Blaine Reed Meteorites -LIST 260 21MAR2023

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

LIST 260 - March 21, 2023


Dear Collectors

Here is yet another “After Tucson” list. I will probably need a couple more of these to clear out the things that came to me in Tucson (or were shipped to me right before).

A note that will not mean a lot to most of you: I have had a fax machine since close to when they first came available. It was really handy for those overseas, don’t speak the language orders (this was well before e-mail). I (and the other folks) found it easier to write things like a letter but have it on the other end as fast as a phone call. Others preferred to send credit card info this way. In fact, I have had this done as recently as my last mailed offering! However, I had someone try to send a fax to me a week or so ago and my fax seems to have completely come apart internally (some important old plastic gear or such obviously broke). I tried to receive the incoming fax but could not. The top of the machine just kept jumping up (trying to open the cover on its own) while making terrible snapping and popping sounds. I looked into it and, nope, this is something I can’t fix. So, at this point I have to let those few of you that liked contacting me this way, I cannot be reached that way right now. I will likely look into seeing if I can find an old thermal paper fax I can use (my tearing into this – a plain paper fax – showed me a HUGE security risk inside that I had not considered before), but that may take time. In the meantime, I will be completely destroying the carbon paper inside of this old one (burning it I suppose) and will NOT be able to receive fax messages until further notice, unfortunately.
----


Click on image to enlarge.

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite. Found 1891.
I have had a really hard time getting ANY Canyon Diablos lately. My main supplier told me in December of 2021 that he would NOT be selling me anymore of his. And, so far, he has lived up to his words. I have not gotten a single gram from him. This isn’t him trying to be mean or anything, it is just things have changed (for the better) for him. His main business is doing a lot of the small retail weekend shows all over the place. In 2020 and most of 2021 those were not happening. He had no place to sell his stuff (the bulk of which is various raw lapidary rocks/ dino bone, hand- made cabochons and jewelry (quite well done). For a couple years he simply NEEDED someone like me to buy in bulk to survive. Now that his large list of shows are back (I’ll be seeing him in Creede early August) he can sell all the Canyon Diablo he wants/ needs to at full retail now. Anyway, I was offered these end pieces from a “secondary” source. He had just got done cutting and etching what was a pretty ugly (rounded lump) of a Canyon Diablo the he had gotten some years earlier from the guy I used to get mine from. Well, this thing etched up beautifully! It has one of the best etches I have seen from Canyon Diablo (not sure if the photo will really show this though). Oddly, the fact that this was just a rounded, not pretty piece is part of the reason it did etch. You see, the Canyon Diablos that have retained their nice sculpted character (aside from usually being too pretty to cut up) have often gotten “heat treated” during the impact. They were “close to the fire” of the crater forming event. This hardened them so they are far more likely to retain a neat shape but also far, far more likely to NOT show much of an etch pattern, if any (and it was such a piece that I tried to use for a geochemistry glass talk once. After nearly blowing up the geology department’s saw (the guy overseeing its use could not/ would not believe me when I said it absolutely CANNOT be run using the saw’s powered screw feed) the end pieces then embarrassed me in front of the whole class when neither of them would etch (I did not have time to try it before the actual lecture day and would not have had time to try cutting open another piece, IF that would have been allowed, anyway). So, these two separate pieces are actually just halves of the same meteorite that was properly cut and etched. I have also priced these below what I have to ask for Canyon Diablo in general these days. Really nice paperweights!
a) 774.9gram etched end piece – 95mm x 65mm x 30mm - $900
b) 1114.9 gram etched end piece – 100mm x 80mm x 30mm - $1300
----

Click on image to enlarge.

JIKHARRA (001), Libya: HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2022. Tkw = 3 tons.
Yep, the total known weight is in the tons. Estimated at about 3 when this was reported but I have heard it might really be closer to 4 or even 5!! THAT is a LOT OF VESTA! However this huge discovery has now made it possible to own an achondrite (plus one that actually has a known body of origin!) for the price of most average common chondrites! I myself picked up a nice bowling ball sized piece of this for my collection. I have these two nice, clearly natural individuals and a couple ugly longish fragment pieces that I plan to run through the saw sometime before too long and offer slices of. Really crappy weather so far this entire year (I put a new solar hot air panel on my house the day before Christmas and we’ve had pretty much an endless string of clouds, wind, rain, snow since). So, no slices for a while, but I can offer these nice individuals (I’ll probably just buy more if these sell. I am a fan of Vesta stuff – particularly at these kinds of prices).
a) 792.3 gram individual – 90mm x 80mm x 50mm - $590
b) 2327.4 gram individual – 130mm x 110mm x 80mm - $1600
-----

Click on image to enlarge.

NWA (11615): Ordinary chondrite (LL3). Found 2017. Tkw = 3114 grams.
A single stone was found and purchased in Temara, Morocco by a meteorite dealer in August of 2017. This is a nice meteorite, showing LOTS of closely packed, well-formed chondrules. This is quite fresh. There are very few blebs of fresh metal in this (and most of them are very small. This shows almost no attraction to a magnet. I suspect that someone might have thought that they had found an achondrite (the chondrules don’t really seem to show on the natural edge) when they found this one. Still, an unequlibrated (type 3) stone isn’t bad! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any info on approximate “subtype” (3.3, 3.6, 3.7….). There was a note of the chrome content of the olivines (apparently, it is possible to get a sub-type from that info) but I have no clue how to interpret that right now, unfortunately.
99.4 gram complete slice – 95mm x 85mm x 4mm - $300

NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2020. Tkw = 29.4kg.
Nope, this IS a eucrite melt breccia like the Jikharra above but it is a completely different animal. I have seen cut pieces of the Jikharra and, to be honest, it is kind of a mushy mess inside (it is almost all melted). This does not have a whole lot of melt in it, just dark veins and zones between the angular still eucritic looking (for the most part) clasts. This has much more the look of a Lunar anorthositic breccia. In fact, some people that saw pieces of this I had in Tucson thought that it was. Nope, just a nice complete slice of a lunar looking eucrite and the second cheapest eucrite that I am aware of (the Jikharra above is number one in that respect).
259.8 gram complete slice – 180mm x 125mm x 5mm - $850
------ 

Click on image to enlarge.

