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.
-----------------

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).

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale - List 226

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

                            LIST 226

May 6, 2019

I am sending this out in a very rushed way. It is a day earlier than usual and I do not have the photos for this offering yet (will work on that next). This is because I need to hear back ASAP on the question below (Aguas Zarcas). I have folks waiting for my response to their questions (buy now, at what price, make arrangements to go back into the field or not, etc).

New Costa Rica (CM2) Aguas Zarcas:
Nope, I don’t have any at this moment (but Kevin Kichinka has a few pieces he is offering on Meteorite Central I believe). However, we can get more material but it is NOT particularly cheap. I guess what I need to know is how many of you are still wanting a piece of this material and roughly how big of a piece would you be interested in. I am not certain exactly what kind of price we’d be talking (the locals seem to be raising the prices daily) but I’d certainly want to keep it at or below the prevailing prices currently (which I believe are around $100 to $150/g or so right now, but possibly less, particularly on big pieces and certainly on any that were recovered after the first rain). Anyway, if any of you are interested, please let me know. This will help me decide if it is worth shuffling $ around, possibly buying plane tickets, car/ hotel rental, etc.  It seems that I ended up being a few days late when I jumped on the new Cuba fall a couple months ago. For the most part, those that really wanted a piece already had a piece (and didn’t need one from me, even if my price was a tad lower). I just want to avoid making the same mistake (at much higher costs) on this one.

Anyway, here is an offering of things I (mostly) brought home from Tucson. Most of these things are consignments that were left with me. These are expensive things mostly as those are the kinds of things I don’t have a lot of in my own inventory and it is good to have some higher end things on display at the show (hence their being consignments). The owners of these items have been wondering when I was going to offer them: sell them or return them. I have been tied up with “must offer now” things since getting back from Tucson when I have had tome to do an e-mail offering such as this. I guess this is not really any different this time either, come to think of it.

Photos for this list: I will have two associated with this offering but they will have to wait. We have (yet again) more cloudy/ thunderstorm weather and Blake is currently buried in building an emergency “need these yesterday” Ham radio equipment order. I will post the pictures as soon as I have them and will send them directly to any of you wanting them as soon as I get them on my computer. 





ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite  (CV3). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a nice end piece. It is not super, super fresh but nice none the less. In fact, what light weathering this has seems to have only highlighted the chondrules and other interior features. The back- side has a roughly 35mm x 35mm patch of thick primary crust in its center. The remainder is light secondary crust and the usual (for this fall) late fall edge chipping. This comes with a Moritz Karl label.

    86.6 gram end piece – 53mm x 51mm x 15mm - $1300

BASSIKOUNOU, Mauritania. Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell October 16, 2006.
I am pretty certain that this is a piece I picked up from Karen Rohr when I picked up more of Linton’s collection a couple weeks before going to Tucson (I bough outright the stuff that was cheaper/ more common rather than trying to keep track of it all as consignment). This is a nice complete individual that Linton likely got from me (at least the label that came with it was from me). This is about 50% covered in thick, rounded edges fusion crust/ form with the remainder being still thick but rougher textured secondary crust.

    19.1 gram fully crusted individual – 35mm x 20mm x 16mm - $95

HENBURY, Australia: Medium octahedrite (IIAB). Found 1931.
This is a specimen that Jay Piatek left with me. He didn’t have the price on hand (had to go back and look that up). When he told me, it was a bit of a shock. It is, admittedly, quite high. However, this is indeed a superior specimen. It is one of the nicest Henbury pieces of its size I have ever seen. This is distinctly a shrapnel fragment but it has a wonderful oriented look to it. The “front” has a nice, smooth dome-like shape whereas the back has a distinct torn, bent edges shrapnel look to it (I’ll try and get a picture to send out of the back of this if anyone is seriously interested in this piece). Jay seems to have gotten this from Anne Black as it comes with an Impactika label.

    745.9 gram exceptional natural individual – 130mm x 65mm x 25mm - $2600

NWA (unstudied): Likely (H5) or (H6).
I got this end piece in some kind of trade (for Moldavite or Libyan Glass I think) in Tucson. Kind of wish I had the rest of this meteorite. It is one of the nicest examples of an H chondrite I have seen. This has lots of fresh metal – most of it in the form of the usual blebs scattered throughout, but also has a really nice solid metal vein. The back-side is really interesting as well. It has been highly wind-polished (though there is obvious crust around the edges) such that the metal vein and metal blebs stand out high and have been (naturally) polished to have a shiny metallic look to them. 

    38.9 gram end piece – 48mm x 35mm x 7mm - $40 

  
NWA (7034): Martian, polymict breccia. Found 2011.
Yep, here are the first pieces of ‘Black Beauty” I have ever offered. I remember when Carl Agee (UNM) carried a nice end piece into my room (probably Tucson 2012) and had me run it on my XRF. He stood there with a big grin. To me, this looked like a “typical” moon rock but the XRF read it as Mars! Yep, I got that one right. This was originally called a basaltic breccia, as much of this is composed of fragments of various basalt rocks. However, more interesting things have turned up as researchers have worked on it. Pieces of impact melts, sedimentary rocks (! – our first from Mars) and more have been found so this has been re-classified as a “polymict” (multiple different rock types) breccia. I admit that the prices on these pieces are some fairly large numbers BUT this is, by far, the cheapest per gram I have ever seen this material. These are all natural fragments as found. I have considered (and may yet) buying one of these (likely one of the smaller pieces) getting it wire-sawed in half (any of these should work for that), sell half and put the other half in my collection (I think this is the only type Mars rock I don’t have yet). These come with a Jay Piatek Collection label.

a) 1.24 grams – 18mm x 15mm x 3mm - $3100
b) 1.61 grams – 17mm x 11mm x 5mm - $4000
c) 4.12 grams – 20mm x 20mm x 6mm - $10,300

NWA (10652): Primitive achondrite (Lodranite). Found 2015.
I am not certain if the exact story on this piece. It was dropped off with me in Tucson in a Riker that has a simple round sticker saying “NWA 10652, Lodranite, 9.47”. This may be a piece of the original 146.1g reported stone (I have my doubts on this, given the large surface area of this slice) or (more likely) a pairing. I did a bit of research and found that, regardless, this does indeed look the to be the same stuff as the original reported stone. This is weird/ odd material. It is a “matrix-poor” breccia that, on first glance, looks very, very much like an LL6 chondrite. It has some metal grains and small breccia fragments that are rounded and do a good job of mimicking chondrules! However, the XRF (yep, I ran it to be sure) clearly shows that this is NOT an LL6. This is a complete slice of a natural fragment. About 1/3 of the edge of this slice has weathered fusion crust with the remainder being weathered old natural breaks (or since lost thin secondary crust).

