Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale-List 233: Fresh from CR Aguas Zarcas and more

List 233: Fresh from Costa Rica Aguas Zarcas and more

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
LIST 233

December 17, 2019

Dear collectors,

I am back from my Costa Rica trip. It was overall an enjoyable trip, though often quite warm and sticky (I am not used to humidity, even at relatively cooler temperatures). Kevin’s side of the country was, for the most part, sunny and dry. The dry season, with its strong winds out of the east, was setting in (we did still get some time of sitting in the clouds and watching fog drift by thing – a very, very rare thing for me to see in my part of Colorado but common where he is perched up on the top of a mountain). However, I feared that this might mean that the other side of the mountains might be rainy. I figured the clouds carrying moisture from the Gulf of Mexico to the east might end up getting the moisture wrung out of them as they got stuck against the easterly mountainsides and made their way up and over. Yep, this is indeed what we found. Aguas Zarcas was heavy cloud cover, lots of rain, some (generally minor) wind and at times surprisingly chilly for a tropical area. All of this certainly meant that we weren’t going to be out stomping around looking for specimens on our own (also because it was a bad time for lots of really dangerous snakes in the area. Unlike the ”nope ropes and danger noodles” crawling around my area theirs don’t make any noise to let you know you are getting to close. I have indeed managed to avoid getting bit by a rattle snake hidden in the leaves on a trail a couple times by knowing what they sound like - and that sound ain’t like they present it in the movies folks). So, we had to limit ourselves to meteorites that locals had already found. Unfortunately, it seems that not much is being found any more. Some of the few pieces that were recovered recently are certainly showing their age (I hand picked and avoided those, paying a higher price to do so of coarse) and other pieces (that looked to have been recovered quite earlier) seem to have become special family heirlooms (“not for sale”). Oh well, at least I tried. The few things I did pick up are listed here below at a price only a little lower than I have offered similar pieces in the past (but then, I didn’t really pay much less at the site and am not even including the travel expenses as part of these piece’s direct cost at this point). I am having trouble deciding what piece(s) I want to keep for myself so I thought I’d let fate decide – I’ll keep whatever is the nicest piece listed below that does not sell from this offering.

The other items on this list are the last of the Riker mounted display pieces I picked up as a collection during the Denver Show. All of these have labels and it turns out that one more of these is also a Casper labeled piece that had that label hidden under another different one. I’ll make notes in the descriptions below of what labels come with each specimen.

NOTE: As with the last offering, shipping on most of these (everything but the Aguas Zarcas) is going to be a bit higher (around $5 or $6 for a single item for basic US) as these, being in glass fronted display boxes, will have to be shipped packed in boxes. My usual jewelry boxes in a padded envelope won’t work for most of these pieces.

List 233
Click on Image to Enlarge

AGUAS ZARCAS, Costa Rica: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell April 23, 2019.. These purchased Dec 9th, 2019.
These are the pieces that, as mentioned above, I bought on the trip I just got back from. These are all natural fragments (though the largest has some claim to being a complete individual) and, after a light cleaning on my part, are quite fresh. Each has at least some fusion crust present (actually, all but the smallest have quite substantial amounts of crust). As mentioned above, the largest piece looks like it could be considered a complete individual. It has around 45% nice thick primary crust coverage with the remainder being angular “broken” surfaces. However, careful inspection shows non-sharp (micro roll-over) edges on the primary crust where it meats one of these “breaks”. Also, a hand lens shows obvious (but small) patches of thicker fusion crust on the high spots of most of these broken surfaces (so they can’t be “after the fall” breaks). One surface looks to be crusted so thin that it looks almost like a smoke coating. There is some hints of smoothing of the break as well as the fact that no real inside texture/ structure can be seen (aside from a couple larger chondrules poking through perhaps) whereas the other fragments (clearly showing post fall breaks) the interior structure is clearly visible. Regardless, I am not pricing this piece higher because of any of this.
1) Natural fragments. All have some crust:
a) 4.4 gram fragment – 16mm x 15mm x 15mm - $350 – about 15% crust covered.
b) 5.0 gram fragment – 20mm x 20mm x 10mm - $400 – about 45% crusted.
c) 7.4 gram fragment – 25mm x 18mm x 12mm - $590 – about 50% crusted.
d) 22.2 gram fragment/ individual – 32mm x 28mm x 20mm - $1700

BRENHAM, Kansas: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1882.
This is a Riker display that has two part slices – one 3.4g (17mm x 12mm x 5mm) and the other 13.5g (25mm x 20mm x 9mm). This has two labels; one (unnamed) that has the two weights as 3.4g and 14.2g. The label that was hidden underneath was a Casper label (for the 3.4g piece) that has “Happy Holidays!” written in the ‘Remarks” line. The larger piece looks to have a Nininger number on it. It certainly has the exact look of a Nininger number paint job, starts with the proper “10” for a Nininger Brenham but the next number/ letter is damaged enough to make it unclear exactly what was painted here (the last 3 look to be 119 though this could be “10M19”). This piece is also the typical thickness that Nininger would have cut back then.
2 part slices – 3.4g and 13.5g (possible Nininger piece) in Riker - $100