PHILIPPINITE: Tektite from the Philippines.
This is, at the moment, my largest tektite of any sort (I know, I recently had a customer wanting to know what are the largest tektites I have. My next largest is a somewhat chipped 100g Chinese tektite spherical piece). I got this along with some nice NWA chondrite pieces as part of a “collection”. This is at least 3 times larger than any of my other Philippinites. This also has a lot better grooving to it. This does not have a lot of the classic big deep grooves all over it (those kinds are like $3/g now) but it has some. A nice, natural, unchipped grooved individual.
167.9 gram natural individual – 65mm x 45mm x 30mm - $165

SPRINGWATER, Canada: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1931.
Well, actually this piece was found in the fall of 2008. This is one of the samples that turned up when a group of US meteorite hunters researched the area, put in a little (a lot?) effort and hit pay dirt. I don’t recall how much they ended up finding. It was a substantial amount. However, almost all of it stayed in Canada. You can’t just find a take home a Canadian meteorite. You have to get export papers for it and you can only get that once everyone in Canada (museums, research institutes, etc) has what they want of it first. In this case, there was some left over to be exported, but not a lot. I believe that this is the LAST piece the person I got this from (one of the partners in the re-discovery of the strewn filed has (the last he is willing to sell now anyway). This is a really nice, solid piece (that looks like it might even show some fusion crust remnants).
296.4 gram natural individual – 70mm x 45mm x 40mm - $5500

TIRHERT, Morocco: HED achondrite (Eucrite). Fell July 9, 2014. Tkw = about 8kg.
This isn’t cheap but it sure has the “Wow!” factor. This is clearly an early after the fall recovery piece. It has the best, shiny fusion crust I have seen on a eucrite in many, many years. I think the Early Camel Dongas might have given this a run for its money but those started looking pretty ratty in a matter of months after the strewn field was discovered (Camel Donga is not recorded as a fall but it must have fallen VERY soon before it was discovered as the pieces did weather quite quickly). This does have a number of small corner and edge chips, but, in a way, those make this more interesting as they show a wonderfully contrasting almost white unbrecciated eucrite interior.
121.9 gram beautifully crusted individual – 50mm x 35mm x 35mm - $9800

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shipping: Shipping rates, right now, have gone up yet again. They seem to have added a "holiday time surcharge". Now it seems that the cheapest I can send a small padded envelope order for is close to $6 at the moment. Regardless, I'll keep the shipping on these (they are small and light weight) at a simple $5 for now for US shipping.

Small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $15).

Blaine Reed Meteorites -LIST 259 07MAR2023

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

LIST 259 - March 7, 2023

Dear Collectors:
  Here is another “after Tucson” offering. Once again, this is a list of some of the things that came home with me from the show. Some (most) of these are consignments (many brought to me during the show) and some are things I had picked up earlier.


AGOUDAL, Morocco: Iron meteorite, Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Found 2000.
I remember when pieces of this stuff first started coming out. They were only quite small ones (a few grams up to, maybe, a few tens of grams). The stuff was being offered as a “new Hexahedrite” (and, yes, if you only have a small piece, you are basically looking at a single Kamacite crystal, which is basically what a Hexahedrite is) for around $5 to $6/g I think. I recognized right away that the things looked like they were from a crater type impact/ fall. Yep, that is indeed what things turned out to be. LOTS of these little pieces started pouring out. Prices got quite affordable on this material (I think, for some time, I was selling it at $.50 to $.60/g). Well, like everything else in our lives these days, prices are going up (part of this is, like other meteorite localities, the find area of this material has been pretty much complexly worked over) and my cost now starts at $1/g for small pieces (in larger volumes – like 5+kg). Of all the quantity of this meteorite that was found, VERY few were of larger size (like over a kilo or so) and only a couple were “really big” (in this case, really big means around soccer ball sized or so). I know of one of these larger pieces that was cut into slices. I had heard that some of these slices were going to be available in Tucson one year. I went to the person that had them but, as they were still unpacking for the show, they could not locate them at that moment. By the time I got word that they had been found and could make it over to buy some, they were already all gone. Here, I believe, are two slices from that batch that someone faster than me was able to acquire. These are nice complete slices. Though the price is somewhat higher than they would have been back then, it is NOT by much. So, if you want a nice complete slice of this meteorite that now has a known crater associated with it (that is of yet to be determined diameter but it looks to be around 105 thousand years old), act fast, these are all I (and my source) has of these.
a) 294.0 gram complete slice – 130mm x 80mm x 4mm - $600
b) 928.4 gram complete slice – 180mm x 130mm x 5mm - $1900



AUSTRALITES: Tektites from Australia.
These nice pieces are from a small jewelry box of cores, flanges and partial buttons I picked up at an earlier show. I have had them sitting around here for some time mulling over how I should go about “marketing” them. I decided to take some of the very best pieces (many of what I got will end up in my usual $7/g Australite tray at future shows). Here I have two membrane boxes of specimens. The smaller one has the crème de la crème of the batch in it – an almost 1/2 complete slightly tear-drop button with a really large/ clear flange around ½ of it. With it is a partial core that has a nice (but thinner) flange around part of it. In between these two is a nice core that shows some nice pressure waves on the front and three partial flanges place almost perfectly at the points of a triangle. The other batch hs 10 specimens in it. This has a nice assortment of cores with nice partial flanges in the top row, smaller cores that have partial flanges or really strong pressure waves in the center row (4 pieces) and 3 nice flange fragments (as naturally found) in the bottom row. I can’t even remember how long ago it was when I last had specimens like these. I finally managed to locate the location info I had written down on these. That says these are from Charlotte Waters (I assume that is a locality and not just a person’s name), Northern Territory, Australia.
a) 3 specimens in membrane box including ½ teardrop flanged button - $600
b) 10 specimens (flanges/ cores, flanged cores) in membrane box - $500



CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
This is a neat complete slice that Marlin (of Montana Meteorite Lab, excellent meteorite cutting and prepping fame) did as kind of labor of love test. He decided to see just how high a polish he could get on a piece of this material. I don’t remember just how long he said it took him (something like 20 plus hours of actual direct labor seems familiar), just that this would be “unaffordable” if he tried to get his labor value back out of this piece. As expected, this has a pretty much high mirror look to it. One important note: this has NOT been coated. This allows its natural mirror-like quality to really shine, BUT I’d suggest letting me give it a quick spray if you live in a humid environment. I use Deft, which can easily be removed if you decide you don’t want the coating later. A neat slice, with a neat shape and a really nice troilite inclusion at one end.
360.7g mirror polished compete slice – 1700 x 45mm x 6mm - $650

