Showing posts with label GAO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAO. Show all posts

Saturday, 5 January 2019

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale - List 221


Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                                                            LIST 221

January 4, 2018


    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here is the e-mail version of my just mailed “what’s new” offering.

TUCSON SHOW INFO: I will be on the road from January 29th until around February 20th. For the show itself, I will be in my usual spot but the motel has a new name. It was Ramada Limited but is now “Days Inn” I believe. Regardless, it is the same place (665 N. Freeway, Tucson) and I’ll be in my usual spot (room 134). I should be open by mid to late morning Saturday February 2nd. I likely will indeed stay through the bitter end – February 15th will be the last day. I open the door most days at 10AM. I will have the door open most evenings until around 9:30pm or so (or later if people are visiting/ still wandering about) but there may be a couple nights I will be out for dinner or such for a couple hours but that should be rare.  

I apologize that this list is a little more difficult to read than most. it seems the Yahoo groups thing is not letting me format this better at this time.

GAO, Burkina Faso: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell March 5, 1960. Tkw = 100+ kilograms.
I know, I know, this is officially supposed to be “Gao-Guenie”. I remember the guy that came up with the notion of an overlapping fall a month apart brought specimens to my house in Durango for cutting. He got all excited exclaiming that he REALLY had a new fall after I split a few in half. I tried to explain to him that all I saw was that there was a difference in weathering grade (the Guenie pieces were simply more weathered in my opinion) and the pieces were otherwise structurally identical. So, I always considered the “Guenie” thing to be a false hope from the start. Regardless, I recently got a nice assortment of mostly complete (many of these have some areas of secondary crust) but dirty stones. I have cleaned them up (soda blasting) and they turned out quite nice. They all do have some small areas of brown rust spotting but are otherwise mostly covered in nice slate gray to black crust. By, far my cheapest witnessed fall individuals.
1) Nice individuals, cleaned to remove dirt and (most) oxide.a) 10.1 grams - 23mm x 17mm x 12mm - $15
b) 20.9 grams - 27mm x 22mm x 20mm - $30
c) 35.9 grams - 32mm x 27mm x 17mm - $50
d) 63.1 grams - 40mm x 28mm x 24mm - $85
e) 109.8 grams - 38mm x 37mm x 36mm - $135
f) 176.1 grams - 50mm x 34mm x 31mm - $220

NWA (8225): Ordinary chondrite. (H4), S2, W1. Found 2013. Tkw = 100 grams.
I believe this is the last of the small individual “Main masses” I have. Not sure I fully believe the research report of W1 on this though. The exterior has a nice rounded edge, somewhat thumb-printed shape. It does look like it is pretty much fully crusted, but the crust looks to me to be substantially weathered and wind-polished. The interior does not seem to show any fresh metal either. However, the interior does show lots of chondrules (mostly light gray to purplish brown) in medium brown matrix. I am sure it is all the chondrules that caused this little stone to get sent out for classification. Unfortunately, that work showed that this was an equilibrated type 4 chondrite. This is priced (more than $100) below what it would currently cost to get the classification work done.
    85.1 gram main mass – 35mm x 18mm x 28mm - $150.00 

NWA (10638): Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found before February 2016. Tkw = 306.6 grams.
I got this stone from a Moroccan dealer in Tucson who claimed that it was a “low number type 3” (but at a lower price than would be normal for such a stone – that should have given me a clue in itself). The small cut window did indeed show an interesting interior. It seemed to show light gray chondrules (what turned out to be mostly rounded breccia clasts) in a nearly black matrix. Regardless, actual research work showed this to be an L6! It still has in interesting texture though and, despite what the bulletin report suggests, lots of metal and sulfides. This meteorite certainly does not have your typical L6 look to it.
1) Slices:
a) 4.7 grams - 22mm x 18mm x 3mm - $9
b) 9.6 grams - 30mm x 29mm x 4mm - $18
c) 16.3 grams - 45mm x 40mm x 3mm - $30 – complete slice.
d) 26.8 grams - 50mm x 47mm x 4mm - $47 – complete slice.
2) End piece:
a) 31.2 grams - 40mm x 25mm x 40mm - $55 – main mass.