    9.47 gram complete slice – 55mm x 43mm x 1mm - $250

TISSINT, Morocco: Martian (Shergottite), olivine phyric. Fell July 18, 2011.
This is a beautiful complete stone. It does have some areas (maybe 20% of the surface) that, at first glance, look to be fresh breaks. They indeed are BUT they were formed late in the fall. Careful inspection under magnification shows that these “fresh breaks” have small patches of melt/ fusion crust on the high points so they are really very light secondary crusted areas. The remainder of the stone is covered by nice shiny black primary crust. A nice piece of a meteorite I don’t see much of these days.

    3.71 gram complete individual – 16mm x 12mm x 12mm - $2500 

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale - List 220

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

                            LIST 220

October 30, 2018

Dear collectors,

It has been awhile since I posted a list. I seem to have been living in a full speed run since the Denver show. That run yet continues. I would normally send out this offering on November 6th – the first Tuesday of the month (I may end up switching to the first and third Mondays of the month for these offerings sometime soon as the schedule conflict that had me tied up Mondays has long since gone away) but then I realized that I’ll be leaving the next day for my Socorro trip.

Notes on Socorro, Mew Mexico Mineral Symposium:

As mentioned above, I leave November 7th and should be back home November 14th (This assumes good weather. As I have to go over some of the toughest passes – Red Mountain, etc. I could end up leaving a day earlier or getting back home a day later if bad weather sets in). Assuming no disasters (I have had a lot of problems with motels simply loosing my reservations this year) I will, as usual, be set up at the Comfort Inn on the north end of town (on the frontage road on the west side of the interstate). I am supposed to be on the bottom floor, last room on the left at the west end of the hallway. We have had problems with some government agency in the area wanting all of the ground floor rooms at the same time for themselves and occasionally some of us dealers get routed to other floors. I’ll try to hang a couple signs in the lobby and such if this ends up happening to me. I should be set up and open by mid day Friday the 9th. I will be gone from around 5pm to around 6pm or so that evening for a “Friends of the Museum” event at the mineral museum about a mile away. I’ll likely be open until around 11pm or midnight after getting back. On Saturday, I should be open around 5pm until 11pm or so again. If you do want to visit the show and need to see me some other time you can try calling ( cell (970) 417-8783 – this ONLY works while I am traveling at shows so DON’T put this number in any files as a regular contact number) and I’ll see if we can schedule something that will work for you.

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Fell February 8, 1969.
I got this piece as part of a collection and kind of misplaced it for a bit (this would have certainly sold in Denver had I brought it). This was a later recovery specimen as it had some dirt adhering to it. I soda-blasted it and most of this has now been removed. This piece now looks quite nice. Lots of nice black crust – much fuller coverage, less and smaller chipping than most Allende specimens.

    36.3 grams complete individual – 40mm x 25mm x 20mm - $400

BRENHAM, Kansas: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1881.
Here is a bag of specimens that I got with Linton Rohr’s collection. It contains crystals, fragments and slices. This stuff is rusty but still shows lots of metal on most pieces. I think Linton had planned on cleaning these up, coating them and then selling them. I kind of thought of that myself (I don’t think it would take too much effort to make the bulk of this material look nice for resale), but just haven’t had the time. Most of the slices are in the 2 to 3cm size range, so they’d make nice specimens when fixed up.

    82.2 grams crystals, fragments, slices in bag - $40

CAMEL DONGA, Australia. HED achondrite (eucrite). Found 1984.
Not sure where I got this piece, just found it hiding with my “new” stuff for offerings material recently. I remember when this meteorite first came out. The pieces were all pitch black covered in super shiny crust. It is not known when this fell, but it could not have been too long before its discovery. This eucrite is strange in that it has a fairly high content of fresh iron (some iron nodules being large enough to, sometimes, make it difficult to split some of these in half). This iron also seems to have made pieces of this meteorite weather fairly rapidly out in nature. Pieces that came out only a few years later had already lost much of the glassy luster of the crust and had substantial amounts of adhering dirt and rust. I can tell that this piece is not one of the earliest pieces recovered but it likely not recovered terribly long after. This does have some (very minor) adhering dirt (mostly down in the contraction cracks In the fusion crust) and there are a few small areas that have lost a bit of the original luster but, overall, it is quite fresh compared to most pieces I have seen available of this meteorite in recent years.

    13.5 gram complete individual – 32mm x 22mm x 10mm - $250

CHINGA, Russia: Iron. Ni-rich ataxite, ungrouped. Found 1913.
This is a piece I sold to a collector out east many years ago. When I go it back I kind of had to say “wow”! This thing looks really, really nice for this meteorite. It has the flattish disk/ lensoidal shape typical for pieces of this meteorite but this has a wonderful solid patina to it. This does not show any of the scaling, flaking that is typical for pieces of this meteorite. This has a really nice chocolate brown, hard somewhat shiny patina covering its surface. No evidence of rust scaling at all. I also know that this has not been cleaned recently to hide any earlier scaling as it still has my original name and weight sticker on it. So, this one is a nice, apparently very stable piece of a rare type meteorite.

    881.9 gram complete, solid individual – 115mm x 70mm x 30mm - $450

MONTURAQUI, Chile, Impact Glass.
Here are a few more pieces of the Monturaqui impact glass that I offered (and quickly sold out of) on a list around a year or so ago. I managed to trade a few more pieces out of the guy that recovered this himself on a trip to the crater back in September of 2014. This is NOT the usual, commonly available “impactities” from this crater (I have some of those for $1/g if anybody wants some). This is actually a light pinkish gray glass that was likely formed from the melting of rhyolite lavas in the area of the crater during impact. It does have some vesicles and rock fragments but far, far less than the black glass cemented fragments of the impactites. I was told that only a few tens of grams of this material was found after intensive searching, so it is likely quite rare. Note: The last piece (on the right) in the group photo of this offering is NOT the 9.5g piece (this one measures 35mm x 25mm x 10mm) but a 2.0 gram piece that was originally supposed to be offered. The 9.5 gram piece now on the list was on hold for a customer who called a few minutes ago (well after the photo had been taken and uploaded) to pass on it (too much $ for them at the moment they decided) and took the 2.0g (the next largest piece I had) instead.

    Fragments as found - $15/g. Sizes available: .73g, .90g, 1.0g, 1.7g, 9.5g

NUEVO MERCURIO, Mexico: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell December 15, 1978. Tkw = 200kg.
Here is a specimen that I thought was really two separate partly crusted stones. Well, they are indeed that BUT they also fit together to form one larger stone. Even put together, this still looks like a partly crusted stone as there is one large face that looks to be a fresh break (in addition to chipping of the crust on the back side – quite common on pieces of this meteorite for some reason – probably a tight fall group resulting in lots of collisions between falling pieces or smashing into and rolling around on a hard, rocky surface maybe). However, close inspection of this large fracture surface reveals the presence of very light secondary crust (only a few tiny dots of black crust perched on high points on some areas) so this is actually a very late atmospheric break (however, the break that made this into two pieces is clearly a ground impact break). This comes with an Aerolite (Geoff Notkin) label that notes that this specimen was from the King collection.