GHADAMIS, Libya: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Fell August 26, 2018.
I know, this is NOT an official name. I think this stuff is (officially) being called “HaH 346”. THAT is listed as “Fall? – No but possible”. The fireball was widely seen in the area and people went out to the likely fall area and started finding beautiful fresh stone meteorites right in the expected area. However, because someone wasn’t actually directly IN the fall area (and saw stones hit the ground or have on pass through a roof/ vehicle or such) it must now be reported as a “possible” fall (this is because of some serious “monkey business” of some people in the past using bright fireballs as a way to sell nice fresh pieces of already known meteorites as “completely new” meteorite fall specimens for some seriously exorbitant prices. Some of these folks got caught at the that game, so now it is MUCH harder to get something reported fully as a fall). I can also tell that these are from a witnessed fall as some of the pieces I have seen recently are already showing signs of rusting. The two pieces I have here are ones that were recovered fairly early after the fall. The crust on both is quite fresh but the smaller of the two does have adhering dust/ dirt that makes the crust look a bit lighter colored in places and the larger piece has a couple tiny areas on one end that show some minor (very minor) orange coloration. Regardless, these piece are far nicer/ fresher than some of the pieces of this meteorite I have been offered lately. Also, these are priced at the same price that was being asked (wholesale!) on those weathered pieces.
a) 236.2 gram complete individual – 80mm x 50mm x 40mm - $295
b) 316.0 gram complete individual – 70mm x 55mm x 50mm - $395



MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.
Here is a piece that I could have sold in Tucson if I had it labeled right. This was dropped off with me while I was still moving into/ setting up my room for the show. It came with a “Dave Mouat Collection” card that said it was 11.1 grams “with partial fusion crust”. Yep, this does have a nice long edge of obvious fusion crust (along about 1/3 of its exterior edge). I failed to notice that this card said “fragment”. Well, this IS certainly Murchison but it is a really nice thin slice and, even better, it is actually a COMPLETE slice. The other 2/3 of its edge, on more careful inspection shows are also fusion crusted, all be it with thinner/ secondary crust. The reason I said this would have sold if I had it labeled right at the show is that very few people were looking to spend $7000on a piece of Murchison (which is what this was priced at at the start). However, I had a couple people interested in a piece about one third to one half that size. Well, it was sitting right there, I just didn’t know it until I took the thing out of its holder and decided to actually weigh it. Oh well, now someone out there seeing this list will have a shot at a really nice complete slice of Murchison.
3.86 gram complete slice – 38mm x 30mm x 1mm - $2450.

NWA (6370): Stony-Iron (Mesosiderite). Found 2010. Tkw = 386 grams.
Here are some nice complete slices of a beautiful mesosiderite that I have actually had (but didn’t know it) for quite a long time. These were in a sandwich bag tucked under other things that I did know about and had been offering for quite some time. It was “digging deeper” for more of some of that material that brought these to the surface. Part of the reason that these remained hidden is that I had so little of the material to begin with. But then, how much could I have if the starting mass was under 400 grams (subtract off the research piece(s), a nice piece or two the original owner likely kept, maybe a couple more he may have sold and there is Not much remaining (plus I sold a couple of these in Tucson). Overall, mesosiderites are quite under appreciated. In the collecting world, they are far, far rarer (in number of different and weights available) then the (admittedly) much prettier pallasites. Also, many of the mesosiderites (I am looking at you Vaca) are often quite weathered. These pieces are really nice, fresh, complete slices. They are absolutely loaded with metal and have the occasional large silicate inclusion – classic mesosiderite look to them. About the only “negative (?) on these is that they have not been polished (could do this but fear that may “pluck” out a fair number of the larger silicate inclusions). However, as these were obviously cut with a wire-saw, you have to look really carefully to notice this “problem”.
a) 16.6 gram complete slice – 60mm x 40mm x 2mm - $350
b) 23.1 gram complete slice – 55mm x 46mm x 2mm - $470

NWA (10023). Stony-iron. Pallasite (Main group, anomalous). Found 2014. Tkw 6.95kg.
Apparently, one mass was found near the Moroccan/ Algerian border. Research work on this showed that it seems to be related to the main group pallasites but that the metal in this particular pallasite is unusually high in plessite (this is a fine-grained, high nickel content mix of Kanacite and taenite (the first being the usual low in nickel Fe/Ni alloy – making up hexahedrites in their entirety and Taeninte being the high nickel alloy in iron meteorites – making up the enrirety of nickel-rich ataxites). For those of you that have been collectiong awhile, the most obvious example of an entire meteorite basically being plessite is the famous NWA 859 meteorite – better known as Taza. This is a nice complete slice of this unusual pallasite (obviously cut from near one of the ends – either that or another piece of this was found since the Met Bull publication of it). This does show some transmittance of light through a couple of the crystals, but it is low (and dark) enough that I have not bothered to try to take photos showing this (plus we seem to be stuck under endless gray skies. I installed a new solar hot-air panel on my house the day before Christmass and I swear we have not had more than a few (single digit number while I have been home) since!).
6.86 gram complete slice – 35mm x 25mm x 1mm - $675


Shipping: Shipping rates, right now, have gone up yet again. They seem to have added a "holiday time surcharge". Now it seems that the cheapest I can send a small padded envelope order for is close to $6 at the moment. Regardless, I'll keep the shipping on these (they are small and light weight) at a simple $5 for now for US shipping.

Small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $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 when possible.

Blaine Reed Meteorites- LIST 258 - February 24, 2023

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

LIST 258 - February 24, 2023

Dear Collectors

Well, I made it back from Tucson a bit over a week ago. If I had delayed my leaving (and I did have some reasons to stay an extra day, despite my show location not being officially open on that last Sunday) I would have likely got stuck somewhere in Arizona or Utah for some days. I got home late Monday night, after a 10 plus hour drive. My attempts to get over the mountains near Telluride did not work out. That morning, the roads were supposedly clear and it was not supposed to start snowing until close to 5pm that day (with Telluride only receiving a couple inches). Well, the roads in Cortez were clearly wet. It obviously had rained/ snowed sometime that morning. At about 1pm I began trying to make my way North. Nope, a few miles out of Delores and the roads rapidly turned dangerously icy (and it looked like Dolores had received around 5 inches or so of fresh snow already that day). Had to turn back south – head over into Utah and take the Moab to I-70 route home. Even that lower route had some issues. Anyway, I eventually made it home (quite late) that night with a big snow storm right on my heels. It started snowing (and blowing) shortly after I got home. It snowed and blowed for several days straight after. I Finally was able to unload the car Thursday afternoon. If I hadn’t been able to get home Monday, it would likely have been Thursday before I could even attempt finishing the drive.

Anyway, I am back home, but a bit delayed in getting unpacked and caught up (just because I am gone doesn’t mean things pile up just as fast and high here at home). In this offering, I am putting out some of the largest, really neat pieces that I had on consignment for the show. I’d rather see if I can find a new home for them with a collector out there somewhere than spend the same $ sending them back to the owner(s) of the things. I do realize that this offering is of pieces at the high end of anything I have to offer but if you don’t try………..

I’ll have more offerings (generally of more affordable sized specimens) that came home with me from the show before too long.

