Showing posts with label Blaine Reed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blaine Reed. Show all posts

Friday, 14 June 2024

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 272 Large Sikhote-Alin Shrapnel 14JUN2024

Blaine Reed Meteorites for  Sale- List 272  Large Sikhote-Alin Shrapnel  14JUN2024

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

LIST 272 - June 14, 2024

Dear Collectors

  I have been tied up with all kinds of different issues, projects and planned travels.
So, what am I selling here: nicer LARGE Sikhote-Alin shrapnel pieces (wire-brushed):

Click on image to enlarge.

SIKHOTE – ALIN, Russia. Coarsest Octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
1) Wire brushed shrapnel fragments:
a) 282.0 grams – 60mm x 60mm x 25mm - $375 - PENDING- BUT ASK
b) 335.8 grams – 80mm x 50mm x 40mm - $435 - SOLD
c) 493.0 grams – 110mm x 40mm x 30mm - $650 (one 30mm x 20mm end fusion crusted) SOLD
d) 660.7 grams – 90mm x 70mm x 40mm - $825
e) 896.0 grams – 100mm x 60mm x 40mm - $1100 PENDING- BUT ASK

  These are pieces that I put into deep storage many, many years ago (like 30-plus years ago).
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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).

Saturday, 6 March 2021

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 242

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

LIST 242 - March, 4, 2021

Dear Collectors,
I am going to do this offering a bit different than usual as I have more pieces of one particular meteorite than usual. I would have normally held these back and put them on one of my three times a year larger catalogs but I had fusion crusted Sikhote-Alins on one of those not all the long ago (and sold most of them fairly quickly as they were oriented specimens). I got these pieces as part of a large collection (9 beer-flats full) of mostly small specimens (most to small to mess with listing here. They will most likely end up in a big “bargain tub” at the various shows when we are able to have those again). I had several different qualities of material and a good number of pieces in each quality level. So, I decided here to break the specimens apart into different quality levels, list a price per gram for the specimens in that batch and then simply list the weights (from left to right in the photos). This way I was able to put many more specimens in the photos and offer a wider selection of pieces that everyone could see (and I still have some nice “duplicates” to some of the pieces I did photo). So here are the break-downs of groups:

GROUP “a” are ones that were likely quite late recoveries (things that were found much more recently than many would care to admit) that have also possibly been harshly cleaned because of this (some of the recent finds were starting to look pretty rough). These still have some fusion crust and have the sculpted shape for the most part. I have priced these for about the same as I would price similar sized shrapnel fragments at shows these days.

GROUP “b” are ones that have quite a lot of fusion crust and good sculpting but they (in my opinion) have been over cleaned at some point in the past. Not terribly so, but their crust does tend to be thinner and shinier (from brushing and oiling). These are the kind of things I come across most commonly at shows (so, not atypical for the usual fusion crusted Sikhote-Alins offered).

GROUP “c” are better pieces. These have better crust (not harshly cleaned though some have had some cleaning work and oiling done to them) and better shapes. These are the pieces that likely were fairly early finds (or trades out of museums) and generally (on the larger pieces in particular) show some really nice flow-lines (though I don’t know if those will turn up worth a darn in a photo the size that is allowed for me to send out through this new system). A number of these piece also show orientation to one degree or another (some quite clearly). I have priced these at what I would normally ask on typical Sikhote-Alin specimens at a show (which is also about the same as what the folks that are/ were the sources for these ask for them).

GROUP “d” is a one specimen. This one is probably the most interesting Sikhote-Alin specimen I’ve had in years. It looks to be a nice oriented specimen but it also has had some kind of inclusion (shriebersite/ cohenite) burned out of it – forming a nice long tunnel through a large length of the piece. A really cool piece that I suspect I’ll soon find that I under priced it.

Now, on to the offering:

A note on the photos below: I know these are a bit cluttered and they likely came though on your e-mail as quite small. I do have the somewhat larger original pictures that were used to create this offering. If you are interested enough to want and see larger photos of these pieces I'll email you them directly, just ask.

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
These are all “fusion crusted” individuals that I got as part of a large collection I purchased fairly recently. They are broken down into quality groups. Each group has a price per gram for specimens in that particular quality level. The weights of the specimens are in order the same as in the photo from left to right (smallest/ lightest specimen on the left, largest on the right).

a): Specimens that were later finds, had more original rust and have been quite heavily cleaned:
Price = $1.25/g
Weights of specimens in photos: 16.7g, 20.3g, 22.7g, 34.1g, 52.4g, 63.5g, 99.9g

b): Specimens that have good crust coverage but have had some cleaning work that my have diminished some features:
Price = $2.25/g
Weights of specimens in photos: 4.8g, 9.9g, 11.4g, 17.5g, 26.4g, 37.8g, 44.8g

c): Specimens that have good crust with good features (flow lines, better sculpting, some orientation, etc).
Price = $3.00/g

d): A wonderful crusted/ oriented specimen that has a long natural hole burned through it:
62.3g – 40mm x 20mm x 18mm - $600

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Shipping: For small US orders $5 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $4. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still loosing a little even at $5. Larger orders are now $8 to $15 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it).

Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are around $15 (Canada seems to be right around $11). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

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

Wednesday, 3 February 2021

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 240

 


Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com  MENTION Seen on Blog; thanks!

LIST 240 - February 2021

A note on Tucson this year.. Normally, I’d be at the show right now . Normally, I try to have this “first of the year” offering in people’s hands (or e-mail in boxes) right at the first of the year. This would allow me to raise a little $ to spend at the show, let folks know when and where I’d be for the show and more. Well, this year everything got dumped on its head. In late December I got notice that Tucson (the bulk of it anyway) has been cancelled or delayed. The big museum display loaded Convention Center show (run by the Tucson Gem and Mineral club and the venue that started all of it) has been cancelled entirely this year. Many of the “satellite” shows (of which mine is one) have been re-scheduled to dates around April 8th to the 24th. IF this does end up happening (questionable at this point given how fast infections are growing right now) I probably would want to stick to more like April 8th – 17th or 18th, as there is not going to be a “big event” convention center show that brings in a whole lot of new/ different people for the second week like in normal years. I will try to send out posts in the future as to what is happening concerning Tucson as soon as I actually know with some degree of certainty of what is happening myself.
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A note concerning the photos in this offering:
I want everyone receiving this post with embedded group photos of the items on this list that the item pictured
 MAY NOT be the identical item you receive (except for cases where I have clearly labeled an item as “the only one this size” or similar). I usually have (and sell) multiple pieces of each size of the items listed (sometimes MANY of them – far to many to put all in a photograph for people to pick from). What I normally do is send the first person that asks for a particular item the largest piece available in whatever size range it is that the specimen they are buying belongs to (when I send a piece that is not in the photo, you generally get a very similar but slightly larger piece). This came about as MOST of my sales from these periodic (three times a year) catalogs come from the paper mailed version of this offering where no photos exist so customers don’t know exactly what the piece they ordered looks like (and are usually quite happy to receive a slightly larger specimen instead). So, you can certainly request the exact item in the group photo and I am happy to send it if someone else hasn’t already requested it. Please let me know if you would likely ONLY be happy with receiving that actual pictured piece(s) and I will NOT do any substitution(s) in your order.
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NWA (13416): Ordinary chondrite. (L5). Found before September 2015. Tkw = 1834.0 grams.
Here is a stone I picked up at the Denver 2015 show as it had an interesting look to it (it showed some fine straight black shock veins on its surface– some of which had the surrounding material eroded away, leaving the veins as raised features on the stone’s surface (the largest end piece listed below shows this best). Though the research reserve specimen likely had some shock veins in it it seems that the piece I sent off for thin-sectioning did not. The research work on this reports it as “sparse chondrules set in a matrix containing altered metal, troilite, chromite and chlorapatite” – no mention of shock veins (oops). Anyway a good number of the pieces offered here show at least some shock veining, along with light brown/ orange “sparse chondrules” and some fresh metal in a medium orange/ brown matrix.
Slices:

a) 9.2 grams 28mm x 20mm x 4mm $12.00
b) 17.6 grams 42mm x 40mm x 4mm $21.00
c) 35.8 grams 60mm x 50mm x 4mm $40.00
d) 74.9 grams 100mm x 74mm x 4mm $75.00 – complete slice.

