P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
…………………………………………………LIST
159
August 19, 2014
Dear collectors,
Here is the second batch of pieces that came in with the
“old collection”. I also got a few more of the rare witnessed fall fragments/
crumbs in as well and have listed them here to have a more typical 7 or 8 piece
offering.
ARCHIE,
Missouri: (H6). Fell August 10, 1932. Tkw = 5.1 kilograms.
This is yet another of my small scraps that seems that very
little is “out”. In the Catalog of Meteorites, it seems that a little over 4860
grams of this is listed as being tied up in museum collections.
.038 gram fragment in capsule –
4mm x 2mm x 2mm - $20
.13
gram fragment – 8mm x 5mm x 2mm - $50
CANAKKALE,
Turkey: (L6). Fell July 1964. Tkw = 4+ kilograms.
This is listed as “several pieces found, the largest
weighing 4kg”, implying that a fair amount of this might be out there. However,
the collections lists in the Catalog of Meteorites shows that only about 600 grams
is preserved in museum collections. I don’t recall ever seeing this name
before, so I don’t think that much of the “missing material” has made it into
collector’s hands.
Small
fragment in capsule – about 2.5mm x 2mm x 1.5mm - $20
.058
gram fragment – 5mm x 3mm x 2mm - $40
GLORITTA MOUNTAIN,
New Mexico: (Pallasite). Found 1884.
Here is a nice complete individual as found. It has some
nice pitting but I cannot distinctly make out any olivine so I’d be hesitant to
call this anything more than an iron individual. Regardless, this does have
some nice areas of still fresh and flow-lined fusion crust. I remember before
Sikhote-Alin came out, this meteorite was the ONLY way a collector could have
honest real iron fusion crust for their collections. The previous owner got
this piece from Bethany Sciences in January of 1994. This particular specimen
is actually the piece Ron used as the picture piece in his catalog at the time.
I have a copy of this catalog that will go with this specimen. This also comes
with the original Bethany Sciences “Certificate of Authenticity”, though this
has been (long ago) hand corrected from a weight of 54.6 grams to 45.6 grams
which still seems to be a bit wrong as I keep coming up with 45.1 grams for
this specimen.
45.1
gram complete individual – 45mm x 18mm x 16mm - $650
HENBURY,
Australia: Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1931.
Here is a somewhat larger than I typically get specimen. It
is nothing special, unfortunately, being mostly a roughly flattened oval shape
with only soft thumb-prints. It still has its “as found” appearance - a nice
orange brown color. Not a bad piece, just not a sculpture, and priced
accordingly.
71.5
gram natural individual – 45mm x 30mm x 12mm - $110
MOUNT VERNON,
Kentucky: (Pallasite). Found 1868, Tkw = 159 kilograms.
The Murchison on my last offering was my big plus surprise
in the collection, this one was my big minus surprise unfortunately. I was told
it was 13.5 grams and measured 43mm x 36mm x 2mm and was “fresh”. Well, I got
6.4 grams measuring roughly 30mm x 20mm x 2mm that is quite rusty. I think that
this would be repairable BUT it came to me in 4 pieces that don’t seem to fit
back together completely (and I am usually pretty good at puzzles). This does
still have some large crystals that pass light nicely (one looks like it might
produce a couple nice but small faceted gems if one were so inclined). I’m
selling this one at a loss but someone out there will be able to add a new
tough name to their pallasite collection for fairly cheap. The previous owner
purchased this specimen from Robert Haag in January of 1994.
6.4
gram broken, oxidized slice - $100-SOLD
ST. MICHEL,
Finland: (L6). Ell July 12, 1910. Tkw = 17 kilograms.
After the last piece I had sold in seconds and many people
wanted it (guess I priced it too cheap), I asked the source of that if they had
any more. This is what I got. Not a “large” slice like the last one, more like
the fragments of other rare falls I have been getting. Anyway, this is a lot of
fragments from small crumbs up to around 9mm x 4mm x 2mm. Most of the bigger
pieces show nice shock veining as well.
.42
grams of fragments and crumbs - $15 -SOLD
SIKHOTE-ALIN,
Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a complete fusion crusted individual that also
happens to be oriented. It is not the perfect dome type of oriented but well
oriented none the less. This has a general conical shape (obviously pointed
front, generally flat back) that shoes a few elongated (some call “flower
petal”) thumbprints on the front and a distinct sharp roll-over rim running
completely around the back.
30.3
gram oriented individual – 30mm x 22mm x 12mm - $75
TISSINT,,
Morocco: Martian (Shergottite). Olivine-phyric. Fell July 18, 2011. Tkw = over
7 kilograms.
Here is an amazing piece I got from Matt for a potential
customer a month or so ago (that person decided to take a sliced Martian
instead of this fragment). It was the Viking lander’s readings of the Martian
atmosphere back in the 1970’s that gave us the biggest clue that these
meteorites (the SNCs) were from Mars. Those readings showed that gasses trapped
inside melt pockets in shock veins of these stones isotopically matched the
Martian atmosphere. This particular specimen is incredible for showing these
melt pockets. Probably better than 30% of this piece is melt vein material.
Even better still, this melt veining is full of gas pockets. Many of these can
be easily seen with your eye as the interiors of these pockets is super shiny,
compared to the duller black of the general melt material. I am quite certain
that this specimen has many more unbroken melt pockets (that likely still
contain Martian atmosphere inside them) are yet hiding in the interior of this
piece.
1.6
gram fragment with heavy shock melt veins – 13mm x 11mm x 7mm - $1200