NOTE: This offering is going out several days later than I had intended. I had “car troubles” (the Volt would not charge I found out as soon as the snow in the driveway was melted enough that I could get that car out of here. Nope, not going to shovel. Been there, done that. My driveway is over 450 feet long. About an 8 hour hard labor job to shovel. Around here, waiting a couple days usually gets the sun to do the work for you. Just have to have some patience. Wanted to send this out the next morning but I got a call early that day from the Chevy people in Grand Junction (the local Chevy people will NOT touch a mostly electric car). So, off to Grand Junction that morning. They had the car until 2pm before telling me they wanted another few hours to get the job done (??? – it is just a re-program thing). Turns out, they were wanting to “pad the bill” telling me that I needed new air filters, new battery for starting the small charging engine 9that allows the thing to be driven like a Prius when you run out of the primary electric charge range and more. I (stupidly) said “just get it done and quick – we have a big snow storm moving in with 60mph winds due here by 5pm (and it did blow and snow then). I finally realized that maybe I had better tell them to skip the filters and battery as those were going to add “several hours of labor” expenses. Went to the dealership *at about 3pm) and asked when it would be done if we skipped the “extra”. The thing was done right then and there. So, home I went (after paying $300 for a “program update”. Not sure why I should have to pay for something that they screwed up that caused the problem in the first place. I still have warranty on the “drive and battery systems”. For some reason, the program NOT allowing the thing to charge is NOT considered part of the “drive and battery systems). I guess I shouldn’t complain to much. I have had the car 7 and a half years and, aside from having a “programming issue” 5 or so years ago, the only thing I have had to do for the car is put tires on it (car dealers absolutely HATE these kinds of cars. They don’t make much money selling you a car, they make it on all the maintenance you are going to have to pay for to keep the warranty. Electric cars have pretty much NO maintenance needs.

Wanted to send this out the next morning (and then the one after that) but then found I have NO internet. That was out for the ENTIRE day.

So, very much delayed but, finally, you are getting to see this.

-------

Canyon Diablo
Click on image to enlarge.

Canyon Diablo
Click on image to enlarge.

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona. Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
Well, (when I wrote this up originally) I had two pieces to offer here, but I sold one of them before I could get this offering out. I had sent the photos on this offering to a person who wanted me to find them a “really nice larger Campo Del Cielo” while I was in Tucson. I found out that that was NOT going to be possible. It seems that those that have better pieces of Campo now are holding out for $1 to $2/g (!!!!) on their better/ bigger pieces. Nope, was NOT going to bring home a “nice” 2kg or 3kg Campo piece for this person’s “big iron” for their collection. They decided to take the larger piece of Canyon Diablo I had (the complete piece in the photos) instead. Anyway, the piece I have remaining is a really nice book-end. The back side shows beautiful sculpted shape. I would have found it quite hard to cut such a pretty meteorite myself, but the interior had quite a surprise waiting. This has probably the biggest graphite/ troilite nodule/ inclusion I have ever seen in a Canyon Diablo. Best of all, this is priced at or below what Campo is supposedly selling for these days.
4962 gram “bookend” – 140mm x 100mm x 80mm - $4900
=====

Gebel Kamil
Click on image to englarge.

GEBEL KAMIL Egypt. Iron. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008.
It seems that someone has figured out how to get this material once again. For a while (some years ago) it was readily available and affordable. The past few years, not so much. Any piece I got sold rapidly and, generally, for quite a bit more than $1/g. For the time being, this is THE most affordable iron meteorite once again. On my next mailed catalog (and its e-mail version those of you seeing this offering will get) I’ll have small pieces offered once again (but with a special twist). This piece here is the largest (by a loooooong shot) of any I have in my hands right now. It is a great specimen for someone looking for a really neat and special paperweight (it would also, given its shape, work really well as a door stop). This specimen is completely natural. It has been left just as it was found (well, maybe the dust has been blown off of it). This is the cheapest of any iron meteorite of its size (I have been informed that even lowly Campos are (supposedly) brining $1 to $2/g on E-bay if they have even slightly interesting shape/ features).
2293.2 gram natural shrapnel fragment – 180mm x 100mm x 50mm - $1490

,NWA 6963, Martian meteorite, shergottite.
Click on image to enlarge.

NWA (6963): Martian meteorite (shergottite). Found 2011. Tkw = about 8kg.
In September of 2011, the first pieces of this meteorite found their way into the collecting market. The find site was kept secret while the original finder(s) worked the area looking for more pieces for another 6 months. Eventually, the find location (near the river Oued Toufit) became known to others. Hundreds of meteorite hunters descended on the area shortly after. Over time, many hundreds of pieces were found, many small but some in the hundreds of grams (one close to 700 grams is known). Most of these pieces were broken and only had partial coverage of thing fusion crust. The piece I have here is “standard” in some respects. It does appear to be just a half stone (the fusion crust coverage on the “crusted” part is quite thick and nice). However, careful inspection shows that the “broken” face is really a late fall brake and has tiny dots of crust just starting to have formed on the highest points. So, this is actually a “complete individual”, even if it does not look it at first glance.
49.8 gram individual as found – 44mm x 38mm x 30mm - $9500
------

NWA (13033): Ordinary chondrite (L3).
Click on image to enlarge.

NWA (13033): Ordinary chondrite (L3). Found 2019. Tkw = 57kg.
Now THIS is a real museum piece! This is, I believe, the largest stone meteorite slice I have ever had. Even better yet, it is a type 3 showing all kinds of chondrules and clasts! This is a piece I really wish I could keep – it is a real show stopper. This comes in its own special storage box. If I need to ship it though, I’d still want to put it in a well packed larger box. It would be a serious shame to end up breaking such an incredible specimen in poor shipping packing.
2647gram complete slice – 430mm x 370mm x 5mm -$7500
-------

NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite melt breccia).
Click on image to enlarge.

NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite melt breccia). Found 2020. Tkw = 29.4kg.
This is an item that I will be offering smaller slices of in the future (maybe even my next mailed list). I saw this in Tucson, liked it and liked the price even more. This isn’t (currently) the cheapest eucrite, but it is a close second. This is, however, the cheapest eucrite that has a really nice look to it (the one cheaper one I know of - Jikharra (001) – has a very mushy interior look to it). This one is composed of angular eucrite clasts in a “sparse” melted matrix. This, very much, has the look of a moon rock, but it isn’t, and, as a consequence, is about a tenth the price. A nice end piece that has a nice somewhat thumb-printed sculpting on the back (natural) side.
1293.7 grams – 200mm x 130mm x 33mm - $3500
------------------------

RICHFIELD, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (LL3.7)
Click on image to enlarge.