    127.6 gram broken individual – 65mm x 25mm x 25mm - $1250

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: HED achondrite (Diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931. Tkw = 13.5kg +
I have always considered this to be one of the weirdest looking meteorites. It is composed of large, blocky green crystals that have dark shock bands going through it. Years ago, I think this was the ONLY known unbrecciated diogenite. I am not sure if this is still the case, but I would not be surprised if it is as I certainly have not seen anything new similar come out. Anyway, most of this material was in the form of small gravel-sized pieces from sub-gram to a few grams in size maybe (I have a pretty good stash of those things myself). However, I recall when some “large” pieces of this came out and all the excitement that brought about. Usually, meteorites (unlike gold nuggets) get cheaper per gram as their size goes up. Nope, not this time. These large pieces were commanding huge premiums – I think around $100/g (when the small pieces were lucky to bring $15 or $20/g) was pretty common. Well, the person I got this piece from did indeed pay around $100/g for it. He got it from Robert Haag. No invoice or card came with it but it does have the original bag it came in with Robert’s very recognizable (to me anyway) hand writing saying “Tatahouine Diogenite 12g” on it (I have added the correct weight of 11.9g). Neat piece, neat meteorite and quite rare in this size.
    11.9 gram large fragment as found – 25mm x 19mm x 10mm - $500

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 210 03JAN2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 210

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

January 3, 2018
LIST 210

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

TUCSON SHOW INFO: I will be on the road from January 24th until around February 14th. For the show itself, I will be in my usual spot: Ramada Limited (665 N. Freeway, Tucson) room 134. I should be open by mid to late morning Saturday January 27th. I likely will indeed stay through the bitter end – February 10th will be the last day. I open the door most days at 10AM. I will have the door open most evenings until around 9:30pm or so (or later if people are visiting/ still wandering about) but there may be a couple nights I will be out for dinner or such for a couple hours but that should be rare.

Note on photos: I do have “group photos” of each of the lots listed below, so ask if you want me to e-mail one (or a couple) of these group photos. These photos have the exact specimens listed below. I often send the first requesters of a particular size specimen that I have multiple pieces of the largest/ nicest of that size range. You can request that I send you the EXACT one in the photo if you really want this (assuming that I still have it anyway).

GUADALUPE y CALVO, Mexico: Iron. Hexahedrite (IIAB). Found 1971. Tkw = 58.63 kilograms.
This was found in 1971 but was not recognized as a meteorite until 1990. It had a nice deep dish on one side and had done duty as a dog-food bowl for 20 years on a ranch in Mexico until it was recognized as a meteorite. Here is a selection of Schwade Collection pieces. Each will come with a Schwade collection label. As I also had part of this meteorite when it first came out I also have copies of my old labels I sent out with specimens I sold back then (so, like the Gan Gan on the last list, you will get two cards with these specimens). This batch did not lend itself well to breaking down into a catalog where I can list a piece and have back-up “replacement” pieces (for most of these anyway, particularly the smaller specimens). So, once the listed piece is sold, I will try to offer something similar, though it will be somewhat larger or smaller than the listed piece (but it’s appearance won’t differ much from the photographed piece overall).
Part slices: etched to show a very light Neumann line structure:
a) 43.4 grams - SOLD
a.2) (not shown in photo) 54.3 grams - 55mm x 27mm x 6mm - $210 - SOLD
b) 84.9 grams - 70mm x 30mm x 5mm - $320
c) 136.3 grams - 60mm x 50mm x 5mm - $475
d) 163.0 grams - 60mm x 60mm x 5mm - $530
e) 203.1 grams - 75mm x 60mm x 6mm - $600

NWA (8018): Ordinary chondrite. (H4), S2, W1. Found before Aug 2011. Tkw = 392 grams.
A single stone was purchased in Tamara, Morocco. Research work showed it to be an equilibrated (petrographic grade 4) H-chondrite. This study also showed that this is also a low shock, low weathering grade stone. The low shock I believe – the matrix is quite porous. The weathering grade I am not as certain of. This shows a good number of chondrules in a medium orangish brown (with hints of purplish undertones) matrix but very little metal is visible. Anyway, I (obviously) have very little of this available.
Slices:
a) 12.4 grams - 40mm x 34mm x 4mm - $20
b) 23.4 grams - 60mm x 43mm x 4mm - $35 – complete slice.
c) 43.4 grams - 70mm x 52mm x 6mm - $65 – complete slice.
End piece:
a) 36.3 grams - 50mm x 33mm x 12mm - $60

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
I found a batch of fragments that I had set aside over 15 years ago (probably closer to 20 years actually) in deep, deep storage. I got them in a trade with ASU. Unfortunately, I can’t even remember what it was I traded to them to get these. All I remember is that I got to scoop out a couple kilos of fresh fragments (all which were pretty much crust free and most of which I sold off years ago) from a large wooden crate full of the stuff as part of that trade. Anyway, I cut most of these pieces in half to make these nice cut fragments. As mentioned above, few show any crust but all are very fresh show lots of chondrules, CAIs and the occasional gold colored troilite inclusion.
Cut fragments:
a) 2.6 grams - 20mm x 18mm x 4mm - $35
b) 5.1 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 7mm - $65
c) 10.0 grams - 35mm x 26mm x 5mm - $125
d) 14.3 grams - 35mm x 27mm x 9mm - $175
e) 21.1 grams - 40mm x 25mm x 10mm - $250 May be SOLD
e.2 (not shown in photo) 21.4 grams 42mm x 25mm x 14mm - $250

NWA (11273): Lunar (feldspathic breccia). Found before April 2017. Tkw = around 130kg.
I know, the official report says that only 2.8kg was found of this. However, this is paired with a bunch of other reported NWA numbered pieces that, all together total around 130kg or so. To me, this is the (869) of the lunar world; abundant and beautiful (so many things there is a lot of are ugly, unfortunately). This has a fantastic truly moon-rock looking appearance with angular white to light gray clasts (of all sizes) in a dark gray background. Best of all, its sudden large quantity weight appearance (though the few biggest pieces – totaling something like 100kg are already safely in private collections) has brought the price down to a fantastically cheap level. Larger pieces, I have heard, are now hard to come by and prices on the smaller stuff is rising (at least based on the last stuff I was offered anyway). Here is your chance to get a truly moon-rock looking moon rock at a truly reasonable price. These are all cut fragments that I did my best to maximize polished surface area (and the “thickness”measurement is a measure of the thickest part, not an overall depth/ thickness). I do have some other slices available, but only a few.
1) End pieces/ cut fragments:
a) .90 grams - 15mm x 10mm x 5mm - $100
b) 2.00 grams - 25mm x 10mm x 5mm - $200
c) 3.36 grams - 22mm x 17mm x 5mm - $300 SOLD
c.2) (not shown in photo) 3.45g - 25mm x 17mm x 5mm - $300
d) 5.50 grams - 34mm x 19mm x 6mm - $495
e) 7.09 grams - 32mm x 26mm x 6mm - $635
f) 13.25 grams - 58mm x 24mm x 5mm - $1160
g) 29.07 grams - 60mm x 35mm x 10mm - $2500 SOLD
g.2) (not shown in photo) 27.25g - 60mm x 30mm x 11mm - $2300
h) 90.23 grams - 110mm x 40mm x 13mm - $7200
i) 184.4 grams - 95mm x 70mm x 20mm - $13,800 – a real hand specimen!

SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1967.
These pieces were cut from a chunk of Seymachan I picked up at the Denver spring show a few years ago. The piece in its natural state looked to be pretty much nothing but a mass of olivine crystals, many of which were super gemmy, and not much else. I had this professionally, wire-saw cut as I know it would have turned into a pile of crystals (but many of which could be faceted) if I attempted to do the job with my equipment. As expected, these thin slices show very little metal. Most have a vein of metal (that usually has some neat shaped chromite inclusions) that is around 5mm or so wide and only a few small isolated grains otherwise.  Interestingly, a fair number of the crystals are dark and shattered (likely through shock) but yet others immediately adjacent are absolutely glass clear. I sold quite a lot of this material in Tucson at $20 to $25/g but I am offering it a bit cheaper here to my regular customers
Slices:
a) 4.2 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 1.5mm - $65
b) 7.9 grams - 35mm x 35mm x 1.5mm - $120
c) 14.8 grams - 57mm x 40mm x 1.5mm - $200 – complete slice.
End piece:
a) 96.1 grams - 50mm x 40mm x 25mm - $700

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS:
This stuff has gotten hard to come by. The Russians were generally the only ones brave enough to go out to the area where this is found (it is an off-limits military area where they practice dropping bombs, or so I have been told). They are not allowed to go to Egypt these days after one of their airliners was shot down a few years ago. So, he who has some Libyan glass has it, he who doesn’t – tough luck. I stumbled into a person that had some set aside years ago recently. The pieces they had set aside were ones that have bands and zones of darker greenish-brown glass. I am not certain if it has been completely decided yet, but I recall that studies show that this darker glass may contain small amounts of the exploding body that formed this material. All of the pieces here were selected to show this darker glass – either a zones in areas of the piece, but most often as bands running through the specimen. Rare and interesting.
Individual pieces as found, showing darker glass bands and areas:
a) 3.5 grams - 20mm x 15mm x 12mm - $10
b) 7.4 grams - 30mm x 23mm x 12mm - $20 SOLD
b.2 (not shown) 7.7 grams- 26mm x 21mm x 11mm - $20
c) 15.0 grams - 40mm x 18mm x 18mm - $40
d) 24.8 grams - 45mm x 24mm x 20mm - $65
e) 44.2 grams - 55mm x 35mm x 30mm - $110 – only one this size. SOLD

Please note:
Shipping:  For small US orders $3 should still be fine. Larger orders are now $13 (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 $13 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $15.
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.

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 204 - Dalgaranga, New Orleans and more

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 204 - Dalgaranga, New Orleans and more

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 204

May 16, 2017

Dear Collectors,
Here is a small selection of some interesting things I recently got from a collector who has decided to trim his collection a bit.

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a nice complete black crusted individual. It does have some of the edge chipping of the crust as is the case with pretty much every Allende I have seen, but quite a bit less than most. This piece is mounted (using poster tack maybe) in a small plastic display box.
12.6 gram complete individual – 29mm x 20mm x 15mm - $150

DALGARANGA, Australia: Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Found 1923. Tkw = 10kg.
I have not had a piece of Dalgaranga in a long time and much of the stuff I had earlier was probably the most commonly available shale/ oxide fragments. This one is not oxide. It has a brown rusted exterior but I am certain that if one were inclined to do so, cutting it open would reveal a fresh mesosiderite interior. However I certainly would suggest NOT doing that as this is a labeled Nininger specimen AND comes with its proper American Meteorite Lab label. It is interesting that on this card it has the “total known weight” as only “1.1kg of unoxidized”. I know more has been found since this label was made but I do think that the unoxidized stuff is quite rare.
4.3gram Nininger labeled fragment – 15mm x 15mm x 5mm - $200

HENBURY, Australia: Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1931.
This is an assortment of better than average specimens. They all have obvious shrapnel shapes/ characteristics (not the usual rounded but semi-flat lumps many Henburys are). The two largest are particularly nice (the 52.3gram one has a larger scale nice thumb-printed kind of sculpting to it). These are all natural as found and priced a bit below what I have seen other similar Henbury specimens go for at shows recently.
1) Natural individuals:
a) 11.4 grams – 30mm x 13mm x 9mm - $19
b) 43.3 grams – 38mm x 23mm x 10mm - $69
c) 52.6 grams – 42mm x 30mm x 11mm - $82
d) 62.4 grams – 50mm x 30mm x 10mm - $94

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: (H5). Fell September 23, 2003. Tkw = 19,265 grams.
This stone fell completely through a house. After the fall, the home-owner scraped up the fragments and bits of meteorite he found laying about the house (that had broken off as the meteorite passed through floors and walls). He wouldn’t let anyone investigate the situation for some time after the fall (more than a week I think) and claimed that the small hand full or so of fragments were all that there was to this event (not bothering to think about the ramifications of the bowling ball plus size hole through the floor). Anyway, there was indeed a substantial amount more material (the main mass) waiting to be found under the house. Unfortunately, the meteorite broke a pipe as it fell (I am not certain what kind of pipe but I have my suspicions I don’t really want to fully know) so water was spilling into the hole, onto the meteorite for however long it was before it was finally recovered. So, most of this material spent time in water and mud, unfortunately. I sold a fair amount of this material years ago (probably back in 2004 and 2005 maybe) and I recall that pretty much all the pieces looked like this one – angular fragments that show a fair amount of light orange coloration from rust staining. One plus to this piece (that many of the smaller pieces I sold those years ago lacked) is that this one does have a patch of fusion crust (12mm x 9mm) on one end. I think this piece is priced pretty close to what I was selling those earlier pieces for years ago.
7.0 gram fragment with crust – 20mm x 17mm x 11mm - $400

NUEVO MERCURIO, Mexico: (H5). Fell December 15, 1978. Tkw = 9+ kilograms.
I am pretty certain that Nuevo was my very first crusted stone. It would have been a nice fresh individual as this is but about a bit smaller than this one (got it from Robert Haag back when I was a starving college student). Anyway, this stone is a nice individual that is almost completely covered in nice thick black fusion crust (that shows some contraction cracking as most Nuevos do). There is one small (7mm x 3mm) late fall chip on one end (that is actually a really, really light secondary crust if look with good magnification) that shows a medium gray interior that has an interesting sandy texture to it.
8.5 gram complete individual – 25mm x 15mm x 12mm - $100

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a really nice shrapnel fragment that has been only lightly cleaned so it has a more original as found dark chocolate brown coloration rather than the black and shin metal look of the typical shrapnel pieces available. This has a nice classic torn and stretch-marked shape and surface textures. I think this is the largest Sikhote I have (of any shape, texture or cleaning level).
602.9 gram shrapnel fragment – 95mm x 65mm x 28mm - $450

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 195 Denver show info, last of Lang Collection Items

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 195 Denver show info, last of Lang Collection Items

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 195
August 30, 2016

Dear collectors,

Here is the last of my Lang Collection pieces (all three of them) plus some Allende and Tissint.