NWA (12005), Ordinary chondrite. (LL6/7), S2, W2. Found before Feb. 2018. Tkw = 223.4 grams.
This is not fully “ordinary” but it is more so than the diogenite it really, really looked like when I bought it in Tucson. This had absolutely no attraction to even the strongest magnet and, as it was the very end of the show, I had already packed up the XRF (which would have quickly sorted this out). Anyway, this has dark gray metamorphic textured clasts (the LL7 part I believe) in a fine-grained medium brown matrix. It turns out that this is only the 5th meteorite to be classified as an LL6/7. The other four where NWA stones from years earlier and totaled only a mere 2.1kg in weight! So, this is actually a fairly rare item after all.
1) Slices:
a) 2.1 grams - 18mm x 11mm x 3mm - $20
b) 4.0 grams - 30mm x 19mm x 3mm - $38
c) 8.1 grams - 35mm x 27mm x 3mm - $75
d) 16.1 grams - 48mm x 38mm x 3mm - $145 – complete slice.
2) Main mass:  25.9 gram end piece – 45mm x 33mm x 12mm - $200

NWA (11880): Rumuruti chondrite (R3.5-4), S2, W0. Found before Feb. 2018. Tkw = about 3.2 kilograms.
A 33gram piece was originally purchased at the 2018 Tucson Show. A couple months later, an additional 3150 grams were sent by mail. Studies showed that this is a breccia containing equilibrated (type4) lighter clasts mixed with darker unequilibrated (type 3.5) clasts. At the time of this discovery, this was only the second meteorite in the world to have the (R3.5-4) classification. The other is NWA (7489) weighing only 248 grams, bringing the entire world’s known weight of this type to just over 3.4kg. I don’t have a lot of this interesting meteorite (under a few hundred grams), so contact me fairly quickly if you want a piece. NOTE: I listed end pieces here as many collectors prefer them when they can get them. I do have some slices of this meteorite (.5g- $8, 1.1g- $17, 2.5g-$38, 5.8g- $85, 10.1g- $140. The 2 largest are complete slices) if you prefer a slice.
1) End pieces:
a) 1.2 grams - 20mm x 12mm x 3mm - $18
b) 3.8 grams - 26mm x 15mm x 4mm - $56
c) 6.4 grams - 30mm x 30mm x 5mm - $92
d) 9.3 grams - 28mm x 20mm x 6mm - $130
e) 15.0 grams - 35mm x 27mm x 9mm - $200
f) 25.3 grams - 45mm x 27mm x 8mm - $315

NWA (11761): Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Found before June 2016. Tkw = 2258 grams.
This is an interesting meteorite I picked up at the Denver spring show. At first glance, all I saw was a beautiful fresh mesosiderite with a classic texture (silicate clasts of many sizes in a metal rich matrix). The lighting in the ballroom venue wasn’t real good but I swore I could see some light rusting (browning) of the metal on a bit closer look. Well, it has that look under brighter lighting as well. However it is NOT rusting! This brassy look is caused by the unusually high troilite content (13%) of this meteorite. As a consequence of this (as well as the unusually low Fe metal content of 22%) this is considered to an anomalous type 4 mesosiderite. Really pretty and, to me, really cheap for what it is (fresh, anomalous and well prepared).
1) Slices: a) 2.1 grams - 20mm x 11mm x 2mm - $21
b) 4.0 grams - 21mm x 20mm x 2mm - $40
c) 7.2 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 2mm - $70
d) 14.3 grams - 45mm x 36mm x 2mm - $140
e) 23.6 grams - 65mm x 37mm x 2mm - $225
f) 55.1 grams - 80mm x 75mm x 2mm - $500 – complete slice.

