piece. It is the classic “salt and pepper” color texture that most Millbillillies were. There were some brecciated textured ones that we all got excited about when we first saw them but this texture is still my preferred one. The back side of this has great thick, heavily flow-lined fusion crust. Unfortunately, as with the vast majority of Millbillillies, that crust has been stained orange from the dirt it sat decades in before being picked up (I did learn a way to chemically remove this BUT that process left a white/ light gray film coating the crust that I never found a solvent or method to remove so I left all of my Millbillillies alone after that). This comes with a meteoritelabels.com metal label. I also have a printout of the page this collector originally chose this from (it seems he paid a touch over $107for it back in January of 2003).
5.3 gram end piece – 26mm x 18mm x 7mm - $120
PARK FOREST, Illinois: (L5). Fell March 26, 2003. Tkw = about 18kg.
Gads, has it really been that long since this fell? It seems like yesterday (well, maybe the day before) when everyone was so stirred up about this fall. I never have had many pieces of it (probably could count all I have handled on my fingers and toes and maybe have a few fingers and toes left over). This is a wonderful little oriented individual that, according to the hand written card the original owner made for it, was found by Steve Arnold’s daughter (in the S.E. part of the strewn field). This was found some time after the fall itself (there is a small brown oxidation spot on it – likely with a metal bleb right underneath). The owner’s notes say he “won it on E-Bay in May of 2003” so it this wasn’t out in nature for terribly long. This is a great little strongly oriented individual. The front dome has nice smooth almost shiny black crust. There is a nice ridge of bubbly/ frothy crust around the entire edge of the back side (surprisingly thick in some areas).Wish this could be blown up to hundreds of grams/ a kilo size, it would be a real show stopper. This comes with the above mentioned original owner’s written note and a Meteoritelables.com metal label.
.86g oriented individual – 10mm x 8mm x 5mm - $100
SIKHOTE–ALIN, Russia. Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a piece I picked up while in Denver. It is a wonderful highly thumb-printed fusion crusted individual. It is mostly covered in nice, original fusion crust. There are some areas where minor rusting has damaged the surface a bit but the rest of it is perfectly original. This piece had not been messed with (dipped in acid, wire-brushed, gun blued…..) as oh so many crusted Sikhote-Alins have been. In Denver, I saw the Russians (the original sources of this material) were asking $6/g for their pieces. These pieces were just average size (10g to 50g or so) and average shape (mostly roundish). This is a great piece that was quite clearly not picked up long after the fall and came out of an old collection.
164.1g beautiful crusted individual – 60mm x 30mm x 15mm - $820
TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: HED achondrite (diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931.
This one kind of makes me think of Star Wars. I head the name ‘Tatahouine” there (the name of a planet in the movie – the dry dusty one I believe, similar in nature to where I live) looong before I ever heard of it as a meteorite. I have always thought this to be a weird/ interesting meteorite. IF I were to see a hunk of something like this on its own, I certainly wouldn’t think “meteorite” upon looking at it (I probably shouldn’t have said that publicly. Now every greedy crack pot that has stubbed his toe on a weird looking rock will take that to mean their river cobble/ slag, coal furnace clinker COULD be a meteorite). Strange blocky bright green crystals with dark veins through it does not look meteorite (though the dark veins do give it away a bit – as they are shock veins). I have not had many “large” pieces of this meteorite. By that, I mean pieces that are larger than a couple grams. This thing really blew itself apart (low in the atmosphere – low enough that only small traces of fusion crust can be found on any of this. One has to look really carefully to find this. This piece does have quite a few small (really small) fusion crust patches scattered about its surfaces. However one (pointed) end has a pretty nice patch of small fusion crust lines overlapping each other. These ARE rare in this kind of size (and once commanded well over $100/g because of that rarity). This comes with a meteoritelabels.com metal label as well as an ELKK Meteorites business card and label..
6.10 grams – 20mm x 15mm x 11mm - $250
ZAGAMI, Nigeria: Martian (Shergottite). Fell October 3, 1962. Tkw = 18kg.
I remember when Robert Haag was able to get his hands on a chunk (a big chunk) of this. Prior to that, owning a piece of Mars was an expensive proposition. I had a tiny crumb of Chassigny in a capsule that cost me $100 (1985 time frame maybe) and I was thrilled to have it. Robert brought out the Zagami at $100/g and we all bought (and bought, and bought) it. I upgraded to a bigger piece every chance I got (then, many years later, stupidly sold the piece. I think it might have helped me buy a piece of land or such so it wasn’t sold just to “turn into dollars”). This is a nice little rectangular slice that shows one clear thin shock vein. This came from Eric Twelker/ Meteorite Market (so you know you have no reason to doubt its authenticity). It comes with one of his (weight recorded) info card and a meteorite labels.com metal label.
.28gram part slice – 11mm x 5mm x 1.5mm - $300
--------------------------------------------
Shipping:
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.
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).