RICHFIELD, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (LL3.7). Found 1983. Tkw = 41kg.
I once had the whole thing. Now I have only a few small slices. This is a thin slice that was cut from making one of my original large complete slices thinner. I did not know what type of meteorite this was when I sent it off for cutting all those years ago. I assumed it would likely be an L4 or something really common (I had only seen a couple very small pieces polished and they were from the solar wind darkened areas so the chondrules were somewhat hidden) so I had it cut at the standard 5mm thickness. This piece does appear to have been cut from one of the very largest slices we got from the meteorite. This piece shows the classic chondrule-rich light greenish gray areas and darker clasts dispersed throughout (those solar-wind implanted darkened areas). This comes with a M. Farmer label.
517 gram complete slice – 300mm x 210mm x 2mm - $4000
-----------------------

WINNER, South Dakota: Ordinary chondrite (L3.9)
Click on image to enlarge.

WINNER, South Dakota: Ordinary chondrite (L3.9). Found 2004. Tkw 8.5 kilograms.
This was found by a farmer who noticed a rusty looking rock when he got off his tractor to unhook a hay rake in August of 2004. Years later, it was identified as a meteorite and purchased by KD Meteorite (I remember them calling me and sending me photos of the thing for my opinion before they bought it) in 2013. This is a nice complete slice (I have one somewhere around here in a “safe place”. Can’t wait to finally re-locate that safe place – there will be all kinds of neat things waiting for rediscovery there for me). This has its original riker that it was sold in. From that, it looks like the current owner may have payed close (really close) to $4000 for the piece. However, he is willing to let it go a bit cheaper here. A really nice specimen from a place that does not have too many meteorites.
298.2 gram complete slice – 180mm x 105mm x 5mm - $3000

-------------
Shipping: Shipping rates, right now, have gone up yet again. They seem to have added a "holiday time surcharge". Now it seems that the cheapest I can send a small padded envelope order for is close to $6 at the moment. Regardless, I'll keep the shipping on these (they are small and light weight) at a simple $5 for now for US shipping.

Small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $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 when possible.

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 246 Denver Show 24AUG2021

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

LIST 246 - August 24, 2021

Dear Collectors
Here is an offering that consists (mostly) of material I got as part of a small collection a collector in California decided to sell. As with material he has sent earlier (like the beautiful larger Henbury pieces I offered awhile back), the pieces on this list that came from him are also really nice. I am doing the Canyon Diablo pieces in their own group photo as there is so many (largish) pieces in that lot.



A NOTE ON THE COMING DENVER SHOW

Above, is the info postcard on the soon to arrive Denver show. Below are my comments/particulars for this show.

This year, the show currently looks to be “back to normal” for the most part. There will indeed be many overseas dealers missing (but many others are scheduled to be there as well) and the dates are back to the normal length. This year we are scheduled to be open September 10th through the 18th (Friday through the Saturday a week later). The hours are scheduled to be 10am to 6pm. However, I will try to be open a bit earlier (maybe even as early as 9am) as I seem to have good traffic at that time of day for some reason. I also will try to stay open later (as long as people are wandering around/ wanting to visit) though this has become a problem the past year or two. It seems the security is locking doors (you can get around that by going in through the Hotel lobby and around the corner) but also closing (but not locking) secondary doors and turning off the lights early (making the trek down the long hallway if you use the front desk option harder). Regardless, I’ll certainly stay open later than scheduled hours, it just may not all that late (probably won’t be too many 10 or 11pm nights, unfortunately).

I am in my usual spot – Crowne Plaza DIA at Chambers road and I-70 (15500 E. 40th Ave, Denver, CO 80239 ). I am (supposedly) still in the small meeting room on the very west side of the convention/ ballroom center called ‘Frisco”. If you park near the Hotel entrance and go through the sliding glass doors next to the “Convention Center” sign on the side of the building while looking east and turn to your right immediately after going through the sliding doors, you will be looking in my show space door (I’ll try to remember to bring my sandwich board sign that helps point things out as well).

Hope to see many people there this year!


CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite. Found 1891.
This is an assortment of specimens that I have picked up from several different sources over the past few months (well, the etched slices are actually things I have had for quite a while but misplaced them for many months). I have (as just mentioned) a couple part slices that are etched on both sides, a couple pieces of cut graphite nodule (both show some metal veining but that probably won’t show well in the photo) and then two larger natural individuals (those proved to be very popular when I offered some at the beginning of the year. I sold everything I had bigger than about 8 grams very quickly). I have only two of each style specimen so I decided that a summer e-mail offering is probably the best way to deal with them (though I will certainly have any leftovers at the show).
1) Part slices. Etched on both sides:
a) 35.1 grams – 55mm x 30mm x 4mm - $55
b) 47.0 grams – 40mm x 40mm x 4mm - $73
2) Graphite nodule – cut:
a) 26.7 grams – 30mm x 20mm x 20mm - $55
b) 29.4 grams – 40mm x 28mm x 10mm - $60
3) Natural individuals as found:
a) 313.6 grams – 70mm x 60mm x 25mm - $320
b) 738.6 grams – 110mm x 55mm x 25mm - $750


CHELYABINSK, Russia: Ordinary chondrite (LL5). Fell February 13, 2013.
Here are a couple really nice fresh individuals that were clearly picked up quite soon after the fall. They both have really nice complete, fresh and (mostly) thick crust (the smaller has a couple mm sized spots of secondary crust or where a small bit of the primary crust popped off late in the fall). I know that there is still a fairly good amount of this meteorite floating around the collecting world but not too many are as fresh as these pieces. Most of the early recovered pieces have already found a home and the stuff that is being found these days certainly shows some weathering effects.
1) Complete individuals:
a) 25.6 grams – 30mm x 25mm x 25mm - $300
b) 40.3 grams – 35mm x 25mm x 25mm - $470

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Ungrouped Ni-rich ataxite. Discovered 2008.
The crater of this fall was discovered though Google Earth satellite photos in 2008. An expedition didn’t get out to the area to prove that this WAS indeed a meteorite impact site until 2010. A 150 foot diameter crater was found, surrounded by many pieces of shrapnelized iron meteorites (I think one fairly large sculpted fusion crusted piece was found as well). This is a fairly young crater, likely being less than 5000 years old. This fall was also very likely observed at some level, as the crater itself covered up some already existing trade routes in the area. These pieces, to be honest, are not anything exceptional. They are just nice typical examples of the meteorites that came out of the area. I have not seen much of this available lately and I might be pricing these a bit cheap for similar pieces these days (how they sell will tell me).
1) Natural shrapnel fragments as found:
a) 182.5 grams – 70mm x 37mm x 20mm - $230
b) 213.8 grams – 70mm x 35mm x 30mm - $265

MUNDRABILLA, Australia: medium octahedrite with sulfide and silicate inclusions. Found 1911.
Now these, unlike the Gebels above, ARE quite exceptional, particularly for their size. I don’t recall ever having a Mundrabilla this size range that had any kind of character even close to these pieces. These clearly show a knobby shape and each has at least one deep hole where a silicate or sulfide burned out. As far as I am aware, these will be the only two Mundrabillas I will ever get from this source.
1) Nice sculpted natural individuals as found:
a) 147.2 grams – 55mm x 30mm x 30mm - $220
b) 161.5 grams – 50mm x 35mm x 30mm - $240

SIKHOTE –ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite. Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a nice fusion crusted individual that has LOTS of fine thumb-printed texture all the way around. This came to me with an oriented specimen (that I have already found a home for) and even this came rally close to selling at the Creede show when I set it out there a few weeks ago. That is a small show and, normally, you don’t really expect to sell specimens priced more than $100 or so but this piece got lots of notice from the visitors to that show and very nearly sold a couple times (it was usually the spouse saying that the $ were needed somewhere else that did in the deal). Anyway, when I see these really sculpted pieces these days, they usually bring a pretty good premium.
93.6gram finely sculpted individual – 55mm x 25mm x 20mm - $325

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.