TRINITITE:
This is the glass that was formed by the melting of sand (and some supporting equipment) by the world’s first nuclear explosion (code named “trinity”). This explosion happened the morning of July 16, 1945 about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico. This 20 kiloton sized explosion sucked up sand (and the metal of the bomb’s supporting structure) and dropped it back as molten blobs into the nearly 1100 foot (335meter) wide crater that was formed by it. I constantly have people asking for this stuff at shows and lately all I could show them was pea-sized pieces (around 1cm and less maximum dimension, low tenths of a gram weights). I recently managed to trade for some nice larger pieces. Most of these have the typical shape: one surface smooth and rounded and the other generally rough with attached bits of rock and sand. Glad to have been able to get this lot, but have no idea where (or if) I’ll be able to replace it later.
1) Natural fragments:a) 1.0 grams - 16mm x 12mm x 5mm - $6
b) 2.0 grams - 22mm x 16mm x 7mm - $12
c) 3.3 grams - 23mm x 16mm x 11mm - $20
d) 4.7 grams - 37mm x 20mm x 7mm - $28
e) 7.7 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 10mm - sold

Please note:
 Shipping:  For small US orders $4 is fine. Larger orders are now $13 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it). Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are around $13 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $15.
    I do have a fax machine that seems to work (but I have to answer it and manually turn it on), so overseas people can contact me that way if they must.  How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 207 July 11, 2017

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 207

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 207

July 11, 2017

Dear collectors,

Here is the fourth and final offering pulled together from a batch of material I recently got from a collector who has decided to trim his collection a bit. This is also likely to be my last offering for awhile this summer. My schedule has me out of town 3 to 4 days each week pretty much now until late August (Please be patient as internet connections and replies to requests may take a few days.). So, if I do come up with a few new things to offer, it will likely be towards the end of August.

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 207
(click on image to enlarge)

GAO, Burkina Faso: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
These are all basically complete individuals, though each (except the smallest) has a broken surface or area of very light secondary crust (I’ll list the sizes of those areas on each below). These are definitely pieces that were picked up sometime after the fall as they all show some areas of orange/brown rust staining (but are mostly black crust otherwise). These all have nice shapes. Nothing exceptional but, perhaps, a better than most I’ve had.
1) Complete individuals as found:
a) 5.5 grams – 17mm x 15mm x 12mm - $10
b) 23.1 grams – 30mm x 22mm x 19mm - $35 (11mm x 15mm broken area).
c) 26.4 grams – 30mm x 20mm x 20mm - $40 (11mm x 10mm broken area).
d) 65.0 grams – 35mm x 30mm x 28mm - $95 (20mm x 5mm broken area)

IMPACTITE, Henbury Craters, Australia.
Now this (unlike the Henbury glass I offered on the last list) IS the typical impactite material I have had from this location in the past (though I have not had pieces very often). This is a foamy, vesicular rock that has a mix of orangish brown to nearly black areas. I considered cutting this in half (kind of neat to see little blebs of iron meteorite in impactites this way) but the highly vesicular nature made me think again. I remember the problems I had with crumbling when I tried to cut some of the pieces of this stuff I had in the past.
9.7gram fragment/ individual as found – 30mm x 25mm x 20mm - $15

INDOCHINITE: Tektite from Thailand.
Here are a few examples of what was definitely THE most commonly available tektite when I started business. These days though Indochinites are not all that common. Chinese tektites are what you see boxes and buckets of now and you find only a few Indochinites here and there. All of these show the typical Indochinite surface features: surface pitting and grooving that is generally far larger and far shallower than Chinese tektites. The two small pieces here are pretty typical shapes. The big one is really quite large for an Indochinite (I have had very few over 100g in all my years) and a neat long tongue-like shape. This one has some surface chipping (the photo was taken with this side facing up, so with careful inspection this should be visible) but is a really cool specimen none the less.
a) 50.5 gram slightly flattened round specimen –40mm x 40mm x 20mm - $10
b) 50.5 gram thin oval specimen – 57mm x 45mm x 12mm - $10
c) 154.9 gram tongue-shaped specimen – 115mm x 40mm x 20mm - $45

MOLDAVITE:
This is actually a really nice piece. It is roughly triangular shaped, has no fresh/ recent broken edges or chips to speak of (investigating with a magnifying glass might reveal some micro chipping I suppose). This also has nice detailed etching covering all surfaces. This is not “Museum grade” (think Besidnice locality pieces here) but better than what I usually have.
7.8 gram nice natural individual – 33mm x 25mm x 6mm - $50