CAPE YORK, Greenland: Iron. Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1818.
Now this is a neat little Riker display. It has a label identifying the Meteorite (name, type, etc.) with “1 GM” handwritten on it, a nice etched 15mm x 10mm thin slice of the meteorite in a gemstone holder and a commemorative Greenland postage stamp (that looks to be from 1978). The stamp seems to show what looks like might be an ancient knife/ tool of some sort (this is indeed what the locals used these meteorites for) on a background of a large etched slice. I am assuming the “1GM” is the rough weight of the slice, but I didn’t pull all of this apart to find out.
15mm x 10mm etched slice, stamp and label in Riker box - $90

ESTHERVILLE, Iowa: Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Fell May 10, 1879. Tkw = about 320kg.
This is a thick part slice that has its larger portion being the silicate material (though there are still substantial chunks of iron, they show a bit better on the backside). This comes with a metal “meteoritelabels.com” label with the proper 4.75GM weight written in pencil in the specimen weight space.
4.75 gram part slice – 20mm x 13mm x 6mm - $90

HOLBROOK, Arizona: Ordinary chondrite. (L/LL6). Fell July 19, 1912.
Here are two nice complete fresh individuals in a Riker display. These come with a Schooler’s label that has the pair weight of 1.6grams. Yep, this is exactly what my scale got. The smaller piece weighed .68g on my scale and the larger was .92g. The larger piece has some areas of secondary crust (of the type and thickness that leaves no doubt that it is secondary crust, unlike some of the areas on the largest Aguas Zarcas listed above) but is NOT broken and is certainly a complete individual (the smaller piece is pretty much completely covered in primary crust).
2 complete individuals .68g, .92g in Riker with Schooler label -$40

MILLBILLILLIE, Australia: HED achondrite (Eucrite). Fell 1960/ found 1970.
This is a part slice of the more unusual fine-grained textured area of this meteorite (the vast majority of Millbillillie showed a brighter black and white salt and pepper texture). This piece has one natural edge that shows some weathered fusion crust that has some of the orange spots/ staining that shows that this really is a Millbillillie. This has a nice label with it but this does not say who’s label (Ann E. Nonimus??) it was. This label has the weight as 2.4 grams but my scale showed this as 2.2 grams.
2.2 gram part slice – 22mm x 10mm x 3mm - $30

NORTON COUNTY, Kansas: Enstatite achndrite (Aubrite). Fell February 18, 1948.
This is a Riker containing two small fragments of this meteorite along with a Schooler’s label. The label has these as .8g together and this is indeed what my scale showed. Each of these fragments is roughly 10mm x 5mm in size.
2 fragments totaling .8g in Riker with Schooler’s label - $25

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale - List 220

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

                            LIST 220

October 30, 2018

Dear collectors,

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

Notes on Socorro, Mew Mexico Mineral Symposium:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blaine Reed Meteorites List# 73 21APR09

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax: (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………LIST 73
April 21, 2009

Dear Collectors,
Looking this over after just finishing typing, I notice that this is all semi- rare to really rare types (except the Etter), so look through this list carefully, there is a lot of interesting things hiding here. My next posting should be a copy of a mailed list I hope to be sending out soon to those of you on my mailing list. The posting of this may be slightly delayed from May 5th (the date I am supposed to put out my next e-mail posting) depending upon when I get the mailed version actually sent out (I try to time things so all of you will get it at roughly the same time). Denver spring show: Part of the delay in getting my mailed list out is from the fact that I will be visiting the Denver Spring show later this week (I will be gone the 23rd through about the 28th - weather determining, and it has been generally quite bad in the mountains lately, creating a lot of driving delays for me). The show is at the Holiday Inn at the intersection of I-25 and I-70 (same place I set up a room at for the September Fall show). This runs Friday through Sunday (April24th through 26th). I do not set up a room at this show, but consign a few items to Anne Black (thank you Anne!) who has a nice booth in the entrance hallway near the front desk. I will have other things with me as well. Be sure to let me know if any of you out there want me to bring any specific items for you (give me a contact phone number so I can figure out when we can meet).

AGOULT, Morocco: (Eucrite), unbrecciated.
Found March 200, tkw = 85g+.
This is my only piece remaining of this stuff that looks pretty much like Ibitira but lacks the gas bubbles. This is a nice slice that has nice crust along 60% or more of its edge. It is thick enough that it could easily be split into 2 or more thinner pieces.
4.8 gram slice - 23mm x 16mm x 4.5mm - $250

ETTER, Texas: (L5). Found 1965. Tkw = 338+kg.
This is a fantastic large display slice of this nice material. This was actually cut from a 180 pound piece I bought from a farmer back in 1993 (Robert Haag owned the end piece this was cut from for many years). It is currently my only piece of Etter and may be the only large complete slice still available out there in dealer's hands. This shows lots of metal (including a couple veins), a few large light green chondrules, plus a really large troilite complex (over 50mm long!) in a dark jade-green matrix.
1674 gram complete slice - 385mm x 215mm x 6mm - $3000