End pieces: I have only one of each of these.

a) 89.6 grams - $85, b) 153.8 grams - $145.00, c) 197.1 grams - $185.00
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NWA (10155): Primitive achondrite. (Lodranite). Found before February 2015, Tkw = 277grams. A single complete stone was found. I got this late in the show in 2015 as another meteorite dealer had set this aside for later purchase and then never cam back for it. It looked interesting on the outside – having an unusual granular/ crystalline look to it. Yep, research work indeed shoed this to be quite unusual – a rare lodranite (I think I have only handled a few different lodranites over the years – NWA (2871), this one and MAYBE a single sample of one other). This is composed of polyhedral olivine and pyroxenes with many triple junctions. Fresh metal makes up about 10% of the volume of this stone. Primitive achondrites (lodarnites, acapulcoites and wininaites) are kind of half way between chondrites and achondrites. They have a chondritic composition (never fully melted and differentiated) but an achondritic texture.

1. Slices:
a) .6 grams 15mm x 10mm x 2mm $20.00
b) 1.6 grams 20mm x 13mm x 2mm $50.00
c) 3.0 grams 21mm x 16mm x 3mm $90.00
d) 6.0 grams 30mm x 20mm x 3mm $175.00
e) 14.9 grams 40mm x 38mm x 3mm $425.00 – nice complete slice.

2. End piece/ main mass:
a) 34.5 grams 40mm x 35mm x 7mm $870.00
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FULGURITES: Lightning fused sand. Pantano Wash, Tucson, Arizona.
Not sure what the connection is, other than that they are a pretty cool (and not too common) item, but I get people asking for these at every show. I stumbled upon these out in the hanger while digging around for something else (I got these some years ago). The note that came with them says “observed lightening strike” and the location, but not the time, unfortunately. Regardless, these are pretty cool and have the classic tubular shape with all kinds of sand and rocks fused to the exterior.
Fragments/ tubes as found:
a. Sample around 20 to 30mm long (generally smaller diameter tubes) - $10.00 each
b. Sample around 40 to 50mm long, larger diameter tubes - $20.00 each.
c. Sample around 70mm long - $40.00 each.
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CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
I’ve had pieces of Canyon Diablo pretty much my entire business history (a bit over 34 years now). However, it has been a rare, rare day that I have had natural as found specimens to offer. Even more important is that these are, for the most part, these are all nice sculpted rim specimens (the smaller ones are particularly nice). What I mean by that is that these retained a nice thumb-printed kind of shapes and sculpting. These type specimens, from what I was told many, many years ago by Glenn Huss, are found near the rim of the crater. It seems that these pieces, being close to the 10 megaton or so blast that formed the crater, got heat treated to some degree and this made them more resistant to weathering. This also made these pieces loose much if not all of their etch structure (so these are NOT ones to cut). These pieces listed here are all as found. They even retain a light coating of the local soil in many cases (this clearly shows that these are indeed Canyon Diablos to those in the know).
Natural individuals as found:

a) 4.0 grams 30mm x 11mm x 5mm $6.00
b) 8.1 grams 35mm x 16mm x 7mm $12.00
c) 17.3 grams 27mm x 22mm x 9mm $24.00
d) 33.5 grams 50mm x 24mm x 9mm $42.00
e) 81.3 grams 55mm x 25mm x 18mm $100.00
f) 166.8 grams 80mm x 40mm x 18mm $200.00 - not in group photo.
g) 502.3 grams 100mm x 60mm x 30mm sold
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VILLANUEVA, New Mexico, USA: Ordinary chondrite (H6). Found 1974. Tkw = 2278 grams. Here is a meteorite a friend told me about as he had seen it on display in a mineral shop in Albuquerque. I stopped in on my way home from the New Mexico Mineral symposium in November of 2012. Looking it (well the two pieces that fit together to form one larger stone anyway) I knew right away that this was NOT a mislabeled NWA (it would take way to much space to explain how I can tell this here now). I managed to negotiate to buy the smaller piece of the two with the promise that I would get the research work done. Well, THAT proved to be problematic. This thing was found in 1974 about a mile south/ southeast of where the current Villanueva State Park (southeast of Santa Fe) is now located. The person that found it had long since passed away. Because of this, one research group simply dropped work on this stone (they required a signed affidavit from the finder – which, obviously would be impossible to acquire, to finish the reporting work). Several years later, I found other folks (Tony Irving and Paul Sipiera of Planetary Studies Foundation) that were willing to put in the extra effort to get this new New Mexico meteorite finally reported. To be honest, this isn’t a real impressive meteorite to look at. It is extensively recrystallized and shows only the occasional remnant chondrule, lots of extremely tiny fresh and weathered metal grains in a fine-grained medium gray and brown mottled matrix. As it was quite fractured, I ended up with smaller slices than I would have liked but more end pieces/ cut fragments to make up for it.

1. Slices:
a) 4.7 grams 30mm x 22mm x 3mm $17.00
b) 9.2 grams 40mm x 20mm x 3mm $33.00
c) 18.1 grams 46mm x 27mm x 4mm $65.00
d) 28.6 grams 54mm x 37mm x 4mm $100.00

2. End pieces/ cut fragments:
a) 17.1 grams 37mm x 20mm x 17mm $50.00
b) 27.7 grams 34mm x 30mm x 15mm $80.00 – only one.
c) 52.9 grams 50mm x 40mm x 11mm $150.00 – only one.
d) 84.3 grams 82mm x 50mm x 11mm $225.00 – only one
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Shipping: For small US orders $5 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $4. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still loosing a little even at $5. Larger orders are now $8 to $15 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it).

Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are around $15 (Canada seems to be right around $11). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

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

Sunday, 14 October 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 219


Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 219
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                                
                            LIST 219
October 10, 2018

Dear collectors,

Here is the e-mail version of my recently mailed list. This (and the mailed paper version) went out quite a bit later than I normally like to send my “after Denver” lists. I had forgotten that I had made plans (waaaaay back in February or March) to go with friends for a long weekend goof-off trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota (got back from that on the first and then had to turn right around and head back to Denver for a watch and clock convention (where I get many parts, tools and watches to fix). This is normally held in mid July but, for some reason, was cancelled and rescheduled to October 5th and 6th. Anyway, here (finally) is my most recent list.