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.
---

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.
---

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

---

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

---

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.
---

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
---

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

---

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.

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 237

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

May 18, 2020

LIST 237

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).

Not sure why I called this a “list” as it is a single item offering – a roughly 12kg (11990grams actually) nice-shaped Canyon Diablo individual. We are all having a difficult time right now (hopefully for all of you out there it is mostly boredom from being stuck at home so long and nothing more serious) but some folks are having a more difficult time of it than many. It is this that has allowed me to offer up this fantastic natural Canyon Diablo specimen. It belongs to a collector/ mineral dealer (he deals in cabechons, rough slabs for such, mineral specimens, jewelry and more but only occasionally has a meteorite for sale) but he has had a couple things turn up lately. First, he (as many of us “dealers” have) has had pretty much all of his summer shows cancelled, so no income from those events this year. Next he had the bad luck of having his car’s engine go out (completely – as in total replacement time) on him a couple weeks ago (I am currently gathering the parts together so I can do the timing belt, water pump and oil pump on the old Subaru so something similar does not end up happening to me this summer). That looks like it may cost him around $3000 plus to get fixed (or probably a similar amount to buy a good conditioned “new” used car). So, he has made the decision to offer this wonderful prized specimen. I know that this will sell at the Denver fall show but that is assuming that this virus disaster is still not with us enough to have that shut down (or so restricted that the results would be pretty much the same). Thankfully, the owner has another vehicle (an old truck) to drive so the situation is not desperate. Right now, gas is so cheap (we have regular at around $1.45/ gallon locally) that driving this old thing is not too much of a financial problem at the moment. Anyway, as you can see by the attached photos, this is a really nice natural individual. It was a little bit more natural when I got it but I spent a little time knocking off the loose dirt and minor caliche (mostly using the baking-soda air-abrasion tool). I sold my really nice 15kg piece (at a much higher price per gram) a few years ago to pay some bills and would love to keep this piece as a replacement but I just don’t really have the $ right now to do that (particularly seeing as how the various shows have been cancelled the next few months). So, I am offering it here. I have this priced at a level that it would realistically bring at one of the major shows.


11,990 gram complete natural individual – 180mm x 180mm x 100mm - $7800

One other note:
I have been having a LOT of problems with mail going out of the country lately (not too surprising, most of the overseas mail flies in the baggage area of common passenger jets and with few of those operating these days, the mail is getting backed up considerably). As such I am sorry to have to say that I really, really do NOT want to attempt to ship this overseas right now.

I hope everyone out there stays safe and healthy. And I certainly hope to see some of you at the next major show we’re allowed to have.

Take care!

Blaine

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 235

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 235

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
LIST 235

March 3, 2020

Dear collectors,

I am (finally) back from Tucson and (more or less) caught up on things. Some adventures this year but NOTHING like last year. The only thing that died on me this year was my hover-board (well, my uncle did pass away but that was in July of last year. None the less, that did change a few things logistically this year). I only get to use the hover board during the shows (my driveways are gravel and the runway is fairly soft dirt, when it isn’t wet – sticky deep adobe mud when it is). It seems that the battery on my toy now only wants to run for around half an hour or so (it used to last well over an hour). Welll, I was riding it pretty heavy one evening (including a couple complete trips around the hotel as they re-surfaced the parking lot recently). I thought it is getting a bit mushy/ sluggish in its response but it had only been running for 20 minutes or so. A quick glance at the battery light showed it was still green. However, as I was standing on it, moving around (and listening to music at a volume that was a tad high) and I failed to notice that it was flashing a steady “low battery” warning. Well, I leaned into it (got going pretty fast) and then tried to do a sharp turn. Nope, didn’t work out so well. When the engine on my airplane quits (which it seems to enjoy doing from time to time) most people think the thing falls out of the sky like a sack full of wet bricks. Nope, the wing works fine and, as long as I have left myself something to land on within gliding distance, it is no big deal to land and effect repairs (and fly back out when done if I really picked the landing spot well). Not so with a hover-board. When it quits (and it can indeed do it quite suddenly if you are not paying attention) it does indeed drop you to the ground like a bag of bricks. Yep, this is indeed what I did. I watched the machine roll away with a flashing red light (dead battery) signal and that is what dumped me. I managed to pull a bunch of muscles in my left leg and bung up my left hand a bit. Nothing broken (but my pride) but I did end up taking an extra day to pack down the room and load the car (I was moving quite slowly). We also had another “vanenture” on the trip home. The fan belt kept coming off of its pulleys as we were heading to Flagstaff. This happened a half dozen times (about every 8 miles – we got good at putting it back on) on the way into town. We made into town, thankfully. Blake tightened up the clamp on the upper hose on the radiator as that is where it looked the fluid leak was coming from. I wish it ended up being that easy. We ran the car for 20 minutes in the parking lot of the hotel we decided to spend the night at. No leak! So, off we went to Auto Zone to get a new tensioner pulley (it seemed to be making a bit of noise, was old and may have gotten damaged in the shock(s) of the belt coming off). Well, while there, after turning the engine off (this is when a car gets the hottest and builds up the most pressure) the radiator blew a ¼” or so hole (near the hose clamp – so we weren’t to far wrong in the spot of the leak, just what it was exactly). So, time for a radiator replacement right there in the parking lot. Unfortunately, they did not have the right one (and did not have the spare man-power to help me go pick one up). So, a 1.5mile walk (well, more of a shuffle like a post apocalyptic zombie as I had all of those torn leg muscles to deal with) to O’Reily auto parts (who DID have the right radiator but also not enough man-power in house to bring it to us – I got a Lyft back to Auto zone though). It all went together just fine but did take us until a bit after 9pm to get the job done. The next morning, starting the car brought out all kinds of bad metal on metal screeching noises. Hmmm, maybe something else (like the alternator or, my guess, the power steering pump – two items that really can’t be replaced by a couple of shmucks with limited tools in a parking lot). We ran the car for close to half an hour. The noises didn’t go away but they did lessen. My thought was “bad belt” (despite the distinctly metal on metal sounds) as if it were another mechanical failure the noises should be getting worse, not better. A quick experiment showed I was right. So, a new belt (which we now knew how to install in under two minutes) and we were on our way without further trouble (other than the 4” nail that flattened one of the new tires on the car right in the driveway in front of my house. No clue where the nail came from, just happy the thing went flat here and not while on the road. The way we were loaded it would have taken considerable effort, and lots of unloading, to get to what we needed to change a tire on a roadside somewhere). So, adventures, a couple days delay but nothing as serious or difficult as last year.

