Showing posts with label GEBEL KAMIL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GEBEL KAMIL. Show all posts

Friday, 5 May 2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites -LIST 261 03MAY2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
LIST 261 - May 3, 2023

Dear Collectors
Here is the e-mail version of my much delayed “Spring/ after Tucson” list. I have been so busy with various things that I came close to not doing this offering. However, I have had a number of people asking me “when is your new list coming out”. The answer is “Now”.
One important note: I have to be out of town May 9th and 10th. So, if you try to reach me either of those days, you will likely not be able to and will have to wait until Thursday the 11th (assuming no disasters that end up getting me stuck on the wrong side of the mountains an extra day or two anyway).

A note concerning the photos in this offering:
I want everyone receiving this post with imbedded 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.




GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Iron. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008.
Yes, I know I have offered plenty of this in the past. However, these pieces are special. It has been said that “meteorites do not hit the ground hot”. Yes, that IS true for something like 99.99% of them. However, these pieces are clearly an exception to that “rule”. These pieces each have a substantial patch (or several) of black bubbly glass adhering to them. This is from them hitting the local sand after the impact still hot enough to turn some of that sand into glass that ended up sticking to the meteorite. I suppose this should not be too surprising, given that Gebel was a crater forming impact, We have all (well, most of us anyway) seen impactites and impact glasses from some of the larger impact crater meteorites. However, I think that this is the first meteorite that I have ever seen showing melted stuff attached to it (aside from a very special and very expensive Portales Valley, NM piece I had years ago that had just the right wide metal vein trapped in the center of a mostly stone meteorite that melted a small patch of blue tarp to it when it landed). I went through a pretty good pile of this material and found few pieces that had any glass on them and much fewer still that showed relatively large (easily visible) amounts of it. Not cheap for “Gebel” in general, I realize, but these are special pieces!
1) Individuals as found
a) 2.8 grams - 5mm x 10mm x 4mm - $15 - not in the photo
b) 5.1 grams - 18mm x 15mm x 5mm - $25
c) 8.0 grams - 22mm x 18mm x 6mm - $38
d) 12.3 grams - 22mm x 21mm x 6mm - $57
e) 20.0 grams - 37mm x 17mm x 11mm - $90
f) 24.9 grams - 27mm x 24mm x 11mm - $110



ABA PANU, Nigeria: Ordinary chondrite (L3), S4, W0. Fell April 19, 2018. Tkw = 160kg.
Here are some slices of a really nice and really fresh type 3 chondrite. The fireball from the fall of this meteorite was recorded by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Objects Studies. The meteor arrived traveling at 20.9 km/ second and detonated at 30km high, releasing .23 kilotons of energy. Cutting reveals a beautiful light to medium gray interior filled with lots of chondrules, chondrule fragments and some angular to sub-rounded clasts (both light and dark). This meteorite has suffered very strong shock. This shock hardened this meteorite to the point of making it the currently hardest known meteorite (I know I had trouble even breaking these thing slices down into smaller pieces). Most of these pieces have not really been polished. They were cut with a wire saw, so saw marks remaining are not very visible (you have to really look for them to see them). I choose not to try and “fix” this as any polishing attempt at all would likely only result in making the chondrules harder to see (mushy) and just darken the overall appearance of this beautiful as is meteorite.
1) Slices:
a) 2.9 grams - 25mm x 12mm x 2mm - $35
b) 4.9 grams - 33mm x 19mm x 2.5mm - $56
c) 10.0 grams - 45mm x 26mm x 2.5mm - $110
d) 19.5 grams - 50mm x 45mm x 2mm - $210
e) 36.4 grams - 65mm x 53mm x 3mm - $370
f) 71.0 grams - 120mm x 62mm x 3mm - $700
g) 150.9 grams - 140mm x 120mm x 3mm - $1450 – beautiful full slice.