NWA (6903): Iron. Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 2008. Tkw = 50kg.
This is material I have had set aside for quite some years now. I got these (very) few slices with the expectation that I’d get more when it was prepared (cut, etched, etc.) Well, all of the prep happened, but I never got the chance to get more material (it seems that it all sold to others before I even knew it was ready). I hesitate to even offer this little amount of material on one of these catalogs but I don’t want to simply leave it sitting in a box forever either. All of these are “one of a kind” so act fast if you want a particular specimen. All are “complete” slices (no cut edges) and are etched on both sides.
1) Etched complete slices:
a) 11.0 grams - 20mm x 17mm x 4mm - sold
b) 47.8 grams - 45mm x 37mm x 5mm - sold
c) 90.7 grams - 90mm x 40mm x 4mm - $300
d) 220.3 grams - 85mm x 80mm x 4mm - $650

NWA (7254): Ordinary chondrite, (L3.4), W2. Found before Sept.. 2004. Tkw = 1447 grams.
This is one that I had to submit multiple times before it finally got classified, taking years to finally get finished. I had a fair amount of this but now have only a couple hundred grams. I sold a bunch while it was waiting to get published. This is a nice looking meteorite – lots of lighter-colored chondrules in a light to medium brown matrix - and is one that tends to sell itself whenever I have shown someone a piece of it. Helping it sell fast is also the fact that this is actually a REALLY rare meteorite type, far rarer than I realized until now. There are only 5 total L3.4s (including this one) known from outside of Antarctica. Of those, only the 433g NWA (2960) MIGHT be available to collectors! Even more interesting is that a slice of this meteorite (now at UNM) had a large (2cm) rectangular ‘exotic” inclusion that studies showed to be very similar (in texture and mineralogy) to the rare Brachinite type achondrite. Sorry, I don’t have any pieces remaining that show this, unfortunately.
1) Slices:
a) 1.2 grams - 13mm x 11mm x 3mm - $24
b) 2.7 grams - 23mm x 16mm x 2mm - $54
c) 6.5 grams - 40mm x 25mm x 2mm - $130
d) 17.8 grams - 47mm x 35mm x 4mm - sold
e) 46.8 grams - 65mm x 47mm x 4mm - $750 – complete slice.
2) 82.9 gram end piece with cut edge – 62mm x 55mm x 10mm - $1200.00 – Main Mass.

QUITOVAC, Mexico: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found October 12, 2017. Tkw =  about 17kg.
Originally, 5 pieces totaling 9.11kg of this meteorite were found by a group of people looking for gold using metal detectors near the village of Quitovac in Sonora, Mexico. A further 8kg of fragments and individuals were brought to light in early 2018. Despite the Meteoritcal Bulletin report indicating that this is fairly weathered material (indicating that the research work was done on a more weathered subsurface find), the pieces I have here are quite bright and fresh. Though some pieces do have some attached caliche, most of the natural exterior surfaces show fairly fresh fusion crust and fracture surfaces. The interior is really quite fresh, showing nearly white chondrules, bright metal (often surrounded by an orange halo) in a light tan, nearly white matrix. I do have a few (mostly larger) end pieces and individuals available.
1) Slices:
a) 5.0 grams - 22mm x 17mm x 5mm - $13
b) 10.1 grams - 30mm x 18mm x 6mm - $25
c) 20.1 grams - 40mm x 38mm x 5mm - $50
d) 45.1 grams - 57mm x 45mm x 5mm - $110
e) 91.0 grams - 78mm x 63mm x 5mm - $215
f) 189.0 grams - 140mm x 95mm x 5mm - $425
g) 466.3 grams - 215mm x 170mm x 5mm - $1000 – nice complete slice.

NWA (11516): HED achondrite (Eucrite, polymict). Found before Sept. 2016. Tkw = 1234.6g
I wanted to put an HED on this list as I finally got to see their origin (Vesta) back in June and July. I don’t know my way around the sky but did manage to nail it down and see its progress across the sky over several weeks (before wildfire smoke moved in and wiped out pretty much all sky viewing). Anyway, this is a brecciated meteorite that has clasts (white, gray, brown, etc.) of various sizes and some metal grains in a medium gray matrix. This closely resembles a Howardite, which it would have been if it had a bit more diogenite in it (this fell just short of the required 10% to qualify). This stuff is neat as parts of it (some clasts and some thin veins) fluoresce a light yellow green (and phosphoresce some as well) under my Convoy UV light. I think most of this is from terrestrial carbonate contamination but cool none the less.
1) Slices:
a) 1.5 grams - 15mm x 12mm x 3mm - $15
b) 3.0 grams - 24mm x 15mm x 3mm - $30
c) 6.2 grams - 40mm x 18mm x 3mm - $60
d) 10.2 grams - 42mm x 26mm x 3mm - $95 – complete slice.
e) 20.6 grams - 47mm x 42mm x 3mm - $190 – complete slice.
2) End pieces:
a) 38.3 grams - 60mm x 40mm x 10mm - $300
b) 57.1 grams - 47mm x 45mm x 15mm - $440

SERICHO, Kenya: Stony-iron (pallasite). Recognized 2016. Tkw = tons.
I know, I offered pieces this stuff on this same “after Denver” list last year. However, when I put out that list I did not have any small end pieces or individuals to offer. I do now! I managed to pick up bag of nice small individuals this past spring. I cleaned them up (soda blasted) a bit to remove dirt. Some I left intact and others I split in half. So, here is a great chance for those of you that want to have an affordable nice complete or cut piece of a pallasite in their collection. I am noticing some minor brown staining on some of the cut pieces, so I am pricing these cheap and cannot give long-term stability assurances on these particular pieces (but then, Linda has been running a humidifier in the house, thanks to the incredibly/ unbelievably dry conditions we have had the 6months or so I have had these cut pieces sitting around).
1) Complete individuals:
a) 17.8 grams - 30mm x 22mm x 15mm - $27
b) 32.9 grams - 33mm x 27mm x 16mm - $49
c) 59.1 grams - 38mm x 35mm x 20mm - $89
d) 95.6 grams - 53mm x 40mm x 20mm - $143
e) 183.7 grams - 50mm x 45mm x 40mm - $275
2) End pieces:
a) 13.0 grams - 30mm x 18mm x 10mm - $26
b) 25.1 grams - 40mm x 30mm x 10mm - $50
c) 36.8 grams - 40mm x 30mm x 15mm - $74
d) 69.3 grams - 55mm x 40mm x 20mm - $139 – only one this size.
e) 109.7 grams - 60mm x 35mm x 20mm - $219

K-T BOUNDARY SAMPLE: Slope County, North Dakota.
Here is an interesting item I picked up at the Denver show while an electrical issue had my show room closed for an entire day (Sunday the 9th). This destroyed sales for the day but gave me a chance to get out and see things I’d normally completely miss – like this item. This is a 6cm long, 15mm diameter glass vial filled with dirt. The lower (K) section is light gray, the middle (the actual K-T ash, fallout layer) is black and the top (T) is light tan. These are NOT samples as found in the field. The folks that made these collected material from each layer and then put these little vials together (in proper as found order if not in actual as found thickness) using that collected material. A neat and affordable K-T boundary item. These each come with a color post card telling a little about them and the extinction event.
    15mm diameter 6cm long glass vial with the three different layers - $8 each

Please note:
    I do have “group photos” of each lot of material above I can e-mail to those who want (please tell me what material you want a photo of). These contain the exact pieces cataloged under each name. I often have duplicate (well, similar sized anyway) pieces of many listed items. I generally send the first folks to order an item the largest available for the size. You can request the exact pictured piece if it is still available however.
 Shipping:  The post office has, once again, raised rates quite substantially. For small US orders $4 is now needed. Larger orders are now $6 to $14 (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.  How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 216--Rohr collection part 5

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 216-- Rohr collection part 5

