Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 276 12JAN2025

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 276  12JAN2025

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

LIST 276 - January 11, 2025

Dear Collectors

Happy New Year!

TUCSON SHOW INFO: I will be on the road from January 27th until around February 18th. For the show itself, I will be in my usual spot “Days Inn” (665 N. Freeway, Tucson) and I’ll be in my usual room - #134. I should be open by mid to late morning Friday January 31st. I will likely stay through the bitter end (unless security issues become a problem like they did in the “second week” of the Covid year’s April show) which would be February 15th. 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.



ALETAI, China: Medium octahedrite (IIIE-anom). Found 1898. Tkw = around 74 tons.
Here is find that may end up making Gibeon look small. Several multi-ton pieces have been found (including the 1898 28 ton Armanty meteorite – now recognized to be a piece of this material- that was the 4th largest meteorite known until recently). The strewn field is already recognized to be 430km in length! Apparently, the incoming meteoroid hit the atmosphere at a very shallow angle and skipped along the top of it, dropping meteorites as it went. This is nice looking material. It has a wonderful, vibrant etch. Some pieces have graphite inclusions, sulfides and even chromite. I have a few pieces that even have crystals of pyroxene or olivine (this is a detail my XRF will not sort out) as well. These are listed below. In Denver, I saw some sources of this asking around $5/g (and quoted me $3.50/g wholesale) on similarly prepared material (for the usual non-silicated pieces. I had no idea that pieces with olivine or pyroxene crystals existed until I saw these in my batch).
1) Etched part slices. Etched on both sides and spry coated.
a) 4.9 grams - 16mm x 15mm x 2mm - $16
b) 9.5 grams - 28mm x 17mm x 2mm - $30
c) 18.3 grams - 36mm x 25mm x 2mm - $55
d) 27.2 grams - 45mm x 30mm x 2mm - $80
e) 47.7 grams - 70mm x 42mm x 2mm - $140 – only one this size.
f) 82.3 grams - 95mm x 33mm x 3mm - $225 – only one this size.
2) Etched slices with some olivine/pyroxene in them:
a) 5.9 grams - 27mm x 13mm x 2mm - $35
b) 10.8 grams - 40mm x 14mm x 2mm - $60 - not the piece in the photo.
c) 22.1 grams - 40mm x 32mm x 2mm - $125
d) 31.4 grams - 51mm x 31mm x 2mm - $175



GOLD BASIN, Arizona: Ordinary chondrite (L4). Found Nov. 2005. Tkw = 127kg.
As promised on an earlier list, I did cut some of the pieces I got from the retired metal detector guy that called me right before I left for Tucson last January. This is a VERY old fall. Research suggests that this fell around 20,000 to 25,000 years ago. As such, this represents the oldest known strewn field known outside of Antarctica. Regardless, most of these are quite nice inside. They show still plenty of fresh metal, lots of chondrules in a pleasant mottled light tan and gray(almost blue, actually) matrix. I have a fair number of the smaller pieces but don’t have a lot of the “larger” ones (I have only ONE of the 131g size pieces) as not many “large” (several hundred grams and bigger) pieces of this were found.
1) End pieces:
a) 9.5 grams - 24mm x 22mm x 8mm - $15
b) 18.2 grams - 31mm x 23mm x 10mm - $27
c) 30.9 grams - 34mm x 27mm x 16mm - $45
d) 61.3 grams - 45mm x 35mm x 20mm - $85
e) 131.0 grams - 68mm x 59mm x 18mm - $170




SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron meteorite (Pallasite). Found 1967.
Well, I have no idea the total known weight of this meteorite, but it is a fairly large amount. I do know that there does not look to be any more of this coming out. Whoever has it, has it. I have talked with the folks that recovered this material and they told me “no more looking”. The expeditions to the recovery area are very difficult and expensive. After spending a couple $million
and finding only 100kg or so on the last two attempts it is NOT hard to see why they say “no more”. I got a good deal on these particular specimens and I suspect that these will be the last sub $10/g Seymchan Pallasite I will be able to offer. These pieces ARE all pallasite. However, the crystals in these tend to be larger, darker and in large, dense masses (very little metal in the areas where the olivine resides). The metal areas, likewise, seem to be concentrated. The plus of that (aside from the overall aesthetics) is that the metal areas do (for the most part, there are some exceptions) show nice etch structure (pallasites, in general, do not). I have had similar type pieces in the past and they do sell well. I’ll have these in Tucson but will probably have them priced a little higher than here. The “replacement” prices I am being offered on Seymchan pallasite of any type are getting quite high (my “better quality” pieces that I like to put in custom frames were now $18/g my cost in Denver this past September!).
1) Part slices. Iron areas etched both sides:
a) 10.8 grams - 22mm x 22mm x 4mm - $85
b) 17.0 grams - 37mm x 25mm x 4mm - $130
c) 27.0 grams - 37mm x 34mm x 5mm - $200
d) 37.9 grams - 60mm x 32mm x 4mm - $275
e) 104.7 grams - 70mm x 70mm x 4mm - $735 – only one this size.