NWA (11026): Ordinary chondrite. (LL4), S4, W2. Found 2016. Tkw = 385 grams.
A single stone was found and later classified at UCLA. The research work showed this to be a member of the relatively rare LL4 group. Thin sections showed well-defined chondrules and some twinned pyroxenes but these are hard to see in a hand specimen as they are in a somewhat shock darkened matrix. Reflecting light off of a polished surface shows a lot of chondrules (some armored) and lots of fresh metal and sulfides. Not visually striking at first glance but nice and interesting when looked at closer. I have very little of this material (I got well under half of the stone that was found) so contact me quickly if you want a piece of this one.Slices: a) 4.1 grams - 19mm x 18mm x 4mm - $20
b) 8.0 grams - 35mm x 19mm x 4mm - $38
c) 12.4 grams - 43mm x 34mm x 3mm - $60 – not in photo..

2) End piece:
a) 57.9 grams - 40mm x 34mm x 20mm - $200




MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.
I really, really thought I was completely out of this stuff. I had a person call and ask for a “small” piece of Murchison around the time I was doing inventory work. I told them I was completely out. I later remembered that, at one time, I had small fragments I had put in a capsule and then put that in a magnifier box. I knew I had sold out of all of those that I had in inventory but thought that, maybe, I might still have the “reference” (original) capsule I had made up and used to compare ones I made to sell (I tried to have a roughly equal amount in the ones I sold. The reference one came from my own personal piece of Murchison I had from years earlier). Well, I DID find that as well as another gram or so of “personal collection” fragments and crumbs with it! Still having the capsules and some of the magnifier boxes, I decided to make up more of the same kind of specimens I had offered years earlier (fragments/ crumbs in a capsule in a magnifier box). These all are made up of fragments that are from around 1mm to 3mm or so in size. I did a rough weight calculation (starting material weight divided by the number of capsules I made) and came up with these averaging around .05g (actually, closer to .06g). I wasn’t able to make a lot of these but decided to offer them here anyway as I have had A LOT of people asking for Murchison lately.
1) Around .05g+ of fragments and crumbs in capsule in magnifier box - $40







NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2020. Tkw = 29.4kg.
This is a meteorite I picked up in Tucson. I really liked its Moon rock like look and its really cheap (for any sliced achondrite) price. This meteorite shows angular to rounded eucrite clasts (that range from nearly white to brownish gray) in a “sparse” melted matrix. Some pieces of this show wider melt veins (around a cm or two wide) that show flow structure and often have some vesicles. As with most HED meteorites, this one does not have strange/ unusual isotopic contents or mineralogy and, as such, is a rock from the surface of the asteroid Vesta. This is a great meteorite for people that want a larger specimen with the moon rock look but for a small fraction of the price.Slices: a) 7.5 grams - 25mm x 22mm x 4mm - $30
b) 15.2 grams - 32mm x 32mm x 4mm - $60
c) 24.4 grams - 50mm x 35mm x 4mm - $92
d) 49.2 grams - 70mm x 55mm x 5mm - $180
e) 100.8 grams - 95mm x 95mm x 3mm - sold.
f) 259.8 grams - 180mm x 125mm x 5mm - $850 – complete slice.

2) End piece:
a) 1293.7 grams - 200mm x 130mm x 33mm - $3500




METEOR CRATER POST CARD:
I offered some of these a few years ago. Those ones were based on a slightly different picture of the crater. The ones I offered last time had the entire crater in the picture, on these cards, the left side of the crater falls off the edge. These cards, like the ones I offered earlier, are likely from the 1930’s and 1940’s, and are from a colorized (painted) black and white picture. MOST of these have an added secondary crater North of Meteor Crater. There IS such a thing in reality, but it is very indistinct (I have actually been in it). These cards make it look like a real moon type crater. I have quite a number of varieties of these cards, if you consider various things like “distributed by” the two different (real and modified) picture versions and such. Most of these “varieties” I am gong to offer in sets, as these “different” ones I only had one, two or three of in total (each set will have each picture style in them). I have ONLY ONE SET of each set size available. As I did before, shipping costs are included in the price (to US, overseas may be an extra $1 or so depending upon how many are ordered). For the most part, I’ll be sending these in a regular envelope on their own.
a) “Real” Crater picture: $5
b) Picture with secondary crater added: $5
c) Set of 3 different - $15
d) Set of 4 different - $20

Shipping info:
For small US orders $6 is now needed Larger orders are now $17 (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 $20.