NWA 725: (Winonaite). Found July 4, 2000. Tkw = 3824g+.
This was originally classified as an Acapulcoite. Further work has shown it to be a Winonaite instead. This stuff has some dark chondrules in a light gray matrix (leading one researcher to comment that it should really be called a "W" chondrite as it is not truly an achondrite). This material so closely resembles an H chondrite (complete with lots of fresh metal) that it has caused me a lot of expense and grief having many similar looking things checked (I have a good assortment of nice H-chondrites that will soon be available from these efforts) to be sure they are not more of this rare stuff.
6.68 gram end piece - 24mm x 20mm x 10mm - $350

NWA 736: (H3.7). Tkw = 2766 grams.
I have offered piece of this from time to time over the years. I have very little left now. It is nice material. It shows lots of metal and small chondrules in a mixed light gray and tan matrix.
a) 2.3 gram cut fragment - 19mm x 15mm x 4mm - $10
b) 3.4 gram cut fragment - 20mm x 19mm x 5mm - $14
c) 4.9 gram cut fragment - 30mm x 20mm x 4mm - $20
d) 23.1 gram "slice" (wedged) - 45mm x 25mm x 8mm - $69

NWA 868: (LL6). Tkw = 201grams.
This is a little specimen from a meteorite that we (David Gregory and I) sent in to UCLA years ago. It went in along with the a piece of the now super famous NWA (869) (we were the original people that got some of this looked at and are the source of that number). So here is the last chance (this is the last specimen) to own a piece of the meteorite that was next in line for a number from probably the most famous of all NWAs. 2.8 gram cut fragment - 17mm x 16mm x 6mm - $12

NWA 1906: Rumurutiite (R4), S2, W2. Found 2003. Tkw = 560 grams. One piece of this that must have been nearly as round as a ball-bearing was found (probably really hard to cut as well). This is a complete nearly round slice. It shows many roughly centimeter sized dark chondrule-rich clasts in a dark brown matrix.
28.5 gram complete slice - 63mm x 60mm x 3mm - $450

NWA 1910: Enstatite chondrite (EL6). Found 2002, Tkw = 305 grams.
This is a nice fresh enstatite chondrite. It shows lots of fine grained metal (and the occasional metal vein) in a light gray matrix. It also has a fairly strong sulfur (rotten egg) smell that a good enstatite should have.
a) 1.2 gram part slice - 18mm x 7mm x 3mm - $65
b) 2.3 gram part slice - 18mm x 12mm x 3mm - $100
c) 4.5 gram part slice - 27mm x 17mm x 3mm - $190

NWA 4657: Carbonaceous chondrite (CK4). Tkw = 417grams.
There was one piece of this that Matt and I shared. I sold out of all of my pieces rapidly (this is VERY fresh material, making it quite popular with collectors). I believe that this may be the last piece that Matt had as well. This is a wonderful complete slice from near the center of the original mass (and thus has the largest surface area available).
27.0 gram complete slice - 60mm x 47mm x 4mm - $400

NWA 5028: Carbonaceous chondrite (CR2). Fnd 2007, Tkw = 2445grams.
This is one Matt picked up in Denver a couple years ago. He is keeping the main portion of it and these 2 nice thin pieces are the last specimens available to collectors. These show lots of chondrules in a dark (nearly black) matrix.
a) 7.4 gram part slice - 47mm x 28mm x 1.5mm - $250
b) 15.1 gram part slice - 64mm x 44mm x 1.5mm - $500

NWA 5426: Rumurutiite (R4), polymict breccia. Tkw = 285 grams.
Wow, I wish I had more of this (I do have a similar R chondrite that will be on a future mailed list but it is not quite as nice as this for breccia texture). I had a couple pieces of a likely paired meteorite a year or so ago and they flew out the door even without being fully studied and numbered (and at a price equal to or higher than this). This stuff shows fantastic structure with fragments of all kinds of different colors and textures in a light tan matrix.
a) 23.2 gram end piece - 61mm x 34mm x 5mm - $370
b) 31.4 gram end piece - 52mm x 45mm x 8mm - $500
c) 40.6 gram end piece - 53mm x 43mm x 10mm - $640 - lots of breccia fragments!

NWA 5488: (Lodranite), brecciated. Found 2008. Tkw = 110g.
I had slices of this neat and rare material on my January mailed list and quickly sold out (the fact that is does show a very nice breccia structure sure didn't hurt - some people came back and bought more after receiving their first specimen). Matt Morgan had a couple more pieces set aside that I picked up while visiting him last week (I have been making lots of trips to Denver lately). These are the last specimens available. I may consider breaking one of these up to offer smaller pieces later if they do not sell intact, so let me know if you are looking for a smaller piece.
a) 4.0 gram 1/2 slice - 30mm x 20mm x 2mm - $300
b) 9.7 gram complete slice - 40mm x 32mm x 2.5mm - $700