NWA (787): (L6).
I can’t find any records on this one. This is a bookend cut piece that has “NWA 787” written in black sharpie on one of the cut faces. It comes in a bag that has a sticker saying “NWA 787, L6, 46 grams” and then “1160649604 (UCLA?)” written in ink on the bag. This is quite fresh. The interior is mostly light to medium gray (and shows lots of metal) with some minor hints of light brown rust staining. The exterior has thick black crust that shows some light wind polishing. This is a nice meteorite. Too bad it (apparently) never got fully reported.
18.6 gram ½ end piece/ bookend cut – 32mm x 18mm x 16mm - $15

NWA (unstudied): Carbonaceous chondrite (likely CK).
This is a piece that I actually found rattling around my office, not part of the stuff I got from Canada (I actually have no idea how/ why I have it, honestly). I know it is from one of my usual sources as it has his cataloging numbers on it. We (he and I) tried to look it up in his database but did not find anything. Regardless, this is a fairly nice little cut fragment. The interior shows very few dark gray to nearly black chondrules in greenish gray matrix (this is likely a CK5). The backside is all older natural fracture surfaces with black chondrules poking out. A great specimen for someone that wants to own a fairly fresh cheap example of a CK.
9.1 gram cut fragment – 28mm x 25mm x 9mm - $55

ODESSA, Texas: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1923.
Not quite sure what to make of this one. My first impression (just looking at it) is that It looks like it might be largely oxide /shale, but its weight and strong magnetic attraction says that it is pretty much all iron. Its shape is also a bit different. It has a distinctly rounded edges shape unlike most Odessas I have seen this size. It has some cracking but seems quite solid. As it has been in a humid area for years and shows no visible damage from it, I am pretty certain that this is a stable piece. Odessas (of any variety) are hard to come by these days.
58.8 gram mostly iron individual as found – 34mm x 30mm x 27mm - $75

Friday, 3 March 2017

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- After Tucson List #2

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- After Tucson List #2

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 201

March 7, 2017

Dear collectors,

Here is “After Tucson” #2

ADMIRE, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1881.
This is a little piece that broke off while I was polishing the Admire slice that has the large olivine (the slice offered on the last list. I’ll have another more typical textured large Admire slice on the next list). Mike had opticoned the pieces and etched one side. I then “took ownership” of the pieces before he had the chance to etch the second side. I wanted them simply polished. He didn’t have time before heading off to Tucson (he got there almost a week before I did) so he did not polish them down (which, apparently, is more difficult/ time consuming than etching. But then that is for him. Frankly, I suck at etching). I did the polishing myself and managed to break this little piece off the large olivine chunk off while doing so. This is typical metal and olivine pallasite textured material.
8.9 gram slice – 40mm x 20mm x 3mm - $45  SOLD

CAMPO DEL CIELO, Argentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1576.
Here is a neat large (and thick) etched slice I picked up at the show (I needed a space filler as I sold out of a number of things in the iron section of my table) and wanted something other than Seymchan for an etched iron to show/ sell. Anyway, this is kind of a cool long skinny piece that is etched on both sides. One end has a fairly large (25mm x 20mm) silicate, graphite nodule. A neat display piece.
2695 gam complete etched slice – 300mm x 65mm x 18mm - $1100

GAO, Burkina Faso: (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
This is a nice complete individual. It (aside from a tiny 3mm late atmospheric chip) is completely covered in thick primary crust. There are some areas of light brown oxidation, but most of the crust is a nice dark slate gray to black.
32.2 gram complete crusted individual – 45mm x 22mm x 18mm - $50

GLORIETTA MOUNTAIN, New Mexico: (Pallasite). Found 1884.
Now here are a couple nice specimens of a meteorite type I have not had in a long time (and it has been far longer since I have had individuals of this find). These are natural complete iron (as most of the recovered material from the find are) individuals. Both clearly show rounded, atmospherically sculpted shapes and both have nice patches of original blue-gray iron fusion crust (before Sikhote-Alin came out, this was about the ONLY meteorite a collector could get that showed this). The smaller specimen is a bit cleaner, smoother than the larger one but both are nice representative specimens of this very hard to come by these days meteorite.
1) Complete individuals as found:
a) 19.3 grams – 28mm x 22mm x 8mm - $290
b) 32.1 grams – 35mm x 19mm x 14mm - $450