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

LIST 216

June 12, 2018

Dear collectors,

Here is the fifth Rohr collection offering. This was supposed to go out last week, but I needed to go to Denver Wednesday and figured it best not to send out a list and have only one day to be here to respond/ pack orders (though I got delayed and actually ended up leaving Thursday). Any offerings I send out the next month or so may end up being on an abnormal schedule (I originally planned to have lists, assuming I had something to offer, go out the first and third Tuesday of each month so folks would have some idea when to look for them). Linda’s mom (my mother in law) went into assisted living last Tuesday. It seems that as I know how to clean up/ out a house full of stuff (had to do this for my mom, aunt and uncle) the bulk of the cleanup work is on my shoulders. So, I will be going to Denver off and on the next month or so going through the process of cleanup, hauling trash, setting up and running estate sales in hopes to get the house on the market as soon as possible. This is a difficult, tedious and sometimes very dirty (as was the case this past weekend when I cleaned out the back patio, garage and storage sheds) job, but I have been in this rodeo a number of times before and know how to handle it. I have no set schedule for all of this but will try to leave an answering machine message for those of you that call letting you know when I am gone and when I expect to back. As far as e-mail is concerned – Nope, I won’t have any while on the road doing this job, unfortunately. Not only will I not have the time (I am averaging 12 to 14 hour work days in this job), the phone and associated internet service has already been shut off at the house (already transferred to Linda’s mom’s new place).


CAMEL DONGA, Australia: HED achondrite (Eucrite). Found January 1984. Tkw = about 30 kilograms.
I remember when pieces of this first came out. Wow – they had really fresh and super shiny black crust. This is a “find” so we don’t know when it fell but I’d guess that it was very, very close to when it was found. I say this because the pieces of this meteorite that came to market quickly started showing weathering (this meteorite does have sometimes large nodules of fresh iron in it). Specimens that were coming out just a year or two after its first recover were already showing a little bit of yellow dirt staining and loss of shiny areas of the crust. A few more years down the road and some piece were looking pretty bad. This piece is not one that was part of the first recoveries, but it is close. This does have some very minor dirt staining and a couple small areas where the crust has dulled a bit, but not much. Overall, this is still a very nice little shiny crusted complete eucrite specimen. This also comes with an IMPACTIKA label (that had this priced at $175 and then lowered to $150).
5.06 gram complete crusted individual – 18mm x 15mm x 8mm - $100

CANYAO DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
Here is another (the last, actually) of the really neat thin/ sculpted Canyon Diablo pieces Linton had. I am not uncertain that this was the thinnest (overall) of all the specimens. A neat piece that really looks like it was formed by someone playing with clay. This has been wire-brushed but probably could use a light touch-up (I have left it as I got it). This comes with a Linton Rohr Collection label.
69.2 gram thin/sculpted individual – 55mm x 40mm x 10mm - $70

DHOFAR (373), Oman: Ordinary chondrite (H6). Found October 8, 2000. Tkw = 383 grams.
This is an end that, though highly wind-polished, has a nice, rounded shape to the back-side (so this is NOT a broken fragment). The interior is the usual Oman meteorite find mottled medium to dark brown interior but it does still show a moderate amount of fresh metal flakes scattered throughout (less common for these Dhofar things). Most of the weathered Dhofar stones I have had over the years are L5 or L6 things, this is distinctly different as it is an H6. The best part about this stone is that it represents a bit more than 1/3rd of the whole piece that was classified under this number. I am not going to say that there aren’t other pieces that would pair to this, but at least this stone was obviously an individual and not just a fragment of a larger piece that had different Dhofar numbers assigned to it (though I really have not noticed this problem as much with the Oman stuff as with the “Sahara” and NWA material). A decent little display piece and possibly the “Main Mass” if much of any of the rest of the stone was cut into slices. This comes with a “Sergey Vasiliev Meteorites” label.
135.6 grams end piece – 57mm x 38mm x 22mm - $185

NWA (1664): HED achondrite (Howardite). Found 2002. Tkw = 6310 grams.
Now this is a fresh howardite! This has lots of different colored (mostly small – a few mm or so) fragments (white, gray, black, tan and even some nice bright green glassy spots) in a very light gray matrix. This has two labels with it. One is a “the Lintonius Collection” and another (likely the original one that Linton got with the specimen) that touts this meteorite to be “Unique” having KREEP and chondrule like glasses up to 1cm. This piece is a roughly square thin slice (so no natural edge that would have likely been coated with fresh black crust) in a 2” x 2” plastic display box.
4.5 gram slice – 29mm x 27mm x 2mm - $70

NWA (7045): Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 2011.
Well, the Big Kahuna label that comes with this piece has it as “NWA x (unclassified)” but I fully recognize this material. I had a fair amount of it (and likely still have a small bag of it in storage somewhere) a few years ago. This was the NWA pallasite that had somehow (like Huckitta, Australia) managed to have all of its metal converted to magnetite and hematite without completely blowing itself apart. So, like Huckitta, this nice little end piece shows a number of nice (quite large) olivine crystals in a dark blue-gray matrix of magnetite and hematite. As mentioned above, the Big Kahuna label has this “unclassified” so I am putting in one of my NWA (7045) labels to go with this.
13.2 gram end piece – 35mm x 20mm x 8mm - $40

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a fusion crusted individual that has been cleaned. It has not been super harshly cleaned – as some of the material I have seen available lately for “bargain” ($2.50/g and under) pieces of this stuff. This piece still has a fair amount of actual fusion crust patches on 2/3rds of its surface (one side seems to be missing this). Anyway, a good but not great individual (and priced accordingly).
64.6 gram thumb-printed individual – 30mm x 27mm x 20mm - $145

WILLAMETTE, Oregon: Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1902. Tkw = 14,100kg.
This, unfortunately, is not the real iron portion of this meteorite but 4 small pieces of the exterior shale. Years ago, I used to get pieces of this from time to time, but have not seen any available in a long time. This “specimen” consists of four roughly equal sized pieces (around 1cm each). No label came with these (they look completely proper to me) – they were just in a clear bag with “Willamette, 2g, #220681” written with a black sharpie on it.
2.2 grams – 4 pieces - $30

Tuesday, 8 May 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 215 Linton Rohr Collection Part 4

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 215
Linton Rohr Collection Part 4

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                              
                            LIST 215

May 8, 2018

Dear collectors,

Here is the fourth Rohr collection offering.

CHELYABINSK, Russia: (LL5). Fell February 15, 2013.
This is a nice complete and fresh individual. It is pretty obvious that this was picked up early after the fall. Aside from a tiny (about 1mm x 1mm) late flight chip, this stone is completely covered in thick primary fusion crust. The photo of this might show some crust coloration that looks like rusting – dark reddish brown areas. This may indeed be oxidation BUT it formed during the fall and NOT from later weathering on the ground after the fall. This is not uncommon on fresh Chelyabinsk specimens. I have also seen this on Allende specimens but not all that many other meteorites. This also has an interesting 2mm x 2mm metal nugget poking out of the surface. A great fresh piece (that Linton probably paid a big premium for as he undoubtedly got this soon after the fall) that is in a labeled membrane box.
    10.3 gram fresh complete individual – 25mm x 16mm x 15mm -  SOLD
But I have others- contact me.