IMPORTANT FAX NOTE: My fax machine seems to have blown itself apart a few weeks ago. Someone tried to send me a fax and I hit “start” and sat back waiting for it to do its thing. Nope. The machine pretty much came apart internally.(some plastic gears have broken from age). I have looked into fixing it and have been looking to find a cheap replacement (though I do question doing that as I think I have only used the machine maybe a couple times in each of the past 5 years or so). So far, not much luck (unless I spend real $ and buy new). So, for the time being, I do not have a fax machine.

Friday, 24 February 2023

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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

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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.

Monday, 23 August 2021

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.

Tuesday, 3 March 2020

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.

Tuesday, 3 April 2018

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

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

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

LIST 213

April 3, 2018

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

Thanks!
List 213- Linton Rohr Collection Part 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 203 - Last of Tucson Meteorites And More

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 203 - Last of Tucson Meteorites And More

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 203

April 19, 2017

Dear collectors,

This is going out a day later than it was really supposed to. I was out of town (for 5 days) visiting the Denver Spring show (among other things). I got to measure what will be my new show room for the fall show so now I have to try and figure out how to fit things in (making it effective and comfortable with the tables and such I have). I got home fairly late Monday and found a huge pile of things needing to be dealt with (nothing slows down while I am gone, unfortunately, it piles up just as quickly as when I am home). I put in a 14 hour day yesterday in an attempt to get caught up (almost, but not completely, there yet) and had no time to pull together and send out an offering. Anyway, here it is, all be it a day late.

ADMIRE, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1881.
Here is a nice (but somewhat wedged) complete slice of the more typical Admire texture (lots of olivine of all sizes and colors along with chromite and sulfides). This, like the amazing large olivine cluster slice I had (and sold) on an earlier offering, was handled by Mike Miller before I got it. I cannot have quite the same confidence in this piece as the large olivine chunk one as I have no idea the condition of the main mass it was cut from after sitting unprotected in Arkansas for a number of years. However, I did reach Steve and he said that this slice was cut at the same time as the others (he guessed that it was actually closer to 6 ½ years ago now). Regardless, the fact that this held up as an intact slice long enough in a humid environment to be processed by Mike (dried and coated with opticon and etched on one side) it certainly can’t be too terrible of a piece (my very first piece of Admire I got from Robert Haag many, many years ago fell apart into a pile of crystals and orange goo in under a year – and that was in a fully air-tight case with desiccant. Thankfully, I salvaged a nice clear crystal and had it faceted – my very first space gem stone, which I still have). What I am certain of though is for the months I have had this sitting around here (with no special care) it has remained completely rust spot free.
795.5 gram complete slice – 220mm x 180mm x 5mm - $2500

AGOUDAL, Morocco: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Found 2000.
Here are a few small (but generally larger than I have been able to offer in the past) pieces I got as part of a small collection of irons I picked up in Tucson. These are all wire brushed clean, natural shaped individuals. The smallest and largest have nice sculpted shapes. The mid sized piece does have some sculpting, but not as classic as the other two (and is priced a bit lower accordingly).
1) Wire brushed individuals:
a) 19.1 grams – 40mm x 15mm x 10mm - $19
b) 29.7 grams – 28mm x 25mm x 15mm - $25
c) 41.8 grams – 45mm x 20mm x 12mm - $40

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008.
Here is a nice large natural shrapnel fragment from this now famous impact crater. This does not have much in the way of thin bent, twisted edges but it does have the classic shape and lots of stretch/ tear marks on its surfaces. This material has become really hard to get as the Russians (who were the ones that either had the smarts/ guts or the stupidity to go to the remote and potentially dangerous area) are no longer allowed to go to Egypt (this is putting a serious crimp in the supplies of Libyan Desert Glass as well). I have this particular large specimen priced right at what I was last quoted for a wholesale lot of Gebel pieces the last time I asked (this past Tucson I think). The folks that usually are a main supplier of this stuff had NONE to offer at the Denver Spring show this year so I suspect that there is very little (if any) of this material available from the original sources these days.
1423.4 gram natural shrapnel fragment – 140mm x 70mm x 35mm - $1000