KATOL, India: (L6). Fell May 22, 2012. Tkw = about 13 kilograms.
Here is a fresh and wonderful specimen that was left on consignment with me for the show (at a price less than ½ of what I have in the few pieces of this fall I have in my collection and for sale). I came really close to getting this thing sold at the show. Unfortunately, that did not work out and, unfortunately, the owner never came back to pick it up (but then I am sure they knew that I would take it home and try selling it to other customers on line and at other shows). Anyway, this is a super nice nearly complete individual. It has had two edges broken of (probably during the fall) but still has probably better than 75% crust coverage. This crust is thick primary crust and is fresh and black aside from some minor dirt and scuff- marks from its landing.
338.6 gram fresh individual – 60mm x 55mm x 45mm - $5100

MUNDRABILLA, Australia: Medium octahedrite (ungrouped). Found 1911.
This is a nice natural individual I got as part of the small collection if irons I got at the show. This particular piece is quite a bit larger than the typical Mundrabilla specimens I see (which are usually around 50 to 80 grams maybe). This piece has a nice sculpted shape, showing nice thumb-printing in many areas but a more rounded, nodular look (typical of smaller Mundrabilla specimens) in others. Nice piece overall.
164.5 gram natural individual – 63mm x 35mm x 25mm - $140 SOLD

NWA (8043): HED achondrite (Diogenite). Found before July 2013. Tkw = over 1860 grams.
Well, truthfully, this particular specimen was obviously cut from one of the pairings to NWA (8043). My largest piece (from the actual 1860g batch that made up NWA (8043)) was only around 50 or 60 grams I think (certainly nowhere large enough to cut a fantastic specimen like this). This amazing super thin slice was cut from a MUCH larger specimen. This piece is cut thin enough that light passes through pretty much everywhere. A real (all be it intensely green) stained glass window. Really neat. I may consider breaking this apart into smaller pieces (at a slightly higher price per gram) if I do not sell it intact and I have enough requests for smaller pieces (but I do kind of really hope it does not come to that).
38.4 gram super thin, transparent slice – 140mm x 75mm x 1mm - $750

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 169 - after Tucson part 2

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 169 - after Tucson part 2

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………….LIST 169

March 3, 2015

Dear Collectors,

Here is the second “after Tucson” list. This may be my only offering this month as I will likely be out of town when the next one should go out

BILANGA, Burkina Faso: (Diogenite). Fell October 27, 1999. Tkw = 25+ kilograms.
This is simply an “add the name to your collection cheaply” type specimen. It consists of a few fragments/ crumbs (around 4mm x 3mm) of this meteorite in a capsule in a labeled plastic box.
Crumbs in a capsule - $5

GAO, Burkina Faso: (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
Here is a nice end piece that comes with two labels. One is the original Robert Haag paper label (the previous owner bought the specimen from him in 1996) and the other is a metal, stands up on its own “GAO-GUENIE” label (I won’t take the time to go into what I believe concerning that “name” right now). Anyway, it is a nice piece. The interior is lighter than most (and shows lots of metal) and back has quite a bit of obvious fusion crust (2/3 or so).
32.4 gram end piece – 42mm x 30mm x 15mm - $80

IMPACT BRECCIA: Ries Crater, Germany.
Here are two similar sized pieces of this interesting material. It is mostly a light gray rock but contains fragments of many different materials. One of the more interesting fragment inclusions are the frothy black glass pieces. These come with their original Bethany Sciences “Certificate of Authenticity”.
22.8 grams – two pieces - $40  -SOLD

MOLDAVITE, Czeck Republic.
This is an interesting shaped piece. It is oblong in general but has a knob hanging off of one end (making it the perfect pendant shape). Overall this is what I’d call a medium grade. It is not chipped and shows nice surface features, though they are not real deep (like the high end Besednice pieces). Not sure where the previous owner got this one. It may have been from me (as many of his pieces were). The card is the one I use, but then that is one that I “stole’ (with permission) from Robert Haag many years ago.
6.1 gram complete individual – 35mm x 22mm x 7mm - $35 -SOLD