GIBEON, Namibia: Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
This is a small complete individual that has been wire-brushed moderately. It has an overall dark brownish black color but there are some areas of original exterior (dark orange as I believe that this has also been oiled at some point) showing that this specimen is indeed a small Gibeon. Gibeons of all sizes have become very much in demand and prices have increased to quite surprising levels lately. This also comes with a Linton Rohr collection label.
    18.1 grams – 32mm x 15mm x 11mm - SOLD 

NWA (unstudied):
This is an assortment of 10 relatively fresh and mostly complete stones. One piece (the largest) looks like it could be NWA (869) but I am not going to cut it to find out. The others have a bit of a different look to them. Regardless, these would be great for people that have customers for small things or as gifts for people that just want to own a nice small stone meteorite.
    52.5g lot of 10 stones - SOLD 
But I have others- contact me.

NWA (2871): Primitive achondrite (Lodranite). Found 2004. Tkw = 3500+ grams.
This is a specimen that Linton got from me years ago and likely at a much higher price. I think I pretty much sold out of this stuff at nearly $70/g back when I had a good amount of it (I think I might have a couple small piece in my inventory somewhere). This is an end piece/ cut fragment that shows a granular/ crystalline texture on both the cut surface and the natural exterior.
    3.74 gram end piece – 20mm x 20mm x 5mm - SOLD 
But I have others- contact me.

NWA (4502): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2008. Tkw = about 35 kilograms.
This is another piece that Linton got from me years ago. It is an end piece that shows a nice smooth (wind-polished), rounded back side so this is not a broken fragment but likely a true ½ of an individual. The interior is dark, as is usual for this particular meteorite, but lots of (oblong) chondrules are visible on close inspection. This is an unusual CV meteorite in that it shows quite strong attraction to a magnet. Because of this, this material was first believed to be more likely a weathered CR meteorite before research work was done to sort out the issue.
    24.5 gram end piece – 55mm x 20mm x 10mm - SOLD
But I have others- contact me.

OUM DREGA, Western Sahara: (H3-5). Fell October 16, 2003. Tkw = around 17kilograms.
I kind of forgot about this stuff. Pieces of it were not available for very long. I know I have had it and sold it in the past, but never got enough of this meteorite to have much of it in inventory (unlike Chergach and Bassikounou which are my go-to fresh fall affordable stones in my inventory). This is technically a complete individual, though it looks like it has an end (20mm x 11mm) fractured off of it. This end, however, does show small spots of fusion crust formed on some of the higher spots so this “fracture” is really an area of very light secondary crust. The remainder of the stone is covered by nice thick black primary crust. This piece comes with a Hupe collection label that lists the name as “Amgala” – which is what this material was being called before the research work and reporting were completely done.
    15.0 gram complete individual – 30mm x 18mm x 14mm - $80

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is an interesting piece. At first glance, it looks like a pretty typical but blocky shrapnel fragment. However, on closer inspection, it has smooth areas that look like they were fusion crusted/ thumb-printed surfaces (unfortunately, this has been wire brushed so any actual fusion crust on these areas is now gone). So, it seems that this specimen is more likely a “half-breed”- a piece that is indeed a shrapnel fragment but yet still has some of the sculpted surface that was on the exterior of the original meteorite mass before it got ripped apart in hitting the ground. I have seen some of these type things in the past but they are fairly rare. This comes with a Rohr collection label.
    90.8 gram half-breed – 30mm x 30mm x 20mm - SOLD

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 214 Linton Rohr Collection Part #3

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 214 Linton Rohr Collection Part #3

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                               
                            LIST 214

April 25, 2018

Dear collectors,

Here is the e-mail version of my recent mailed paper list.

CAMPO DEL CIELO, Argentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB)
CAMPO DEL CIELO, Argentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1576.
I really hesitated to put these on here, as I really like to have multiple pieces of each offered item on these catalogs. However, year after year, I bump into these wonderful highly silicated pieces when I do inventory and have decided that they are too nice to keep leaving in deep storage. These are all really full of graphite, silicates, sulfides, (often in bands through the specimen) and look nothing like a typical piece of Campo. The two larger pieces are a bit wedged but could be split into thinner slices if one was so inclined. Wish I had gotten more of these when they were (briefly) available years ago (they were not particularly cheap back then either though). Again, these (unfortunately) are the ONLY pieces I have, so act fast if you want one.
1) Complete slices: Highly silicated:
a) 73.9 grams - 80mm x 50mm x 4mm - $130
b) 194.4 grams - 95mm x 70mm x 7mm - $240
c) 284.8 grams - 97mm x 80mm x 9mm - $300

NWA (8217): Ordinary chondrite (L5), S3, W2. Found 2013
NWA (8217): Ordinary chondrite (L5), S3, W2. Found 2013. Tkw = 490 grams.
This single stone was reported as being bought in Temara, Morocco in December of 2013. This is the last of the “prestudied” NWA meteorites I picked up a few years ago. These had some external or internal feature that made them look somewhat interesting (I don’t know what that was on this one – this looks pretty much like a normal moderately weathered L5 to me, both inside and out) so it was sent in for research work. This one, obviously, turned out to be common. I picked it up (as the original owner didn’t want to mess with it any further) and prepped it (cut and polished) for sale. Again, nothing special: a moderate amount of metal and sulfides visible in a medium brown matrix, just an affordable studied meteorite.
1) Slices:
a) 8.5 grams - 40mm x 15mm x 5mm - $11
b) 13.2 grams - 50mm x 25mm x 4mm - $17
c) 23.2 grams - 57mm x 30mm x 5mm - $28 – only piece this size.
d) 31.8 grams - 57mm x 44mm x 5mm - $37 – complete slice.
2) End piece:
a) 82.9 grams - 57mm x 43mm x 23mm - sold

NWA (5781): Ordinary chondrite (LL3.3)
NWA (5781): Ordinary chondrite (LL3.3). Found before February 2009. Tkw = 891 grams.
A single stone was purchased during the 2009 Tucson show. The Meteoritical Bulletin reports 2 pieces totaling 1060 grams because the find data for this stone got confused with another LL (an L/LL 3-6 breccia – now NWA 8738) that was submitted for research at the same time as this one. Regardless, cutting revealed a fantastic chondrule-rich interior. Chondrules of all sizes and many colors (along with some melt pockets) packed tightly together with virtually no visible matrix. This is fairly fresh. It doesn’t show much obvious bright metal (but I don’t think it had much to begin with) but it has a lot of sulfides, with many (if not most) of the chondrules being armored with it. I don’t have a lot of this material as I have already sold 2/3 of it. It seems to sell itself the few times I have shown collectors pieces of it in the past.
1) Slices:
a) 3.0 grams - 24mm x 14mm x 3mm - $36
b) 6.2 grams - 27mm x 27mm x 3mm - $74
c) 14.4 grams - 38mm x 27mm x 4mm - $165
d) 29.6 grams - 60mm x 47mm x 4mm - $325
e) 78.7 grams - 90mm x 50mm x 6mm - $700 – complete slice. Piece in group photo sold. This one looks very similar but is somewhat wedged (and thus priced a bit cheaper per gram than the original offered piece).