The things listed below are things that were either left with me (consignments) or I purchased at the show. The show was a bit slower this year (largely due to none of the Chinese buyers and less than half of the Japanese buyers showing up this year, thanks to the Corona virus scare) but not terrible. However, this meant that I, as I did not sell as much, I did not buy as much either. At this point, it looks like this might be my only “after Tucson” e-mail offering (unless I start turning up more smaller things I forgot I bought as I do the finishing touches on putting away all that I brought home). I suspect that my next post/ offering will be my mailed catalog which I plan to try and get out a little earlier than normal as I (supposedly) will be going to Yellowstone with some friends in the earlier part of May this year.

List 235
(click on image to enlarge)

CAMPO DEL CIELO, Agentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
These are both complete slices just drastically different in sizes. The smaller piece is prepared and etched on both sides. However, this piece is small enough that you don’t get a real good idea of the etch texture of this meteorite. The large slice is really thin and, as such, is only polished and etched on one side (it would be a really, really hard job to polish out and etch this backside on a slice this thin). However, the prepared side shows a nice classic Campo etch structure.
a) 70.5 gram complete slice etched both sides – 80mm x 55mm x 3mm - $90
b) 459.4 gram complete slice etched one side – 300mm x 130mm x 2mm - $500

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
This is a part slice (1/4 of a complete slice – two cut edges and one long natural edge) I picked up in Tucson this year. I had offered pieces like this on my April 2019 list and rapidly sold out. When I got the chance to pick up some pieces to satisfy people that have been on a waiting list for a specimen from that offering I bought all I could. It turned out that only this piece was “left over” (I wasn’t able to get many specimens, unfortunately). This piece shows a nice vibrant etch and is etched on both sides.
47.0 gram etched part slice – 42mm x 38mm x 3mm - $94

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Iron. Ni-rich ataxite, ungrouped. Found 2008.
This is a relatively large piece of the material that was found surrounding a crater in Southern Egypt that was found by way of Google Earth satellite photographs. This is a fairly young fall event, estimated to have happened around 5000 years ago. This was also very likely a witnessed event to some degree. Debris from the impact partly covered up what was an active trade route road near the crater. I personally wonder if this event isn’t part of the reason that many of the words for iron in ancient languages relate to the sky and stars (it sure would have been a wake-up call as to where some iron came from). This piece is a classic shrapnel piece as most meteorite specimens found around the crater were (I think a fairly large fusion crusted piece was found in the crater). This has the nice dark chocolate brown wind-polished surface texture over most (around ¾) of its surface. The bottom (part that was in the sand all of these years) is a bit more rusty orange in color and looks to have a couple areas of thin glass (from melting of the sand it landed in) still adhering to it. This stuff has gotten quite hard to come by lately as the folks that took the effort to pick this up some years ago have pretty much sold out (and new material is not being recovered).
2538g complete natural shrapnel fragment as found – 170mm x 80mm x 40mm - $2100

MOUNT DOOLING, Australia: Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IC). Found 1909.
Here are two great complete slices that clearly show the recrystallized etch structure pieces of this unusual meteorite shows. It was this etch structure (along with its anomalous chemistry) that showed that a “new” iron meteorite found some 400km away near Perth in 1960 was actually a transported piece of Mt. Dooling. This meteorite is a member of the fairly rare IC group of iron meteorites. Both of these pieces are etched on both sides. I have these priced quite a bit below what I priced (generally smaller) pieces of this meteorite at on a mailed list (and sold out) a couple years or so ago.
a) 106.9 gram etched complete slice – 150mm x 55mm x 2mm - $320
b) 115.9 gram etched complete slice – 155mm x 60mm x 2mm - $348

NWA (6963): Martian (Shegottite). Found 2011. Tkw = about 8 kilograms.
Originally, only about an 80g fusion crusted piece of this was recovered. Once it was found that this was a Mars rock, intensive recovery efforts lead to many more pieces (totaling somewhere around 8kg) being found. This is a wonderful super thing slice that is in a membrane style display holder (though NOT one of the “Membrane Boxes” some of us remember from some years ago). This has a small round base that allows this to be stood up on one corner for a nice shelf display (I’ll put the piece that allows this below the holder in the group photo). This slice has a nice shock vein near one side that was/ is large enough to have some gas bubbling.. These bubbles likely contained little bits of the Martian atmosphere at one time (and, if any are still intact inside this vein those likely would still contain some traces of Martian atmosphere). I have priced this quite a bit below what most people offering pieces of this material seem to be asking at this point.
5.20 gram slice – 70mm x 33mm x 1mm - $1300

NWA (8402): Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Found 2014. Tkw = 23.85kg.
Here is a nice complete slice of this really classic looking mesosiderite. This has a wonderful mix of metal (making up around 40% of the cut surface area – often as cm sized rounded nodules) and silicates (of which around 75% is pyroxene and 25% is plagioclase). This particular meteorite was also found to have a fairly high amount of silica. This, along with the high content of plagioclase, some equilibrated silicates and lack of brecciation show this to be member of the rare A-3 type mesosiderite group. This is only the 4th meteorite known of this type. The other three are all named recoveries that are pretty much impossible for a collector to obtain: Emery, SD, Lowicz, Poland and Morristown, TN.
148.8 gram complete slice – 140mm x 75mm x 4mm - $1000

NWA (12630): Lunar, anorthositic breccia: Purchased February 2019. Tkw = 233g in two piece.
I suspect that this another piece of the stuff that came out in a big way a bit over a year ago and has lots of different NWA numbers assigned to various pieces of it (the stuff I’ve had is NWA (11273). However, this does have a distinctly different appearance to it. This is clearly an anorthositic breccia but the clasts are not nearly as clear as other specimens. I suspect that this particular part of the meteorite has suffered higher impact melting effects (or this might be a different meteorite recovery completely that got mixed in). Regardless, this is a nice complete slice in a 75mm x 60mm glass fronted display box.
1.82 gram complete slice – 30mm x 27mm x 1mm - $200

Please note:
Shipping: For small US orders $4 is OK for now. Larger orders are now $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 $15 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). 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. How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 231

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

LIST 231

October 8, 2019

Dear collectors,
Here is a list of some of the better/ higher-end things that I was consigned to sell during the Denver show. I highly suspect that I would not have had this many pieces remaining from this list if I had them at the start of the show. Unfortunately, due to various difficulties, these did not get to me until Wednesday afternoon. This gave me only 3 days to find buyers for these items (and I did indeed move a few things) during the time the major buyers had already left town. Anyway, I do have a group photo of these things for anyone interested. I’ll post it in the group archives but can send it directly to anyone by e-mail that wants it. As these are mostly expensive pieces I can get individual closer photos of any of these for those seriously interested. I limit it to “seriously interested” as poor Blake (the guy that takes and processes the pictures) is buried ever deeper in his ham radio antenna making stuff (he is putting more together in a month then he used to do in 4 to 6 months). Because of this, it might take a little time (but no to much) to pull together requested closer pictures but I’ll try to get them as fast as circumstances allow.