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
Here is the “mate” to the 4kg complete crusted individual I offered earlier. In fact, it was consigned by the same person. This sits nicely on its own and shows a strong, bright etch (something I have never seemed to master brining out in my etching attempts). The back- side is fully and deeply thumb-printed to the point of showing some interesting shape features, though the crust clearly has been fairly heavily cleaned (but then who wants to cut up a pristine crusted individual?).
2265.1 gram end piece – 135mm x 95mm x 50mm - $4500

SLATON (b), Texas: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Found 1940’s. Tkw = 6 kilograms.
Here is an item that I am offering before sending it back home to its owner in Texas. This interesting meteorite has a bit of a controversy attached to it. Though it has been heavily studied and is fully accepted in the Meteoritical Bulletin (Link here, I hope: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Slaton+%28b%29&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=58497 )
there are some that believe that this is really a miss-placed Campo. The photo I have seen of it as a whole piece don’t argue against this (looks oddly orange and rust scaled – like an old salt bog Campo might look after years in a humid environment). However, the interior certainly looks completely different than any cut and etched Campos I have see. The etch on this has a strange taffy pulled look to it, something I don’t recall ever seeing on an etched Campo. In fact, the etch looks more like an etched piece of Sikhote-Alin shrapnel than a Campo. It seems that this particular meteorite has been in a serious collision at some point. As I don’t think there is a crater associated with this find (at least none is known) so I’d guess it happened in space. Also, this slice shows some silicate inclusions. One is fairly large (around 17mm x 9mm). It shows obvious orangish brown silicate minerals with no real graphite or troilite surrounding it. Both are features I don’t recall seeing in Campo (Campo generally has dark geenish black silicates that are usually surrounded by things like troilite and graphite). Anyway, an interesting (but certainly NOT cheap) “new” discovery.
89 gram complete slice – 150mm x 10mm x 3mm - $2500 -SOLD

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: (Diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931.
This is strange stuff. It blew apart low in the atmosphere leaving mostly small waxy green fragments. Most believe that these pieces have no fusion crust. Careful inspection reveals that some do have very small (1mm or so) patches of black crust hiding on them. This piece is among those. This has a lot of smooth ablated looking surfaces but only a few tiny black patches of actual fusion crust. This is a piece the previous owner bought form me many years ago.
2.7 gram fragment with some tiny fusion crust patches – 15mm x 10mm x 9mm - $35 -SOLD

Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 140, a few new things 21AUG2013

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 140, a few new things 21AUG2013

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 140

August 20, 2013

Dear Collectors,
Here is a short list of some things I picked up recently. I thought about holding them for display for the Denver show in a few weeks but then decided to offer them now.

GAO, Burkina Faso: (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
Here is probably the largest Gao I have ever had. Now I have had this piece twice. I had it briefly in Tucson one year where it rapidly sold to a collector. Now the collector has sold it back to me. This is a nice complete individual. It does have one edge chipped/ late break area about 50mm x 12mm in size. The remainder of this is nice black fusion crust that shows nice contraction cracks and even some flow lines (very rare for Gao) in areas. This is a blocky piece but the crust is all (aside from the above mentioned break/ edge chip) all primary crust. This does show quite a bit of nice soft thumb-printing as well. A nice display piece and probably the cheapest (per gram anyway) fall available right now.
977 gram complete individual – 125mm x 60mm x 50mm - $1500

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt. Ni-rich Ataxite. found 2008. Tkw = about 1600 kilograms.
Like the Gao above, this is the biggest piece of this meteorite I have had. And, like above, it came from the same collector (who, obviously, liked big display pieces). This is a shrapnel fragment, as all pieces of this meteorite in collector's hands have been. It certainly looks to have been a surface found piece as it is pretty much all a nice gently wind-polished chocolate brown (buried pieces tended to have a more yellow/ brown rusty color/ texture). An article in a recent Meteoritics & Planetary Sciences on some ancient iron beads (that were made out of meteorite) mentioned this meteorite. It seems that the Egyptians started referencing the sky in their words for iron around 5000 years ago. The Gebel meteorite seems to have fallen right around this time. It even seems that debris from the impact covered an old trade road. So it is highly likely that this fall was witnessed somehow by the people of the area and may have been what clued them in to the idea that iron came from the sky.
2529g natural shrapnel fragment – 150mm x 110mm x 40mm - $1800

