Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
Dear Collectors,
This is another offering of things I picked up in Denver (and one from back in Tucson) and odd things I found while doing what inventory work I have accomplished so far.
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| Chinga, Russia- Ataxite click on image to enlarge |
CHINGA, Russia: Iron. Ungrouped. Anomalous Ni-rich Ataxite. Found 1913.
It has been awhile since I have had a piece of this meteorite. My last “pieces” were slices and that was around 4 or 5 years ago. This is a nice complete individual. I seem to recall some of these things liking to rust scale. Not this one. It spent most of its “collector” life in a collection out East, in a NOT dry area. A couple of the Canyon Diablo specimens I got with this were in pretty rough shape. This is nice and solid, no evidence of rust scaling. This has a nice a pleasant chocolate brown color with nice smooth surfaces. A great, solid, fill your hand kind of specimen.
1305.2 gram complete individual – 95mm x 80mm x 45mm - $1500
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| click on image to enlarge |
ADMIRE, Kansas: stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1881.
This is the piece I actually picked up in Tucson. It kind of got misplaced (put with other things it shouldn’t have) so I forgot I even had it until re-discovering it while doing some recent inventory work (I am starting that tedious process early this year). Actually, “loosing” this piece for months is a good thing. I get a little nervous about selling pieces of this meteorite as some just really, really want to fall apart. This one has not had any special storage conditions what so ever – just sitting in a plastic bag in a beer flat box with some other things. At this point, it has remained perfect. I can see no signs of rust anywhere on the piece (keep in mind though, I do live in a fairly dry environment so you should consider special storage solutions (desiccant, air tight container if possible) if you do not. This is a nice complete slice. One side has been etched and the other has a very light etch but is basically just polished. This has a nice range of crystal sizes, from tiny up to a couple cm or so in size. Several of the larger crystals pass light. A nice piece that has proven itself (in my climate anyway) for the past 10 months.
84.7 gram complete slice – 120mm x 65mm x 3mm - $850
GIBEON, Namibia: Iron. Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836. Tkw = ?? lots.
This used to be the most common, cheapest meteorite you could get (25 years or so ago anyway). I remember selling foot-ball sized individuals of Gibeon for right around $1000 back then. These days, the stuff is not so easy to come by (and expensive when you do). This was a “walk-in” piece at Denver this year. Someone simply walked in with it and asked if I might be interested in buying it. The answer was “yes” and he accepted my offer. These kind of things can really help at what might otherwise be a “slow” or challenging show. This was NOT coated in any way. As such, it had some surface rust (as well as some rust along a natural crack line). It was no trouble to clean this off though. I did that and then (after drying the piece) gave it a good spray coating (so it should be fine from now one – as long as you don’t leave it nest to your shower, hot tub or fish tank anyway). This is a complete slice that has been etched on both sides.
164.9 gram complete slice – 105mm x 70mm x 5mm - $330
KORRA KORRABES, Namibia: Ordinary chondrite (H3). Found 1996. Tkw = about 140kg.
These are a couple end pieces I kind of forgot I had. I knew I had them, they were just in a box with some other things. I have inventoried these piece for years now and always just put them back (thinking that I will cut up the bigger piece into a bunch of nice slices and sell those. I just might end up doing that yet if it does not sell here). I decided that, maybe after 10 or more years of not doing this, I should simply try to sell them (and remove a line from my inventory records). So, I’ll offer them here and now and save myself the cutting and polishing work (maybe). Both are natural fragments as they were found with a cut face. They both show lots of chondrules and breccia fragments (the smaller piece, interestingly is fresher, so things are a little easier to see).
a) 73.0 gram cut fragment – 50mm x 25mm x 23mm - $200
b) 444.0 gram cut fragment – 50mm x 48mm x 60mm - $800
KOSICE, Slovakia: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell Feb. 28, 2012. Tkw = 4.3kg.