GOMEZ, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found 1974. Tkw = 27 kilograms.
Here are a few small part slices from a larger piece I sold to another collector some time ago. They cut the piece roughly in half and kept the larger portion. The other side was cut into smaller specimens such as I have here. I think all of the other pieces have already found homes in other collections. This meteorite is quite fresh showing a fair amount of metal grains in a generally orange to brown mottled matrix. There were some shock melt areas in this stone that were more of a darker green/gray color. It turns out that the smallest piece here was cut from just such an area. The largest piece here has fusion crust along 40mm or so of one of its edges.
1) Part slices:
a) 7.7 grams – 26mm x 14mm x 7mm - $23
b) 19.3 grams – 32mm x 25mm x 7mm - $58
c) 53.0 grams – 55mm x 45mm x 7mm - $159

NWA (998), Morocco: Martian (Nakhalite). Found before September 2001. Tkw = 456 grams.
This is, by far, the largest piece of Nakhlite (of any name or number) I have ever offered. This is a (quite solid) cut fragment/ block that has fusion crust covering its largest surface. NWA (998) is a bit more special than “common” (as if there is really any such thing) Nakhlites and is classified as an anomalous orthopyroxene-bearing Nakhlite. Even more importantly, carbonate minerals that were deposited in this meteorite by water while it was still on Mars have been found throughout specimens of this stone. Unfortunately, this is the last piece of this rare material my source has available (and does not want it broken up) and I only have a few small scraps (.026g to .728g) remaining available in my inventory.
23.3 gram cut, crusted fragment – 27mm x 25mm x 15mm - $23,000

PLAINVIEW (1917), Texas: (H5) breccia. Found 1917, may have fallen 1903.
Here are a couple pieces that were cut from a piece found by Dr. Carleton Moore! He was on a lecture circuit through the area in 2004 (according to his recollection). He stopped in the Plainview area and got permission to look for meteorites for a little while one day. He realized the dream we all have when starting a hunt – quickly finding a meteorite! I am not certain the reasons (a researcher needing a known later find year specimen perhaps) but he cut this stone up recently (keeping the larger end piece for himself). The interior is the classic (H5) breccia Plainview typically shows and, despite being found years after the fall, is still very fresh. I have two specimens available: a complete (but wedge) slice and a really nice end piece that stands up nicely on its own and has nice dark chocolate brown to black crust covering its back-side.
a) 13.8 gram complete slice – 45mm x 30mm x 3mm - $140
b) 91.2 gram end piece – 42mm x 35mm x 20mm - $900

SILVER ANCIENT METEORITE COIN: Antiochas I 280-261BC.
Here is a fantastic super sharp and strong detailed silver version of the bronze ancient meteorite coins I offered on my last mailed offering (list 202 for those of you that receive my e-mail offerings only). I quickly (in one day) sold out of the dozen or so I had of those so I contacted the guy I got the first batch from to see if I could get any more. I was successful (so I do, once again, have some of the $75 bronze coins as offered on that last list if any of you are interested). He included this beauty in the package. I am certain that this is in pretty much as minted condition. Bronze coins were the day to day currency in anceint times whereas silver (and especially gold) coins were generally so valuable that they were often hidden/ buried as longer term savings. Thankfully, this coin was apparently preserved in a sealed container (usually a clay pot) so it was fully preserved. This coin is roughly 18mm in diameter and weighs 4.08 grams. It clearly shows the head of Apollo (in very high relief) on the obverse and the well-centered reverse having Apollo sitting on the Omphalos of Delphi (supposedly a meteorite) with an arrow in one hand and the other hand resting on a bow (all details being super sharp).
Silver ancient “meteorite” coin - $350

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

Blaine Reed meteorites For sale- List 200 - After Tucson #1

Blaine Reed meteorites For sale- List 200 - After Tucson #1

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 200

February 21, 2017

Dear collectors,

Here is my first (of several) “after Tucson” lists. These are comprised of things I bought and/ or were left with me to sell at the show.