SAHARA (97096): Enstatite chondrite (EH3)
SAHARA (97096): Enstatite chondrite (EH3). Found 1997. Tkw = about 28 kilograms.
Actually, some of this was labeled Sahara (97072) when I got it (before cutting) but I am using the number that the Meteoritical Bulletin uses for all of the others being “paired to”. This is nice, fresh material. It has lots of fine-grained metal and lots of chondrules. This is a very primitive meteorite and I have seen a number of research articles on it the past few years because of this. However, I just discovered something surprising about it – it fluoresces! I had a fancy (and somewhat expensive) L.E.D. black light flashlight on my desk (a Convoy S2+). For grins I shinned it on the slices of this I was preparing to catalog. I was shocked by the results. This meteorite has lots and lots of tiny grains scattered throughout it that fluoresce a bright neon orange! Now I have something I can show the folks (I get some at EVERY show) that come in carrying a black light unit asking “what have you got that fluoresces?” (I used to have to say “nothing”).
1) Slices:
a) .70 grams - 10mm x 10mm x 2mm - $30
b) 1.6 grams - 15mm x 14mm x 2mm - $68
c) 2.6 grams - 23mm x 17mm x 2mm - $110
d) 5.0 grams - 34mm x 20mm x 2mm - $210
e) 9.1 grams - 50mm x 25mm x 2mm - $375
f) 17.2 grams - 70mm x 44mm x 2mm - $690 – nice complete slice!

NWA (8044): Achondrite (Howardite)
NWA (8044): Achondrite (Howardite). Found before February 2011. Tkw = 715 grams.
This is a case where an item turned out to be more interesting than what I thought when I bought it. I got around 30 fragments that I was told were “a weird eucrite” but looked like an old mesosiderite to me. Research work showed that this is actually a howardite with a lot of FeNi metal veins (highly weathered though) running through it. I asked if it might be a Mesosiderite but was told that it clearly is not due to its mineralogy. This is mostly pyroxene as the silicates of a mesosiderite would be but this also has areas of both basaltic and cumulate eucrite material. So now (hopefully) more work will (eventually) be done to determine the origin of the metal (likely from an iron impactor). These are all cut and polished fragments and don’t look like any other howardite I’ve ever seen.
1) Cut fragments:
a) 4.0 grams - 20mm x 14mm x 5mm - $48
b) 9.0 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 7mm - $110
c) 15.3 grams - 37mm x 30mm x 6mm - $175
d) 20.1 grams - 40mm x 34mm x 12mm - $220
e) 30.2 grams - 43mm x 32mm x 15mm - $325


VACA MUERTA, Chile: Stony-iron (Mesosiderite)
VACA MUERTA, Chile: Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Found 1861.
These are pieces that I set aside around 20 years ago. Back then, I paid a premium for them as they are far fresher than the typical material from this find. Each of these had a flat spot ground into them to show the high fresh metal content of each piece. Cutting these revealed that they are indeed quite fresh internally and actually look like a mesosiderite should. In typical Vaca Muerta pieces, enough metal has oxidized to make them look much more like a chondrite (but then I’ve seen estimates that this stuff has been on the ground for up to 1 million years!). I can’t really call these “end pieces” (though many of them are) because of the flat spot that the original seller ground into them. This flat spot usually did not line up well for further cutting (either in half or slicing – but then these were really too small to slice) so I ended up with pieces having a sanded edge or areas of the back side polished. Anyway, these are really fresh specimens of Vaca Muerta that are rarely seen and representative of the mesosiderite type.
1) Cut fragments:
a) 8.9 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 6mm - $45
b) 13.2 grams - 25mm x 24mm x 20mm - $66
c) 19.9 grams - 45mm x 27mm x 12mm - $100
d) 31.9 grams - 47mm x 40mm x 10mm - $160 – only one this size.
e) 46.0 grams - 60mm x 32mm x 10mm - $230 – only one this size.
f) 107.7 grams - 55mm x 40mm x 14mm - $525 – has some nice eucritic inclusions.

IMPACT GLASS: Zhamanshin crater, Kazakhstan:
IMPACT GLASS: Zhamanshin crater, Kazakhstan:
I don’t think I’ve ever had or offered big hunks of an impact formed glass before – just small pieces that were single digit grams size to maybe a few 10s of grams sized. Here are some really big paperweight/ table display pieces I recently picked up. These are all obviously glass and not just dirt and rocks stuck together by a little bit of glass (which is what most impactites are structurally). This material is a swirled mix of dark gray/ black and green glass (most pieces are heavier on the green glass). These are from the roughly 1my old, 13.5km diameter Zhamanshin crater – where Irghizites (considered by many to be a type of tektite) are from (and, up till now, the only material I have had from this impact site). Most pieces are end pieces/ cut fragments but I do have a few thick slices available. Given the size of these things, US shipping on these will be around $6 to $10. Overseas, I’ll have to calculate shipping prices.
1) Cut fragments:
a) 239.5 grams - 115mm x 85mm x 20mm - SOLD
b) 281.0 grams - 100mm x 85mm x 30mm - SOLD
c) 581.2 grams - 150mm x 105mm x 30mm - SOLD
d) 766.0 grams - 150mm x 115mm x 45mm - SOLD
2) Slices:
a) 200.7 grams - 90mm x 80mm x 15mm - SOLD
b) 295.7 grams - 130mm x 80mm x 15mm - SOLD

Please note:
    I do have “group photos” of each lot of material above I can e-mail to those who want (please tell me what material you want a photo of). These contain the exact pieces cataloged under each name. I often have duplicate (well, similar sized anyway) pieces of many listed items. I generally send the first folks to order an item the largest available for the size. You can request the exact pictured piece if it is still available however.
 Shipping:  The post office has, once again, raised rates quite substantially. For small US orders $4 is now needed. Larger orders are now $6 to $14 (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.  How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.

Tuesday, 3 April 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 213- Linton Rohr Collection Part 3

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 213- Linton Rohr Collection Part 3

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

LIST 213

April 3, 2018

Dear collectors,
   A note on the Denver Spring show: April 13-15th.
I don’t set up at this show but I do visit it. I have meetings with a few mineral dealers and such while in Denver for the show and I am happy to meet collectors as well while there. However, I cannot “poach” customers from the dealers that are fully set up and paying for being at the show. I really like to have folks try to let me know if a) they might want to get together during my time in Denver, and b) what kind of items they might like to see. Usually I bring mostly “re-sale” kind of stuff for rock shops and such. I always have some items for collectors as well but it would really help to know a bit more from those I may get together with (your saying you might like to meet does not obligate you to). So, please let me know if any of you out there do possibly want to get together at the show (I have a room at the hotel Friday and Saturday nights – The Crowne Plaza at I-70 and Chambers road – the same place as the fall show) and if there are any kind of things you’d like me to bring along (I have one person that has already requested that I bring my pocket watches for sale – something I likely would have left at home without the request).

Thanks!
List 213- Linton Rohr Collection Part 3

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Iron. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008.
This is a nice little completely natural, left as found shrapnel fragment. It is probably a good thing that this was not cleaned as on its dirtier side (the side that was obviously buried) there a few small patches of dark bubbly melt glass (yep, this is certainly one of the really rare cases where a meteorite was indeed actually really hot when it hit the ground). I have seen this on several piece of this meteorite but it is not real common. This specimen also comes with a “the Lintonius Collection” (Linton Rohr) label and a M. Bandli collection label.
52.7 gram shrapnel fragment that has some melt glass attached – 35mm x 35mm x 12mm - $100

GHUBARA, Oman: Ordinary chondrite (L5), Zenolithic. Found 1954.
I kind of like this stuff for some reason (I have something around 15kg of larger whole pieces in deep storage). It has a bit of a different look to it. Some of this stuff, however, likes to act like a desiccant and pull moisture out of the air for some reason (I have several meteorites that do this). However, this piece is NOT one of those, thankfully. It is pristine, no rust (though there isn’t much in the way of visible metal). An interesting “fact” (??) about this material is that, from a research paper I read some years ago, Ghubara is a regolith breccia from the surface of the ORIGINAL L-parent body. So this was sitting on the very surface of the L-parent before it got bashed apart (supplying the Earth with lots of L-type meteorites in the process) a bit over 500 million years ago! This nice slice comes with a metal information tag (that stands on its own) and a David Deyarmin paper label that says that this is “from a 3kg fragment that was processed for Serge of the Comet Shop on February 20th, 2009”.
102.1 gram slice – 130mm x 48mm x 5mm - $120