KUNASHAK, Russia: (L6). Fell June 11, 1949. Tkw = 200+ kilograms.
I have only a few pieces of this fall available. I may break up the larger slice if need but I am hesitant to do so as it does show some nice breccia texture to it. The 3 small pieces in a bag would be ideal for the somewhat micro collector (or resale to such collectors). The slices are polished on one side. The larger piece, unfortunately, is a bit rough on its back side. It was obviously cut with a saw that was to small (took two tries from different directions to cut it) and is wedged, but still shows nice breccia on that side as well.
a) 1.5 grams 3 fragments/ cut fragments in a bag - $25
b) 7.6 gram slice – 28mm x 22mm x 4mm - $140
c) 48.8 gram slice – 60mm x 60mm x ~4mm - $500

LOS CERRILLOS, Argentina: (H4), S2, W2. Found 2006. Tkw = 1kilogram.
To me, this looks a lot more weathered than a W2 grade, but then I am not looking at it as a thin section. Regardless, with only a kilo known, there is very little of this material available to collectors (I have only these four pieces) so don't hesitate too long if you want to add this new name to your collection. Three of these pieces are slices but I do have one end piece (about 40 grams).
a) 4.7 gram slice – 45mm x 13mm x 3mm - $28
b) 8.2 gram slice – 35mm x 20mm x 3mm - $49 SOLD
c) 39.5 gram end piece – 45mm x 35mm x 5mm - $200
d) 42.0 gram complete slice – 60mm x 50mm x 5mm - $230

NWA (5489): (Howardite). Found 2008. Tkw = 288 grams.
This is super fresh and every piece has at least some fresh black crust on the edges. The largest is a wonderful end piece (that I will likely put in my collection if I don't sell it here) that shows contraction cracks and some flow lines/ ridges in the crust (which covers 80% or so of the back side). This has an appearance very similar to Kapoeta and, frankly, is just as fresh. However, this meteorite, being a "lowly NWA" is priced at a small fraction of the price.
a) 3.1 gram slice – 18mm x 13mm x 4mm - $60
b) 7.4 gram slice – 30mm x 30mm x 3mm - $140
c) 12.4 gram slice – 35mm x 35mm x 4mm - $240
d) 25.0 gram cut fragment – 40mm x 33mm x 8mm - $500
e) 91.3 gram end piece/ main mass – 68mm x 50mm x 13mm - $2000

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Blaine Reed Meteorites List 72 7APR09

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax: (970) 874-1487…………………………………………………..LIST 72
April 7, 2009

Dear collectors,
Here is yet another offering of material I brought home from Tucson. I apologize that this is going out quite late (particularly for those of you overseas).
It is nice to know that the snow is starting to melt but spring here also brings ditch burning season here (farmers getting ready for the irrigation system to start flowing next week). The smoke and starting of things growing has set off my season of allergies and sinus headaches. I was in rough enough shape most of this morning that I could not seem to get any meaningful work done until now (early afternoon).
As usual, contact me as soon as possible if you want me to set anything aside for you. Enjoy!

BRENHAM, Kansas: (Pallasite).
This is a nice etched complete slice cut from a 69kg iron individual (actually kind of rare for this meteorite) found on October 30, 2005 by Steve Arnold. This shows a nice etch.
274.8 gram complete etched slice - 200mm x 60mm x 2mm - $450

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
This is a little wire brushed individual I sold to a collector in Florida many years ago. It has a fairly nice shape (Not a lump) and looks quite nice overall (it held up very well in the humid environment and is not rusting at all).
86.7 gram brushed individual - 50mm x 23mm x 16mm - $60

HENBURY, Australia: Medium octahedrite (IIIAB).
Found 1931.
This is a nice natural (not brushed) shrapnel shaped individual. I offered some similar pieces on an earlier mailed offering and quickly sold out. Here is on more chance for a "larger" Henbury specimen.
43.3 gram natural individual - 40mm x 20mm x 12mm - $55 SOLD