DENVER SHOW INFORMATION:
I can’t believe that it is already that time. I will be leaving next Wednesday morning (Sept 7th) and won’t be back home until September 21st (this show is slowing getting stretched out into another Tucson. Next year will be even worse). For this year, I will be in my usual location: Ramada Plaza (4849 Bannock street) Room 224. I should be open by mid afternoon Saturday the 10th. I will be open at 10AM the rest of the show days (through Sunday the 18th). I will open most evenings until 9PM or so (later if people are still around) but will close early (6PM) on the last day (Sunday the 18th) and probably either the Friday or Saturday before for the COMETS party (I am pretty sure they are having one again this year, I just don’t know the day). The phone number for the hotel is (303) 292-9500 and I am in room 224 (from the 10th through the 18th).

News about next year: If you want to experience the wandering hotel rooms set up as show rooms thing but not to the huge, often overwhelming degree as Tucson, this show is your last chance (at least in Denver). I had heard rumors that I would be loosing my show room (which I have had for around 28 years now) while attending the Colorado Springs show back in early June. Turns out that this is no rumor. I got the official notification that the Ramada is no longer welcoming the show a few days ago  The only option I am left with is taking a space at the venue that the spring show ended up in – Crowne Plaza way out east (15 miles I think) in a HUGE ballroom environment. I did tour the place during the spring show hoping to scope out a room I could set up in but that is not going to work. The rooms are far away from the bulk of the show (and somewhat hard to find). Plus they are really small and extremely crowded with furniture. I think about the only people who MIGHT be able to set up a valid (business wise) display in one of these rooms would be the gemstone dealer that only needs a card table and a single brief case of inventory to have a successful show. Thankfully, my somewhat early warning has allowed me to reserve a private meeting room at this new show. It is a bit of a ways from the main ball rooms but it will allow me to stay open as late as I want (and there will be a number of other dealers filling other similar rooms in the area so I won’t be completely alone). Anyway, I will certainly try to fully notify everyone once I know fully what this change brings.

ONE LAST NOTE: I do need to be gone part of this afternoon so please understand if there is a delay in my response to any questions/ order requests.

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
Here are a couple more really fresh/ early recovery pieces. One is an angular fragment and the other is a fairly thick (and somewhat wedged) slice. Unfortunately, neither has any fusion crust but they are nice pieces none the less. The slice is nothing special really but it does show lots of chondrules, small to medium sized CAIs and some obvious gold colored troilite inclusions. The fragment though has a couple interesting features: a nice irregular CAI (around 5mm x 7mm) and a weird round (5mm) inclusion that is mostly clear crystals of some kind inside and surrounded by troilite around its outside.
a) 35.0 grams fresh fragment – 55mm x 40mm x 10mm - $350
b) 35.7 gram slice – 60mm x 37mm x 7mm - $360

NWA (978): Rumaruttite (R3.8), S3, W2. Purchased August 1, 2001. Tkw = 722 grams.
For awhile, R chondrites were fairly easy to come by. Not so these days. Now they are quite expensive even fresh out of the field (unstudied) if they are recognized by the sellers (which is not particularly hard given their chondrule rich texture and complete lack of magnetic attraction). Most R chondrites are some shade of brown inside. This particular one is distinctly different. It does have the numerous chondrules and sulfides (not fresh metal) visible, but these are set in a medium to dark gray matrix. I have only two different specimens here. The smallest is actually two natural fragments. The largest is a natural fragment that has a roughly 25mm x 10mm polished face. These specimens are Lang Collection pieces and are in Riker boxes so shipping will be a bit higher for people that want to keep the boxes they are in.
a) 3.0 grams; 2 natural fragments (.7g, 2.3 g) - $60
b) 14.6 gram natural fragment with polished face – 30mm x 18mm x 15mm - $250

NWA (1208): Ordinary chondrite (H5), S2, W3. Found 1999. Tkw = 368 grams.
I can’t be certain, but there is a pretty good change that this could be the “main mass”. A single 368gram stone was found and 63 grams were given for classification. This leaves a total of just over 300 grams of remaining material. This particular specimen represents 36% of the remaining material. So, unless the other remaining material was left as a large cut fragment (no or few slices removed) then this should be the main mass. This piece is a cut fragment. The Bulletin description merely mentions “well defined chondrules” for features and this does indeed show a good number of nice round chondrules set in a medium to dark brown matrix. The backside is mostly old natural fracture surface bit there is a roughly 50mm x 15mm or so patch of fairly nice crust along one edge. This is yet another Lang collection piece in a Riker so shipping will be a bit more for those that want to keep it in the riker box it is in (you will get the label regardless)
110 gram cut fragment – 60mmx 40mm x 15mm - $80

TISSINT, Morocco: Martian (Shergottite). Fell July 18, 2011. Tkw = over 7 kilograms.
This is a meteorite that I thought we might be seeing lots of pieces of for many years. Nope, the stuff got pretty much picked out and distributed in a big hurry. Not much of it is available these days (and pretty much none is from the Moroccan sources I have). I got these pieces from a collector that, wisely, bought them when this material was readily available. These are all nice pieces and each has its own special features that I will try to briefly describe below.
1) Slices:
a) .15 grams part slice – 9mm x 5mm x 1.5mm - $105
b) 1.04 gram part slice – 22mm x 12mm x 1.5mm - $700 – some crust along edge, many small (1 to 2mm) melt zones.
c) 2.39 gram full slice – 30mmx 20mm x 1.5 mm - $1600 – 2/3 of edge crusted. Interior shows a couple large black melt zones containing gas bubbles.
d) 3.37 gram part slice – 35mm x 18mm x 2mm - $2200 – has many nice melt areas and veins. Some gas bubbles, one of which goes completely through the slice.
2) End pieces:
a) 1.99 grams – 20mm x 18mm x 4mm - $1300 – back is around 60% plus fusion crusted.
b) 3.82 grams – 28mm x 27mm x 3mm - $2500 – back mostly late natural fracture but edges have some crust.
3) Individual: This piece was listed as a “fragment” on the hand-written label that came with it. This is clearly more of a nice individual. There are a few minor chipped edges/ points that are clearly breaks. The largest obvious “break” is about 15mm x 5mm. Careful inspection though reveals the presence of very light (and spotty) fusion crust covering most of this area. So, it is a break but might be better classified as a zone of (very) light secondary fusion crust. The remainder of the stone is covered in nice shiny black fusion crust.
3.71 gram individual – 15mm x 12mm x 12mm - $2500

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 191 - Allende, Murchison and more

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 191 - Allende, Murchison and more

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

……………………………………………………LIST 191

May 24, 2016

Dear collectors,

Here are a few carbonaceous chondrite pieces I just received along with yet more pieces I brought home from Tucson.
Some of the “from Tucson” pieces are from a collection of material I picked up from Alan Lang (mostly small things he had set aside from many years ago). Pieces from that lot you will start to see filling out future offerings this summer.