NWA (998): Martian (Nakhlite). Found 2001. Tkw = 456 grams.
This is a little (1mm or so) crumb (.004 grams according to the Hupe Collection Label that comes with this) in a round plastic gem stone display container. Nothing real exciting but a cheap way to add a Nakhlite to your collection (I have one piece of this stuff remaining in my sale inventory but it is .110grams and is priced at $165).
.004g crumb in gem stone disk with Hupe label - $20

NWA (5400): Ungrouped achondrite. Found June 2008. Tkw = 4818 grams.
This is the stuff that was rumored to be “Early Earth” or such. Supposedly, it was (and may still be, I am not really certain on this as I have heard nothing since) possibly a piece of the Mars-sized object that hit the early Earth (forming the moon in the process) or material blown off of the early Earth that did not get tied up in making the moon and eventually fell back here as a meteorite billions of years later. This material is brachinite-like (mostly olivine) but its oxygen isotopes are different than other known brachinite type things. This stuff has oxygen isotopes that fall right on the terrestrial (Earth) fractionation line (leading to the “early Earth” hypothesis). This is a slice in a 1 ½” x 1 ½” glass fronted plastic display box and comes with a Hupe Collection label.
2.43 gram slice - 25mm x 15mm x 2mm - $90

NWA (5950): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2009. Tkw = 3.04kg.
This is an end piece that sits to display nicely on its own. It shows lots of darker orange and brown chondrules (most of which looked squished quite a bit) in a dark brown matrix. This is dark mostly because it has a high diamond polish. Polishing most meteorites makes them turn dark. You often loose the texture (chondrules and breccia structure) when sanding at around 600 grit or so. Polishing to a super high diamond polish brings the details back out, but does leave the overall look quite a bit darker. However, being that a diamond polish is a difficult job to accomplish (properly anyway) I certainly would (and did) leave this as it is. This comes with an Aerolite Meteorites (Geoff Notkin) label, which had an original price tag of $150.
21.4 gram end piece – 45mm x 20mm x 12mm - $105

NWA (7075): Ordinary chondrite (L3), S2, W1. Found May 2011. Tkw = 2815 grams.
This is a part end cut (it has one cut edge) that is sealed in a 80mm x 60mm plastic display case that has desiccant and two labels – one on the front giving the meteorite’s basic data and a “certificate of Authenticity” Mirko Graul label on the back. This is nice fresh material. The chondrules are fairly well hidden but numerous ones are visible with more detailed inspection. I think the back- side has fusion crust as there appears to be some on what little of the edges of that side I can see. As this is a sealed display container, I didn’t try to take it apart to find out for sure. Because of this, my “thickness” measurement below is just a reasonable guess.
19.6 gram end piece – 35mm x 28mm x 7mm - $95

ODESSA, Texas: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1922.
This is a polished end piece that has not been etched. In fact, it was not even spray coated when I got it. There were a few tiny rust spots that I buffed off by hand with 600 grit sand paper (took maybe a minute doing it) and coated it. Note: the group photo containing this piece was taken before I cleaned this up and coated it. It is just as received in that picture. This is a nice, solid piece. It does not have cracking or scaling (like oh so many Odessa pieces often do). The front is mostly just bright shiny metal but there are some small inclusions (iron carbides and phosphides), one silicate inclusion and the hints of some etch texture remain. The back is completely natural, has a nice solid patina and, as mentioned above, lacks scaling. A nice little piece!
64.5 gram polished end piece – 40mm x 25mm x 15mm - $65

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 212

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 212

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                               
                            LIST 212

March 20, 2018

Dear collectors,

Here is the second Rohr collection offering. This, and the next few offerings likely, will generally be the smaller specimens that I picked up from Linton’s collection.

List 212 Offerings (click on image to enlarge)
CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IAB), Found 1891.
Here a couple really nicely shaped wire-brushed individuals. These are likely “rim specimens” – pieces of this meteorite that were likely found near the rim of the crater. It seems that specimens that were close to the blast got heat-treated to some degree (enough to remove any etch structure in most of these pieces, as I embarrassingly found out by trying to etch such a piece in front of a geochemistry class years ago). The plus side is that these pieces have neat thin-edges, sculpted shapes, as these two do. The Smaller specimen here comes with a Linton Rohr collection card. I could not locate the one for the larger (if it ever had one), but this piece has a better shape, in my opinion.
60.4 gram brushed individual – 30mm x 20mm x 20mm - $60
85.7 gram brushed individual – 55mm x 28mm x 15mm - $85

DHOFAR (644), Oman: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found 2001. Tkw = 704 grams.
The info I found on this says it was found January 26, 2001, so the finder made it a point to keep track of that. This is nothing special, to be honest – a pretty typical example of a moderately plus weathered L chondrite from Oman (there seems to be an overabundance of L chondrites in Oman). There are some metal grains still visible in the central part of the piece, so it is less weathered than some Dhofar pieces I have had. The original stone found was not real big – probably less than fist-sized. As this end piece is over 100 grams I suspect that this could be the main mass if this stone was cut up into slices. Or, it could be that few pieces were removed – making only a few pieces available to collectors and, as such, a tough “name” to add to a collection.
    110.0 gram end piece – 95mm x 25mm x 25mm - $110

NWA (unstudied): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3).
There was no information with these pieces except that they are CV3 (and they clearly look to be precisely that) and had not been studied. This lot consists of 4 obvious individuals with classic rounded meteorite shapes (though the fusion crust has long since been wind-polished off). The largest piece has a nice fairly large (7mm x 5mm) obvious CAI showing on the exterior. Nice pieces from an obviously larger fall. I don’t recognize these as being likely paired to any of the CV3s I am aware of so these are “unknown” at this point (but ARE obviously CV3).
    Lot of 4 individuals totaling 31.7 grams - $90

NWA (2822): Rumuruttiite (R4). Found 2005. Tkw = 1675 grams.
This is obviously a specimen that Linton got from me some years ago back when I actually had a fair amount of R-chondrite stuff available (it is kind of hard to come by these days). This part slice still has my small weight and name sticker on it and the information card I originally sent with it. This piece has one fusion crusted edge (about 1/3 of the edge) with the two other sides (this is triangular shaped) being fractured surfaces. This was one of my more favorite R-chondrites. It has lots of gray and brown chondrules in a mottled light brown (more orange actually) matrix.
    8.1 gram part slice – 35mm x 25mm x 3mm - $100

NWA (5793): Ordinary chondrite (LL3.8). Found 2009. Tkw = 3.5 kilograms.
I highly suspect that this is paired to my NWA (6135) material  (also classified as an LL3.8). This has the same look – lots of chondrules of many colors and sizes in a mottled light to medium brown matrix. This also seems to have the “exotic” clasts that some pieces of mine have (I have a few larger such pieces set aside if anyone is interested). In this particular piece there is an elongate (but fairly small – about 5mm x 2mm) green clast that looks very much like diogenite material type clasts that some of my larger pieces clearly show (as larger inclusions). This particular specimen is a complete slice of a fragment and was picked up by Linton from Geoff Notkin some years ago (for $89 if the price tag on the label is correct). It comes in a 2” x 2” plastic box and has the Aerolite Meteorites card with it. 
    8.9 gram slice – 30mm x 30mm x 4mm - $55