BLUFF (b), Texas: (L4). Found 1917. Tkw = 15.5 kilograms.
This is one of my favorite chondrites. It has a beautiful jade-green color unlike any other. This originally came from the Monig collection but this all sold rapidly and no more is available from that source. This piece is from a collector who bought it years ago when it was readily available. I kind of wish I bought a large piece for display myself now.
26.2 gram part slice - 50mm x 25mm x 6mm - $150

FRANCONIA, Arizona: (H5). Found October 31, 2002. Tkw = about 100kg.
Here are a couple individuals that each have a polished window that shows a bit of the interior, as if the finder was not certain that these pieces were meteorites despite the obvious fusion crust covering the rest of the specimens until they saw the chondrules and metal inside.
a) 25.8 gram individual - 30mm x 20mm x 18mm - $40
b) 80.5 gram individual - 35mm x 30mm x 30mm - $120

HAXTUN, Colorado: (H/L 4). Found 1975. Tkw = 45.5kg.
This is an interesting cut fragment of this strange material that has a "large" (about 3mm x 4mm) green chondrule showing on the cut and polished face.
17.5 gram cut fragment - 25mm x 13mm x 23mm - $60 SOLD

GAO - ???: Mystery slice.This is a complete fresh slice of a meteorite that a friend of mine received in a batch of Gao individuals he bought years ago. Its fresh black crust made it obvious that it was something different. The interior is a nice light gray (no rust spotting at all) with sparse chondrules and plenty of fresh metal. This looks to be either a type 5 or 6 (could be either L or H type, it is really hard to tell with this one) It is possible that this is indeed a fresh Gao piece that was picked up right after the fall (I have only seen one other such fresh Gao piece - a small slice from a museum) but it is more likely a new fall that got collected (unnoticed, unfortunately) by the people gathering up pieces of the older Gao fall. This stone, I was told, weighed only a few hundred grams and the other slices have already long since found new homes.
37.2 gram complete fresh slice - 47mm x 40mm x 7mm - $150 SOLD

NWA: Unclassified but likely (L6) with shock veins.
Here is a neat little individual I picked up that had obvious shock veins showing on its surface. I turned out to show these nicely on the interior as well after I cut it in half. The interior shows obvious breccia fragments that are separated by black shock veins. I really wish more of this one was available.
89.3 gram individual cut in half - 55mm x 35mm cut faces - $50 SOLD

ZAG, Western Sahara: (H3-6) breccia. Fell August 4 or 5, 1998. Tkw = about 175kg.
This fragment does show some weathering so it was not picked up immediately after the fall (as few were). It has a 38mm x 20mm patch of black crust and the interior looks like it shows breccia texture (darker type 3 material looks to be amply present). As much as I hate to say it, this piece would probably be really good for cutting up into nice slices.
124.4 gram fragment - 45mm x 35mm x 35mm - $175

NWA (2988), (Eucrite). Tkw = 4602grams.
Lunar look a like!This is really an NWA (482) (Lunar) look-alike. In fact the guys who bought this thought that it was indeed another piece of that famous meteorite. The science though says that this is really "just" a eucrite. Still neat and rare, but quite a let down when you thought you had a nearly 5kg lunar in your hands. This is indeed almost exactly like NWA (482) structurally (showing angular fragments and abundant dark shock veins). About the only real difference is that this material has a bit darker gray clasts and a bit lighter gray shock veins. Here is a chance to own the structure of NWA (482) (very popular and in demand) at less than 1/100th the price.
76.5 gram complete slice - 115mm x 90mm x 3mm - $1200 SOLD

ORGUEIL, France: Carbonaceous chondrite (CI1). Fell May 14, 1864.
This is a piece I forgot I had! Hard to imagine, I realize, but it was hiding in with some other special material I had set aside some years ago (so this one item is NOT a Tucson recovery). This is by far the largest and most solid piece I have of this extremely rare material. This is a nice solid chunk that was sealed in a plastic bag to protect it (which it seems did work as this specimen shows very little of the white sulfate weathering products I have seen on other pierces of this stuff over the years). It also has a Humbolt University label with it, though I cannot guarantee that it really belongs with this piece (it lists no weight and seems to indicate 3 pieces - not just one. Maybe there were 2 smaller specimens with this at one time and the label traveled along with the largest piece).
3.35 gram fragment - 16mm x 15mm x 12m - $4500 SOLD