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona. Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
This is a nice complete slice. It shows a good etch and has an interesting assortment of inclusions. There are many small elongate inclusions that I haven’t made out quite what they are (look like they could contain some chromite) that often run parallel to the kamacite plates but some others of these inclusions surround other (likely Cohenite and schreibersite ) inclusions. This slice also has a large (35mm x 30mm) troilite and graphite inclusion. Nice specimen! I had a few small part slices earlier this year (and those sold out rapidly), but rarely see cut pieces of Diablo, particularly larger ones like this. Part of this is that people that have larger pieces that could produce a slice like this generally prefer to keep it as a whole specimen (large Canyon Diablos usually have nice sculpting). Also, it can be hard to find someone willing to cut this stuff. It is rare but, on occasion, someone cutting one of these will hit a diamond inside and destroy a bunch of expensive saw blades and equipment by doing so. This slice is polished and etched on both sides.
1061.6 gram complete slice – 200mm x 150mm x 6mm - $1000

FUKANG, China: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 2000. Tkw = 1003kg.
This is a rectangular part slice that I KNOW would have sold if I had it earlier at the show. One of my Chinese friends is always on the look out for pieces of this stuff that are priced fairly (and given the thinness and quality of the crystals in this specimen it certainly is priced fairly). Unfortunately, he had left the show the day before (I think Mike Farmer dropped him and Jim off at the airport and then headed back towards his home in Tucson as well at the same time). Anyway, this piece has fantastic large, gemmy olivines that completely pass light (this is only a bit over a millimeter thick). It is big enough (surface area-wise) to show the texture of this fantastic meteorite but thin enough to not make you have to pay for a bunch of extra weight to get it.
19.7 gram part slice – 85mm x 37mm x 1.5mm - $600

HUCKITTA, Australia: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1937.
I kind of personally asked to have this one brought to me. I had planned to pair it with a (very rare) fresh-metal piece of Huckitta I brought to the show. Well, I ended up selling that on its own before I got this piece. No matter, this is a really nice piece of this now hard to come by meteorite. This is a complete slice of a (rare) larger piece of the typical oxidized material. This is the stuff where the metal has turned to a mix of magnetite and hematite (miraculously without expanding upon taking up the oxygen required to do this and not blowing the piece completely apart in the process). So, this has dark angular olivine crystals set in a blue/gray oxidized metallic matrix. I kind of have soft spot for this material. It was some of the very first meteorite material I ever bough (got it from Robert Haag while I was visiting my uncle during college spring break – probably in 1986) for putting together a catalog and going into business selling these things myself.
123.9 gram complete slice – 130mm x 60mm x 5mm - $300

NWA (unstudied). Stone meteorite. Likely an H-chondrite (according to my Mag-Sus meter).
This is a large mostly complete individual (it does have an edge chipped off on one end) that is oriented. To me, this orientation is very obvious. But then, I know these things. This is fully crusted (aside from the above mentioned end/ edge chipping) but the crust, though quite fresh, has suffered some wind-polishing. This wind-polishing has subdued some of the obvious orientation features (flow lines on the front and roll-over rim around the back). Regardless, this still has the overall oriented shape: rounded, lightly thumb-printed front, rougher textured backside (which I can get and send a photo of if any of you out there are interested in the stone) that has a light roll-over rim around most of the edge. This is a nice specimen and being offered at a price that isn’t really all that much above what the Moroccans seem to be asking for similar quality (completeness, freshness, not oriented) meteorites these days.
4953 gram oriented individual – 180mm x 155mm x 70mkm - $6000

PUTINGA, Brazil: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Fell August 16, 1937. Tkw = 200kg.
I can’t recall if I’ve ever had a piece of this one. If I did, it would have been small (maybe as part of my long ago micro-collection) and a very long time ago. Anyway, this is a nice large compete slice that has fusion crust pretty much along the entire edge (there might a small chip or two, but nit much. This has a nice typical L6 appearance. It has plenty of metal in a mottled brown and light tan (nearly white) matrix.
146.3 gram complete slice – 110mm x 100mm x 4mm - $1600

ODESSA, Texas: Iron. Coarse octahedrite. Found 1923.
This is another piece that there is a good chance I could have sold if I had it earlier in the show. No matter, as now someone out there has a chance to pick up a nice big display piece for cheaper (per gram) than I can sell any other Odessa specimens for at the moment (but then, this is a big piece). This is a 6.1 kilogram complete end-piece (no other cuts except the face). The cut face is beautifully etched (nice strong etch pattern) and shows numerous troilite/ graphite inclusions. The back- side appears to be pretty much natural (though I can’t rule out a long ago light brushing). It has a sculpted/ large-scale thumb-printed kind of shape but it is large scale and subtle (I’ll get a photo taken of the back if anyone is seriously interested in this wonderful specimen).
6.1 kilogram end piece – 260mm x 150mm x 40mm - $6000

RANCHO GOMELIA, Mexico: Iron. Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1975. Tkw = 11.7kg.
This is a really nice complete slice that has an interesting long shape. This shows a beautiful etch that frankly looks closer to a fine octahedrite than a medium to me (but then, I really haven’t seen that many medium octahedrites lately). It also has a couple long Shreibersite or Cohenite inclusions. This piece also seems to have some history to it as well. It has “1044.7(b) painted on the crusted (well, weathered crust) edge in two places. Apparently, this came from Arizona State University. It seems to have been cut from the 11.4kg main mass that was listed in an older version of their collection catalog. That particular specimen has the number 1044. Not sure if this is the only slice they took off (I am selling this WAAAAY to cheap if it is) or merely the first slice they took off and traded out (I am assuming that the main mass would get the “a”, the first slice a “b” the next slice would be labeled “c” and so on). Nice piece that is etched on both sides.
157.3 gram complete slice – 125mm x 35mm x 5mm - $900