NWA (6704): Ungrouped achondrite. Found 2011. Tkw = 8387 grams.
I can see how this was classified as “ungrouped”. It is indeed a bit different looking. It is a mix of fairly bright green crystals (the bulk of the material) with brown to almost black crystals making up the rest. My first guess would have been a weird type of diogenite based on just visually looking at this. Real research work, obviously, showed that this was not the case. I have two pieces. One is a slice and shows a couple small pieces of metal on the polished side that is showing (both of these are in a 1 ½” x 1 ½” gemstone style display box). The other, larger piece is a natural fragment. Strange stuff.
2.23 grams slice – 25mm x 15mm x 2mm - $80
2.86 gram fragment – 19mm x 13mm x 6mm - $85

WHETSTONE MOUNTAINS, Arizona: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell June 23, 2009. Tkw = 2.14 kilograms.
I had a larger piece of this but, not surprisingly, sold it in Tucson (to, not surprisingly, an Arizona collector). This little piece got over looked as it was kind of lost in a bin full of specimens of all kinds, or it probably would have sold as well. Unfortunately, this is a really small piece. However, it is still obviously a piece of a fresh fall. It has a nice edge (its longest edge, thankfully) of fusion crust with the interior being a very light gray color. Not a big specimen, but a good way to add a really hard to get name to your micro-collection.
    3.5mm x 2mm x 1mm crusted fragment in membrane box - $40

Tuesday, 6 March 2018

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 211

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 211

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                               
                            LIST 211

March 6, 2018

Dear collectors,

Here is only my second list this year. This list is made up of the more special (and pricier) items that I picked up from Linton Rohr’s widow (Karen). For those of you that don’t know him, Linton was a super nice, friendly guy that was always a joy to see at the shows. Unfortunately, he had ALS (Lou Gerhig’s disease). He managed to hold up pretty well for a number of years (though his declines were somewhat noticeable from year to year, but then that is all I saw him generally - once a year). For people like him, we all hope for a miraculous unexplainable recovery or a sudden announcement of news of a new cure. Unfortunately, neither was to be and he passed from the disease a couple years ago. Sad news that I only got myself several months ago. I was asked to catalog/ organize the collection he left behind. This I did on a rather enjoyable long weekend trip Linda and I made to Torrey, Utah (about as close to the middle of nowhere as you can get) in January not long before I headed off to Tucson. Anyway, the next several (lists/ months of lists) will be pieces from Linton’s collection (though there might be a couple additional items thrown in that I need to deal with sooner). Here are the more premier pieces from the first batch of material I picked up.

As with the past few offerings  have a group photo of these things available in the group archives (I am going to try to do this for all of my future lists) or I can e-mail you the photo directly if needed. As the Gujba turned out horrible in the group photo I have a close-up picture of it on its own.
List 211 Offerings (click to enlarge)

ENSISHEIM, France: Ordinary chondrite (LL6). Fell November 16, 1492. Tkw = 127kg.
I have not had a piece of this for a long time. Heck, I think I even sold my personal piece some years ago (but at that time I think I got closer to $2k/g for the thing). For many years, this was considered to be the first witnessed fall known to science. Since then, I think there have been several other contenders for oldest fall (I recall one from Japan ) but I am not sure how well documented those are (Ensisheim was certainly well documented). This is a small slice. It comes with several labels, but only one (Mile High Meteorites – Matt Morgan) has a name on it.
    .38gram slice – 10mm x 5mm x 3.5mm - $380

ESQUEL, Argentina: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found before 1951. Tkw = 755 kilograms.
This is a really nice piece. Though it has two cut edges, it looks to be a complete slice at first glance. This shows a wide range of crystal sizes and colors and nearly all of them pass light! The smaller ones (around 5mm to 1cm or so) are generally really clear and quite obviously green in color. The larger crystals/ crystal clusters are more orange, brown in color and are 20mm to 30mm in size. This specimen is in a membrane box (though it is not in this box in the group photo) and comes with two labels: one a metal display case label (stands up on its own) and the other a Southern Minerals Meteorites and Fossils paper label. A great piece of this now rarely seen super beautiful meteorite.
    38.5 gram part slice – 90mm x 55mm x 2mm - $1250

GIBEON, Namibia: Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
I am kind of surprised that this did not sell in Tucson. The Chinese have been buying up all the Gibeon they can find at the shows lately. However, they tend to prefer whole and larger specimens, generally (if any of you out there have such you want to sell, let me know and I’ll try to make us all some $ on it). This is a complete slice that is etched on one side and polished on the other. This was never coated so there are a few small rust spots, but nothing that is concerning (I can give this a quick protection coat if the person that buys this wants it). This comes with a Michael Casper Meteorites label.
    776.9 gram complete slice – 140mm x 100mm x 8mm - $1500

GUJBA, Nigeria: Carbonaceous (CBa) Bencubbinite. Fell April 3, 1984. Tkw = 100kg.
This is one of my favorite meteorites and this is a really nice piece (I’d probably keep it if it weren’t for my spending too much $ while in Tucson on things for myself this year). This is truly strange material. It is comprised of round metal chondrules (around 5mm in size) separated by almost black silicate material (I have no idea how this was cut without it falling apart into dark dust and metal ball bearings in the bottom of the saw pan). This specimen is a complete slice of a small fragment and has a large (8mm x 9mm) light gray silicate inclusion (that shows well on both sides). This comes in a membrane box but it is out of the box for the group photo.
    10.1 gram complete slice – 52mm x 30mm x 1.5mm - $750- SOLD

PARK FOREST, Illinois: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell March 26, 2003. Tkw = 18+ kilograms.
This is a complete slice of a small stone. This is hard to come by these days. I think I have only had 2 or 3 pieces of this fall over the years. This is in a plastic box that is labeled and comes with a Big Kahuna Meteorites label. However, this label has an error on the total known weight – listing that as 250kg, which clearly in not the case.
    4.6 gram complete slice – 32mm x 25mm x 2mm - $300

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a now rare “large” fusion crusted individual (anything over 100g is rare these days in the thumb-printed pieces). It has been cleaned at some point, giving it a bit of a glossy look to it. Thankfully, this cleaning wasn’t very harsh and lots fusion crust is still visible over much of the surface (I see a number of older harshly cleaned specimens that now only have the thumb-printed shape but lost all of their crust to whatever cleaning process that they went through). A good specimen and priced a bit lower than what the Russian sources would charge for their (smaller) crusted specimens these days.
    350.7 gram crusted individual – 90mm x 50mm x 20mm - $1000

WESTON, Connecticut: Ordinary chondrite (H4). Fell December 14, 1807. Tkw = 150kg.
This is a small fragment of the U.S.’s first witnessed fall. I don’t recall the last time I had a piece of this meteorite (maybe I haven’t), I just know it is hard to come by. The label that comes with this (a Michael Cottingham Meteorite Collection label) says the specimen weight is .70grams. As Linton had this set up in a display case such that no “mislabeling” could happen in this case (a little tougher job was to be found in the back room – spent considerable time sorting those things out) I have to wonder if he didn’t have two pieces in the little plastic display case it is in (or broke this one down) for a trade or such. Anyway, this does have a little bit of fusion crust along one edge.
    .36 gram fragment – 12mm x 5mm x 3mm - $350