I also need to announce that it seems that I will be doing the Colorado Springs show in a couple weeks. A friend and fellow dealer (who I see mostly at the Creede show in August) ended up being assigned a 10’ X 30’ booth with no way to fill it. I will be brining a couple tables (one 8’ and one 6’ I think) and help fill the space. This show is now located at the Mortgage Solutions Expo Center (it used to be at the Mining Museum north of town. Neat place to have a show, but out of the way and quite hard to find if you didn’t know where you were going). This is at 3650 N. Nevada Ave in Colorado Springs. The days are: Friday June 3rd through Sunday June 5th with hours of 10-5 on Friday and Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday. Anybody that thinks they might come to the show please contact me if there is anything off of any semi recent (past 6 months or even longer perhaps) offerings (mailed and e-mail) or otherwise that you want me to bring (being a relatively small show I don’t automatically bring a lot of inventory).

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
I haven’t had much Allende recently but got two pieces of this just a couple days ago. Both are very fresh. One is an angular fragment that has no crust but shows a lot of chondrules and CAIs. This particular piece is nice and interesting the way it is but it might be a good candidate for cutting into some nice slices. The other sample is also super fresh but is a really nice end piece. The cut side shows lots of chondrules and CAIs. The back side is mostly covered by fresh black crust (probably 85% coverage). It is apparent that this piece was picked up pretty much immediately after the fall. The crust shows some scuff marks from its impact BUT it also shows smeared in plant fibers (so it obviously hit some plants when it fell). These are such that they likely would have easily washed off if this had been out in the weather much.
a) 169.0 gram fragment – 70mm x 50mm x 35mm - $1350
b) 108.5 gram end piece – 80mm x 50mm x 17mm - $1300

DAR AL GANI (449), Libya: Ordinary chondrite (LL6). Found 1998. Tkw = 184 grams.
This is a cut natural fragment. The cut face shows a nice classic LL6 texture. There are some rounded light gray clasts, smaller chondrules and metal grains in a mottled light tan to brown matrix. The back side is a mix of wind polished fracture surfaces (mostly very old) and fusion crust. The fusion crusted surface makes up 40% or so of the back side. Not a rare item by type but a nice specimen none the less and probably now next to impossible to get for those that want a piece of all the different numbers they can get. This specimen is in a Riker with a Lang Collection label.
14.9 gram cut fragment – 25mm x 20mm x 16mm - $75

MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.
These are all nice little natural fragments. When I received these they had some dirt on them but a quick air blasting cleaned them up such that they look pretty much like they just fell. Each specimen has some fusion crust. The 1.14 gram piece has the most at around 30% coverage. The worst (the smallest) still has a crust patch that is around 10mm x 6mm in size but has a lot of deep flow structure and bubbling.
1) Natural fragments with crust:
a) .78 grams – 12mm x 11mm x 4mm - $110
b) 1.14 grams – 16mm x 10mm x 7mm – 160
c) 1.66 grams – 13mm x 12mm x 9mm - $230
d) 1.87 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 10mm - $260

NWA (865): Ordinary chondrite (L4). Found 2000. Tkw = 263 grams.
The Meteoritical Bulletin report for this find shows that seven pieces total of this meteorite were found. Kind of too bad more weren’t recovered as this is actually very nice. This is a complete stone that is completely covered in thick, heavy fusion crust. This does show some minor amounts of wind-polishing but not much as the crust retains its full fresh crust texture. The shape of this is the classic rounded edges meteorite shape. A great little piece for showing people what a real meteorite should look like. This specimen is in a Riker with a Lang Collection label. I have priced this pretty much the same as Alan had it priced nearly 15 years ago.
39.1 gram complete individual – 40mm x 20mm x 18mm - $80

NWA (1500): Achondrite (Ureilite). Found 2000. Tkw = 3.3 kilograms.
I single nearly complete stone with patches of fusion crust was found. This little part slice shows some of that crust. This little part slice is a ¼ slice and has two cut edges and one long natural edge. The long natural edge clearly shows a rounded meteorite shape and does have a few small patches of actual fusion crust remaining (for some reason, it is pretty rare to see fusion crust on a ureilite). This is a specimen from Alan Lang. It is mounted in a membrane box that is then in a small Riker with a RA Langheinrich Meteorite Collection label.
2.0877 gram part slice – 17mm x 8mm x 5mm - $60

NWA (8362): HED achondrite (howardite). Found 2013. Tkw = 548 grams.
This is an interesting specimen. It is a ½ slice (one cut edge, remaining edges are natural) that shows a lot of rounded clasts of many colors (gray, tan, greenish) and a surprising amount (for a howardite anyway) of metal grains in a light gray matrix. The Meteoritical Bulletin report indicates that this is close to the perfect howardite. Howardites are simply breccia mixes of diogenites and eucrites. To officially be a howardite there must be at least 10% diogenitic material in the mix (not sure of the minimum of eucritic material but I suspect that it is also around 10%). The research report for this particular stone says that it is composed of roughly 50% diogenitic orthopyroxene with the remaibder being eucritic material.
11.0 gram part slice – 47mm x 35mm x 3mm - $150

SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1967.
This is a triangular/ wedge- shaped piece that probably resulted from someone making a sphere (to do that, you start with a cube and then begin cutting edges and corners off until you have a rough, lumpy roundish thing that you put into the sphere grinder). Regardless, this piece is very rich in olivine crystals (some gemmy).
16.2 grams – 40mm x 17mm x 7mm - $80

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 157 - More Small Rarities

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 157 - More Small Meteorite Rarities

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

…………………………………………………LIST 157

July 22, 2014

Dear collectors,

Here is yet another offering of generally small but often quite rare items. This will probably be my last list until late August as I am out of “new” material for the moment and I will be traveling a bit in early August.

Part of that travel will be the Creede Show August 1st, 2nd and 3rd. This is quite a nice small show (actually, it is getting fairly large) and has a great selection of all kinds of things including fossils, minerals, rocks, lapidary supplies, and of coarse meteorites. This is certainly not a show that is all jewelry as most public “retail” shows have devolved to these days. I know a few collectors have threatened to visit this year (it’s a great place to escape the heat). If others of you think you might come, let me know what things you’d like me to bring.