I got this “left” with me in Denver. A friend dropped it off with me and I put it one of the locked display cases for the show. It (obviously) didn’t sell there (if it did, I would not have it offered here). He left the show before it closed and I agreed to let it stay with me. I didn’t have a lot of hope that it would sell at that show (not many actual collectors showed up this year) but figured I could offer it from home (and return it to him when I see him in Tucson, if I still have it). I have pretty much no experience with this meteorite. I don’t believe I have ever had a piece of it before. It IS a reasonably important meteorite though. Its fall was recorder by camera networks (that aided in its recovery) and not a lot was found (the Met Bull reports that 77 stones were recovered. The largest one makes up just over half the total recovered weight on its own). This is an individual as found. It does have a roughly 22mm x 8mm broken area (late fall break or maybe from hitting something hard on the ground) but is otherwise fully covered in nice thick fusion crust. The broken area does show oxidation (not surprising for an H type that spent some time in a wet environment before it was picked up) but the fusion crust shows only minor orange spotting.
29.7 gram complete individual – 28mm x 23mm x 20mm - $500
SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Iron. Coarsest octahedrite (IIB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a lot nicer piece than I had originally given it credit for when I bought it. At first glance, you can see it is a nicely thumb-printed individual. You can also see that it has some browning to it (from a very light dusting of oxidation. So thin, I really wouldn’t call it “rust”. Some of it looks almost like the reddish/ purple “smoke” areas on some Allende individuals). Looking just a bit more though, it becomes obvious that this is a really, really nice oriented specimen (this is hidden a bit by the fact that the “back side” also has a lot of thumb-printing). This has a really nice (and clear, once you actually bother to look at it) fusion crust roll-over rim all the way around it. This piece look like someone might have attempted to lightly clean it at some point in the past (just an area on the bottom/ back) but is, overall, fully original un-messed-with condition (and I’d suggest leaving it as such). One note: I am pricing this (per gram) a bit less than the Russians were asking for average, small fusion crusted individuals at this past Denver show.
337.9gram oriented individual – 60mm x 50mm x 30mm - $1900
WILUNA, Australia: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell September 2, 1967. Tkw = 150kg.
This is another specimen that was left with me at the show. Years ago (like 25 to 30 years) I used to get this fairly often. It was not cheap (compared to other things, like Tenham) but it was not really expensive either. This is a piece that came from Geoff Notkin (Aerolite Meteorites) at some point (and comes with its Aerolite Meteorites label). This is really a classic example of this meteorite. This is basically a complete individual. It does have a small (roughly 18mm x 5mm) broken area that shows the light tan interior (which contrasts nicely with the fusion crust around it). The rest of the stone is completely crusted. The crust does have some signs oxidation. Not a lot, but this does help show off the contraction cracking in the crust (these lines form when the glass that is the crust cools. It shrinks a tiny bit and that can result in an interesting kind of geometric crack structure. Think “mud cracks” on a tiny scale.
63.6 gram individual – 42mm x 30mm x 28mm - $950
Shipping:
US Shipping: I can still send my typical “small” orders (item in a jewelry box in a padded envelope) for $5. Actually, it costs me closer to $6, but $5 is ok for now (I am not trying to make $ on “shipping and handling”). Now, this method though is “ground”. So far, it seems to get things where they need to be just as fast as “first-class” did (which was supposedly mostly air). For those that feel better using “Priority” mail, starting costs are right around $10 (small flat-rate box). I’ll probably need to custom quote larger things but I’d think that $18 (medium flat-rate box) would likely be the upper limit (I don’t have many things that would require even a medium flat-rate box).
For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists, thankfully. However that last overseas thing I shipped (a couple weeks ago to Europe) it seems that “First-Class” rates have risen quite drastically. I think for an order that fit in a small priority flat-rate box first class would have been something like $35. For that order, we decided on priority (largely because the overall value was above the $400 limit for first-class) which ran $48. Overall, Ill need to custom quote pretty much any out of country orders.