ADMIRE, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1881.
Now here is a slice that will make pretty much any collector say “WOW!”. This has a HUGE (180mm x 100mm) chunk/ cluster of olivine making up better than ½ of the specimen (the remainder being the usual iron/ olivine pallasite mix). I had a slice similar to this (it was cut from the same amazing specimen, which I now own the main portion of) years ago in Tucson and it sold quickly (with good reason). This piece is a thinner one than the one I sold earlier so it shows light through a good number of the crystals. I cannot guarantee stability of any piece of meteorite (even Gibeon will rust if not coated and/or mistreated) but I strongly suspect that this piece is far, far better than most. Part of this is that the end piece (and this slice) was cut over 5 years ago and was sitting around a shop in Arkansas (not exactly a dry area) with no special protection and it hardly had any rust at all (only a few small spots) and took no time at all for me to shine up (most Admire specimens would have probably exploded under such conditions). Secondly, Mike Miller did what little treatment was needed on this piece before I got it (something this thin would not have survived long enough to be polished and etched if it were unstable). I trust him with rust prone material more than anyone else. I have seen (and owned) pieces of “unstable” meteorites from Mike (like Chinga and Nantan slices) that have lasted years with no sign of rust – so he obviously has some pretty good processing secrets.
483.8 gram slice with large olivine – 240mm x 150mm x 3mm - $2500

AIQUILE, Bolivia: Ordinary chondrite (unstudied). Fell November 20, 2016.
Back in 2001, I personally found Bolivia’s first know stone meteorite – an extremely weathered 12.3g fragment of an (H5) called “Sevaruyo”. Carancas ALMOST became their first witnessed fall but managed to make it a few miles into Peru to form its impact crater. Well, here now FINALLY is Bolivia’s true first witnessed fall (of any kind). This material has not been studied yet (that work is being done in Brazil, apparently) but, to me, this is clearly an H4 or H5 breccia. I picked up a few pieces of this (one of which I am keeping) in a trade. These are both slices of a small fragment (most of the pieces recovered from this fall are broken) and have at least one edge showing fusion crust. The interior of these is bright and fresh, showing lots of metal in a white to light gray matrix. Not cheap specimens, honestly, but I don’t think that a lot of this material will be coming out (I hear rumors of making further recoveries “government property”).
1) Part slices:
a) 3.28 grams – 20mm x 17mm x 3mm - $150
b) 5.47 grams – 35mm x 17mm x 3mm - $220

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
This is another piece that came with the iron collection I bought at the show. It is a nice medium grade (not super art sculpted but certainly not an ugly lump either) that has been moderately wire brushed. It still shows some natural oxide areas among the usual gray-black brushed surfaces. I have priced this at what I was getting (wholesale) out of similar sized (but probably not as nice) pieces during the show.
190.2 gram brushed individual – 55mm x 35mm x 25mm - $160

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008
This is a nice mirror-polished (on both sides) super thin complete slice. I had sold this to an antiquities dealer some years ago (he thought it might sell to people collecting Egypt stuff among his customers). He ended up trading it back to me this Tucson for Moon/ Mars boxes. Anyway, this is a nice piece and is probably priced below what I sold it for those years ago (it was a consigned item at that time).
41.6 gram mirror-polished complete slice – 85mm x 60mm x 1mm - $145

MOLDAVITES:
I traded for a nice hand-full of these at the show. These are mostly fairly typical pieces (in size shape and texture). I try to have in inventory pieces that are complete (not chips and fragments), have nice texturing (not super deep etching like Besednice pieces but not river rounded lumps either) and are moderately priced. The few I picked out here are merely a few that kind of caught my eye as being a bit better and larger than much of the rest (though there are indeed plenty of other nice pieces remaining in the lot). These are nice complete specimens that are covered with quite intense (but not real deep) pitting/ etching. The largest piece has several deep grooves that are likely the result of ground acid etching of cooling or stretch cracks in the specimen originally after it fell.
1) Nice natural individuals:
a) 7.2 grams – 33mm x 17mm x 9mm - $40
b) 9.9 grams – 30mm x 28mm x 8mm - $55
c) 14.1 grams – 33mm x 30mm x 9mm - $80

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is actually a pretty nice specimen despite the fact that it has been cleaned (wire-brushed) a bit harsher than I would have chosen. Sadly, it does not really appear that the piece originally had enough rust spots on it to warrant brushing in the first place. None the less, this is still covered with fusion crust (that is just a bit shinier than an unbrushed crusted piece) and is clearly a nice oriented specimen. The front is the conical (all be it fairly thin) thumb-printed shaped you expect on an oriented specimen. The back is very flat and has a clear a roll-over rim running around its outer edge. A nice piece, just cleaned a little more than I would have done.
50.3 gram oriented individual – 40mm x 25mm x 10mm - $175