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a bag containing several small cut fragments. Nothing special but certainly good for micros or resale. These range in size from about 5mm x 5mm to around 5mm x 12mm.
5 fragments totaling 1.8+ grams - $12

FORKSVILLE, Virginia: (L6). Fell July 16, 1924. Tkw = 6067 grams.
It was reported that 4 stones from this fall were recovered. According to the Catalog of Meteorites, pretty much all of this one is in museum collections (though it is certainly possible that some has been traded out since the Catalog’s publication in 2000. All 3 pieces here are fragments.
a) .015 gram fragment – 3mm x 2mm x 2mm - $15 -- SOLD
b) .025 gram fragment – 3mm x 2.5mm x 2mm - $25 -- SOLD
c) .137 gram fragment – 7mm x 3mm x 3mm - $60 -- SOLD

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: (L6). Fell November 1959. Tkw = around 236 grams.
There is no fall info for this one, just a report of its olivine mineralogy. Regardless, this is probably the rarest (from a total known weight) fall I have had in recent history. As there was no report about this fall, I can only go by the pieces listed in museum collections in the Catalog of Maeteroties. That list shows only 4 museums with pieces totaling 236.2 grams! These pieces are fragments in a capsule.
a) .020 gram fragment – 2mm x 1.5mm x 1mm - $25
b) .146 gram fragment – 7mm x 5mm x 2mm - $100

MERUA, India: (H5). Fell August 30, 1920. Tkw = 71.4 kg.
It is reported that 6 stones fell, with the largest being 56.7kg. I thought that this might be well distributed, given the large total weight listed. However, it seems that right around 71kg is listed as being in museum collections so very little had gotten out at the time the Catalog o Meteorites was published.
a) fragment (around 3mm x 2mm x 2mm) in capsule - $10
b) .245 gram fragment – 6mm x 6mm x 4mm - $50 -- SOLD

MIGHEI, Ukraine: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell June 18, 1889. Tkw = 8+ kg.
This is the meteorite that gives the CM’s the M after carbonaceous. I have had super fine powder of this fall in the past but I can’t recall having actual (all though small) fragments (at least at no time recently). I tried to do some research on the value of this stuff but came up with nothing. Sooo, I am just going to guess (but high maybe?) on this one. The largest piece comes in a small research vial that is then inside a bottle labeled “Mighei Meteorite ~ .45g USSR”.
a) .013 grams – 10 small fragments in a capsule - $20
b) .026 grams – 2 fragments in a capsule - $40
c) .043 gram cut fragment – 4mm x 3mm x 3mm - $75
d) .08 gram cut fragment – 5mm x 4mm x 4mm - $140
e) .117 gram fragment – 6mm x 5mm x 4mm - $175 -- SOLD

OCHANSK, Russia: (H4), brecciated. Fell August 30, 1887. Tkw = 500+kg.
This is a lot of fragments in a capsule. The largest piece is around 5mm x 5mm x 4mm in size. Total weight is around .2g or so.
.20g fragments in a capsule - $15

RANGALA, India: (L6), veined. Fell December 29, 1937. Tkw = 3224.5 grams.
22 fragments are reported to have fallen. This is yet another item that, not only was very little recovered, but pretty close to all that was seems to be listed in museum collections. All I have is a few small fragments, so my offering won’t be changing much other than giving a few collectors the chance to add this “new” name to their collection.
a) small fragment (around 2mm x 1.5mm x 1.5mm) in a capsule - $10
b) larger fragment (around 3mm x 2mm x 1.5mm) in a capsule - $15 -- SOLD
c) .155 grams of fragments and crumbs in a capsule - $50 -- SOLD

SHALKA, India: Achondrite (Diogenite). Fell November 30, 1850. Tkw = 3.6+ kg.
This fall is interesting in that, supposedly, an immense stone (around 3 feet across) fell but only around 8 pounds was preserved. I had a couple pieces of this in Tucson (can’t remember what I priced them at) but they, not surprisingly, sold before I could offer them on a list. I have around 5 pieces total (all fragments) this time and I think these will be the last I will see (at least from this source). The largest piece is in a small round, labeled “box” that all these pieces came to me in.
a) .15 grams – 5mm x 5mm x 4mm - $15 -- SOLD
b) .29 grams – 7mm x 6mm x 5mm - $30 -- SOLD
c) .53 grams – 9mm x 7mm x 5mm - $50 -- SOLD
d) .65 grams – 10mm x 7mm x 6mm - $75 -- SOLD

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 155

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 155

Blaine Reed

P.O. Box 1141

Delta, CO 81416

Ph/fax (970) 874-1487

…………………………………………………LIST 155

June 24, 2014

Dear collectors,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

KLAMATH FALLS, Oregon: Specimen bottle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 134 - more after Tucson stuff 14MAR2013

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 134 - more after Tucson stuff

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 134
March 14, 2013

Dear Collectors,

Here is another offering of things I brought back from the show. I am sending this out at an odd early time as I will, once again, be leaving town for awhile. I don't plan on leaving until the 20th or 21st but that would only leave me one or two days, at most, to take and pack orders if I waited until the proper time to send this out (which would have been the 19th). I am not certain exactly how long I will be gone (helping out my uncle in Phoenix), but should be back sometime around April 3rd (I'll try to have the date, once I have a better handle on it, left on my answering machine).

ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
I got this in a bag with a card that said Allende or Murchison. Unfortunately, it is definitely just Allende. This is a cut fragment (kind of a ½ end piece/ bookend cut) that is quite fresh. It does have some crust – about a 25mm x 10mm area. Nothing exciting but I do have to say that all Allende I have offered the past couple years has sold quickly.
10.6 gram cut fragment – 35mm x 14mm x 12mm - $90

DAR al GANI (476), Libya: Martian (shergottite). Found 1998. Tkw = 2015 grams.
This is a nice little end piece of this well known Mars rock (and likely rare as such). It shows the classic dark olivine crystals in a mixed light and dark green matrix.
.73 gram end piece - 13mm x 8mm x 5mm - $500

DIMMITT, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H3.7). Found 1947. Tkw = 147 kilograms.
This is a really nice end piece of this interesting meteorite. It is fairly thin so it has a good surface area. The back is much better than average for Dimmitt. This has very nice distinct (weathered) fusion crust covering most of it. There are some areas of secondary crust/ late break but not much. Best of all though, this is a Monig specimen and comes with a TCU Monig Collection label.
105.6 gram end piece – 70mm x 55mm x12mm - $200

D'ORBIGNY, Argentina: Achondrite (angrite). Found 1979. Tkw = 16.55 kilograms.
Here is a nice small lot that would be great for resale. It has three larger pieces that are around 7mm in size and a capsule that contains pieces around 2mm to 4mm size. Total weight is just under .8grams. This has got to be the weirdest meteorite in existence. From the textures of these pieces, I would never guess that this was a meteorite. Rare and interesting.
.79 grams of fragments - $230

HUCKITTA, Australia: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1924.
Here is a rare one. This is NOT the usual oxidized material but a nice small end piece that is fresh! This has a couple dark olivines as are usual in Huckitta but the metal is bright and fresh. Years ago a handful of these small fresh Huckittas came out. I am not aware of any further pieces turning up since.
2.6 gram end piece – 15mm x 10mm x 5mm - $100 – fresh metal.

KATOL, India: Stone. (primitive achondrite). Fell May 22, 2012. Tkw = about 10 kilograms.
These samples are from a larger piece that I broke up using my chisel press. This material is SUPER FRESH (looks like it was probably picked up minutes after the fall) and I did not want to risk contaminating it in any way by attempting to cut it. All but the smallest piece has some fusion crust. The mid-sized pieces have secondary crust and the larger have really nice areas of primary crust. The largest piece even has scuffs/ skid marks from where it hit the ground. This, to my knowledge, has not been classified yet, so I'll have to make some "provisional" information cards to go with these pieces. It is clear on inspection though, that it is some kind of primitive achondrite (complete metamorphosed chondrite) but its color and texture don't match any others (acapulcoite, winonaite, lodranite, etc.). Really nice and strange stuff!
1) Fragments:
a) 1.31 grams – 10mm x 8mm x 7mm - $110
b) 2.59 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 7mm - $210 – 11mm x 5mm secondary crust patch.
c) 3.73 grams – 16mm x 13mm x 9mm - $290 – 12mm x 12mm secondary crust.
d) 10.7 grams – 22mm x 22mm x 8mm - $770 – 22mm x 20mm primary crust.
e) 23.1 grams – 32mm x 20mm x 20mm - $1500 – around 40% primary crusted.

PLAINVIEW (a), Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1917, may have fallen spring 1903.
Here is a complete slice of this always popular material. This meteorite is technically a find but there was a large piece (25 pounds) that was found in a horse pen the day after a fireball was witnessed in the area in 1903. The type and texture of that piece matches the other Plainview (a) stones (I have had actual pieces in the past that were cut from that specimen). This slice was cut from a piece that was somewhat fragmented and found later. This shows distinct fusion crust along about 1/3 of its edge with the remainder being thin secondary crust or natural breaks. This particular piece is different/ special in that it seems to have a large (roughly 30mm x 25mm) darker inclusion on one end that looks like it might be an impact melt zone.
69.9 gram complete slice – 80mm x 35mm x 8mm - $280

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 130 - small rare bits 1

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 130

December 4, 2012

Dear Collectors,

Here is a small assortment of some interesting things I received recently from an old research collection. There are many things in this collection that I have not cataloged fully yet. Regardless, I am already seeing a bunch of names of things (all really small, good for the micro collectors) that I have never seen or had before. The next couple offerings will likely be things pulled from this collection lot as I catalog them (though I may run an "inventory clearance" offering next time. I am currently working on that grueling task. I have not come across a lot of last one or two pieces of an item things yet – the things I'd probably want to get rid of so I don't have to do all the inventory work on them for taxes – but that may change).

ABEE, Canada: (EH4) impact melt breccia. Fell June 9, 1952. Tkw = 107kg.
This is a nice cut fragment that has a nice 12mm x 7mm patch of fusion crust. This had a thin coating of light rust on it so I hand sanded it to show fresh metal and breccia texture on its cut faces (and stunk up the kitchen in the process. One of the interesting features of most enstatite chondrites is that they stink of sulfur really bad when sanded).
1.95 gram cut fragment – 20mm x 7mm x 7mm - $120

ALLENDE, Mexico: (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a "black inclusion" that was originally set aside to be thin-sectioned (and it may very well have had a layer cut off for this purpose). This, texturally, looks very much like a CM2 meteorite but the color is a bit lighter. I left this in the bottle I got it in which has a label that says " Allende black inclusion, a piece for thin section 1/24/74, 1.122g.
1.12 gram slice – 10mm x 8mm x 4mm - $15

AOUELLOUL GLASS, Mauritania.
A 250 meter diameter crater was discovered with a small amount of highly silicious glass around it. This glass contains iron and nickel, showing its impact origin. It is estimated that the impact occurred about 3.3 million years ago. These are 3 small pieces that have been sawn for research work and are in the plastic tube I received them in.
1.3 grams 3 pieces - $7

ARRIBA, Colorado: (L5), brecciated. Found 1936. Tkw = 31.1kg.
These piece are both "raw cut" unsanded. I left them as I got them. However, the back side of both is really nice in that they have very nice obvious weathered fusion crust (not badly weathered either. The crust is a nice mix of dark gray and chocolate brown). These are really nice little end pieces and likely very rare as such.
2.2 gram end piece – 18mm x 9mm x 6mm - $20

NEW CONCORD, Ohio: (L6) veined. Fell May 1, 1860. Tkw = 226.8kg.
Here is a US historic classic. I have not had any of this in quite awhile. I remember something about a rumor that a horse was supposedly killed in the fall of this meteorite but don't recall where I heard that.
2.3 gram slice – 17mm x 9mm x 4mm - $45
3.4 gram slice – 22mm x 9mm x 5mm - $65
5.0 gram slice – 40mm x 9mm x 4mm - $95

ORGUIEL, France: (CI1). Fell May 14, 1864. Tkw = 10.5+kg.
I sold a fair amount of this material when I offered it on a list recently. This piece is special in that it is still in the little plastic disk container that a researcher received decades ago (likely directly from the Paris Museum). I have priced this pretty much at the same price per gram (possibly even a hair less) that I had my "regular" material listed at.
.37grams of crumbs in Paris museum container - $700

PANTAR, Philippines: (H5). Fell June 16, 1938. Tkw = 10.3kg (?)
I put a question mark on the total known. This 10.3kg is what Meteorites A to Z reports but I could only come up with about 1600 grams in museum collections (according to the Catalog of Meteorites). Even the Meteoritical Bulletin has the total on this as 2.1kg. It was reported that 16 fairly small stones were recovered from this fall. However, a note was made that "thousands the size of corn and rice grains fell on roofs in the area". Perhaps a big load of these were recently recovered, but I certainly have not ever seen any of this fall available before.
.02 grams fragments/ crumbs in capsule - $15
.03 grams fragments in a capsule - $25
.11g fragment – 7mm x 5mm x 2mm - $80

WALTERS, Oklahoma: (L6). Fell July 28, 1946. Tkw = 28kg.
This is a meteorite that looks like there are only a couple kilos that has made it out of research collections, according to the numbers in the Catalog of Meteorites. These aren't much, but maybe all that is available of this fall at this point in time.
.20 gram fragments in capsule - $20
.7 gram cut fragment – 15mm x 5mm x 3mm - $50