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 179

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

…………………………………………………..LIST 179

October 14, 2015

Dear collectors,

                Here is the e-mail version of my mailed after Denver list (that many of you are now also receiving by mail). The show was quite slow foot traffic wise, but sales seemed to hold up well and ended at somewhat above average. Not bad considering the stock market gyrations we have had lately as well. I did pick up a few items at the show but mostly just usual inventory items as “new” stuff (mostly unstudied) was generally quite richly priced (even though the dollar is up substantially against most other currencies). New Mexico Mineral Symposium, Socorro, New Mexico: I’ll be out of town from November 11th through about the 18th (weather conditions will determine). I will have a room set up at the Socorro Comfort Inn (1259 Frontage Rd. NW) supposedly room 119, but this could change. I should be set up and open Friday afternoon (the 13th) until late (11PM or so) and then open Saturday from around 5PM until late once more.  

GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Ni-rich ataxite. Found 2009. Tkw = about 1600 kilograms.
Here are some generally larger pieces of this meteorite that created a crater in its fall around 5000 years ago. This event was likely witnessed by people, as debris from the impact partially cover a trade route through the area.  I had thought about not putting these on a mailed list again as I have already offered similar pieces in the not too distant past (though at a somewhat higher price). However, every time I put pieces of this out at shows, they tend to sell rapidly, so collectors seem to still be interested in pieces of this meteorite. Also, my first offerings were all quite small specimens. I am offering a few such here, but now is a chance to get a substantial sized piece of this interesting and increasingly famous meteorite. These are all natural shrapnel fragments. They have been air/ soda blasted to remove loose dirt but are otherwise left as found.
1) Shrapnel pieces:
a)  67.6 grams - 45mm x 28mm x 12mm - $50
b) 141.6 grams - 65mm x 26mm x 21mm - $105
c) 291.7 grams - 75mm x 50mm x 18mm - $210
d) 624.4 grams - 100mm x 55mm x 23mm - $440
e) 1158.3 grams - 80mm x 80mm x 30mm - $800
f) 1632.8 grams - 150mm x 70mm x 40mm - $1100

BUZZARD COULEE, Canada: (H4), S2, W0. Fell November 20, 2008. Tkw = over 41kg.
I picked up a small batch of nice little individuals at a show awhile back and then set them aside, kind of forgetting about them (they were so small and a small amount so I kind of ignored them). The fireball of this fall was witnessed across a huge area; Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Thankfully, all sky cameras and security cameras caught the fall. From these, and some eyewitness accounts, a likely fall area was calculated. Seven days after the fall, some meteorites were recovered on top of a frozen pond in the calculated fall area. Many more pieces have been found since. I am not sure when these particular pieces were recovered but they do seem to be very fresh. Some have some hints of dirt but otherwise show fresh black crust with only the tinniest hints of browning (if any). Nice little individuals.
1)       Complete individuals as found:
a) .46 grams - 8mm x 5mm x 5mm - $15
b) .83 grams - 8mm x 8mm x 6mm - $25
c) 1.23 grams - 13mm x 7mm x 6mm - $33
d) 1.60 grams - 15mm x 9mm x 7mm - $40

NWA (7002): Ordinary chondrite (LL6), S2, W2. Purchased September 2011. Tkw = 53 grams.
Here is a neat little fully published main mass of a somewhat rarer type priced well below what it would normally cost me to just get the thing classified! The exterior has the usual wind-polishing but still retains a somewhat sculpted meteorite shape (with the larger smoother side showing remnants of contraction cracks). The interior is quite fresh, showing fresh metal and sulfides (but not a lot – this is truly a low iron LL) in a brecciated light tan (almost orange) to light brown matrix.
                43.5 gram individual with end cut off – 30mm x 22mm x 33mm - sold

NWA (10063): Ordinary chondrite (L3), S3, W2. Found 2014. Tkw = 920 grams.
Well, here it is; my first NWA meteorite that is now one number longer. It seems the researchers skipped most (all?) of the NWA (9000) range and jumped right to 10K recently. This meteorite is one that Steve Arnold sent me a piece of to get my opinion on whether or not I thought it might be a type 3. I said it certainly LOOKED like one but I could not be absolutely certain. I have often been “burned” by type 4s that were supposed to be (and certainly looked like) type 3s and the seller of this was pricing it as a type 3. There was something like 3kg or so of this available originally. Buy the time we sorted out that this WAS indeed really a type 3 (and a fairly low one at that – something between 3.4 and 3.6) only 900g of this stuff was left to purchase. I got around 400 grams that I have cut up to offer here. This is quite fresh, showing LOTS of chondrules and fresh metal in a light gray to tan matrix. I do have some end pieces available as well. The weights on those are: 14.4g, 45.8g, 57.3g and are priced at $3.50/ grams.
1)       Slices:
a) 3.1 grams - 25mm x 16mm x 3mm - $13
b) 6.5 grams - 28mm x 25mm x 3mm - $26
c) 14.5 grams - 40mm x 30mm x 4mm - $55 – complete slice.
d) 36.1 grams - 55mm x 50mm x 4mm - $130 – complete slice
e) 53.7 grams - 65mm x 60mm x 4mm - $190 – complete slice. Has interesting 18mm x 10mm melt pocket/ inclusion. 

NWA (8160): Carbonaceous chondrite. (CV3). Found before September 2013. Tkw = 5.3 kilograms.
I got a 3.5kg or so sack of mostly small fragments of this at the Denver Show. I wish I could have gotten more and bigger pieces after cutting some of this though. It is quite nice inside. The background is fairly light gray, making the chondrules and the common, often quite large CAI’s show very nicely. This has some weathering to it, but this seems to have only made some of the chondrules turn various shades of orange giving this stuff even greater visual appeal.
1)       Cut fragments:
a) 2.3 grams - 17mm x 17mm x 5mm - $12
b) 5.1 grams - 23mm x 15mm x 6mm - $25
c) 11.1 grams - 25mm x 22mm x 10mm - $55
d) 15.4 grams - 40mm x 27mm x 8mm - $75
e) 20.5 grams - 42mm x 30mm x 8mm - $100
f) 25.0 grams - 43mm x 32mm x 8mm - $125
g) 33.7 grams - 43mm x 30mm x 18mm - $160

DHOFAR (836), Oman. Achondrite (Ureilite). Found August 15, 2000. Tkw = 995 grams.
I got this from Steve Arnold in Tucson after he paid some really stupid low price for it in an auction. Steve was worried that he might be selling me the “only easy to cut ureilite” he has ever had. He needn’t have worried. Though this stone is oddly labeled as “low shock, S1” in the bulletin, it was anything but easy to prepare. I trashed a half dozen or so blades and finished off the last of my diamond polishing belts in cutting and preparing this stuff. I finally won the battle, but it took many days of work to complete. This did turn out nice though. I didn’t put a high polish on it so the individual grains show clearly.
1)       Slices:
a) 1.1 grams - 15mm x 7mm x 3mm - $28
b) 2.2 grams - 18mm x 18mm x 3mm - $55
c) 3.0 grams - 25mm x 15mm x 3mm - $75
d) 5.0 grams - 28mm x 24mm x 3mm - $120
e) 8.1 grams - 35mm x 25mm x 4mm - $180
2)       End piece:
a) 16.3 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 18mm - $325
d) 6.8 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 5mm - $100
e) 12.8 grams - 45mm x 24mm x 6mm - $180 

IMPACTITE: Lake Wanapitei, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
I got these in Tucson over a year ago and then forgot I had them (they were tucked into a small padded envelope). These are mostly 20gram or so thick slices and cut fragments of  “Suevite” from the Lake Wanapitei crater. This crater is 5.2 miles in diameter and estimated to be 37.2 million years old. These pieces show varying amounts if clasts in a light greenish background. Most of these have not been highly polished (the material is too soft) but spray-coated to bring out the colors and features better, as a high polish would.
                20+ gram slice or end piece (state your preference) - $20

Please note:
 Shipping:  For small US orders $3 should still be fine for now. Larger orders are now $12 (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 $9 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Thankfully, it seems that the rate for registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is still around $12.

                I do have a new 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.