NWA (14682): HED achondrite. (Eucrite, unbrecciated). Found before 2020. Tkw = 14kg.
Hated to break up the big slice I had of this good looking material. IF this material did not have some caliche along some edges and if the crust, where present, was less wind-polished, it would be VERY easy to mistake this meteorite as a piece of Millbillillie. Millbillillie was the first eucrite we collectors (back in the mid 1980’s) ever got to see and buy (and it was $20/g back then when it first came out!). This has exactly the equigranular light/ dark salt/ pepper texture that most all Millbillillie showed (and pieces of this that don’t have a natural edge could easily pass as Millbillillie – so keep these separate from any Millbillillie slices you might have). There were a few brecciated pieces of Millbillillie, but not many. We collectors got really excited by these pieces (and they did command a premium). Now, with NWA material, it is easy to see that the unbrecciated texture is far, far rarer. Personally, I really like this texture in a eucrite.
1) Part slices:
a) 5.2 grams - 29mm x 20mm x 3mm - $40
b) 10.3 grams - 45mm x 25mm x 3mm - $77
c) 20.5 grams - 65mm x 38mm x 3mm - $145
d) 42.1 grams - 75mm x 70mm x 3mm - $270
e) 89.6 grams - 130mm x 85mm x 3mm - $525




ATACAMAITE, Chile: Impact crater glass.
These are not actual tektites (though they were thought to be right after they were found) but more “processed” than most crater glasses (like Darwin Glass, Irghizites…). I have seen them referred to as “Tektoids”, close to tektite but just not quite. We do know that these ARE associated with a meteorite impact. These things have a high concentration of the impacting body mixed in them. I have seen listed ranges as from around 5% to 15% of their mass being from the impactor. From this large amount of impactor material we can see some pretty clear info on the ratios of Fe to Ni to Co. These ratios suggest that it was the impact of a type IIAB iron that formed these. Age dating suggests that they formed close to 8my ago. Even though these have been found over a large area (roughly 650sq km area) no evidence of a source crater has been found (and may have been destroyed/ buried by later volcanic action). These are typical rounded shape specimens. They are all a little larger than the typical .5g average for those that have been found so far.
Natural individuals as found:
a) .6+ grams – around 10mm x 7mm x 5mm in size - $10.00 each
b) 1.1+ grams – around 12mm x 11mm x 5mm in size - $13.00 each
c) 1.4+ grams – around 15mm x 10mm x 6mm in size - $15.00 each.

Shipping:
US Shipping: It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still. This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $18 for large things (things that need a medium flat-rate box).

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). I will, likely, need to custom quote even the “first class” jewelry box in a padded envelope none the less. Those used to be around $15 or $16. However, I seem to recall that such a package was quoted at closer to $35 going to France a couple months ago (that customer decided to go with the faster Priority).

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 271 - important Denver show info, a few "new" items

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

LIST 271 - April 21, 2024

Dear Collectors,
Once again, I had kind of thought about skipping this “Spring offering” this year. I have had a LOT of travel and yet quite a bit more to go. Also, I have been busy with all kinds of general things, enough so that I am quite behind on my cutting and polishing work. However, something quite big has come up that pretty much determined that I need to send out an offering to give me a chance to let as many people as I can, know about some “news” concerning the Denver fall show this year.

That “news” is that this year’s Denver Fall show will NOT be as things have been. It seems that the city of Aurora is buying the Crowne Plaza hotel and convention center and turning it into a “Homeless shelter”. We had contracts to have our show there supposedly through the September 2026 show. Unfortunately, when a city is involved, the city can simply tear-up any and all contracts and simply toss them in the trash (Denver did this to the Clarion folks a mere month before they were to have their September show last year – the reason those folks ended up in our parking lot. Lots of neat new things to look at/ buy but did crimp parking for us quite a bit).

I have gotten a little more information on this while I visited the Denver Spring show a couple days ago. That show WILL be the last mineral show to happen at the Crowne Plaza. The new venue appears to be at a Marriott way down south in the Denver Tec Center. Nicer area, but certainly NOT convenient for reaching the other shows. The address of this new show venue is: 4900 S. Syracuse St, Denver, CO.

As I alluded to in the mailed version of this list (which was produced, stuffed and mailed before I had this new information) the show will be shorter than it has in the past. Basically, because this new venue has already been rented for what would be the last weekend of our originally scheduled show we will arrive early and close up early. Our new scheduled open days will be Sept. 5th-9th.

I have been able to get a little info on where I’ll be in this new setup. It seems that I should end up with a smallish (but bigger than what I had at Crowne Plaza) meeting room that is pretty much right in the middle of the “main” ballrooms/ show floor area. I suspect that, as such, I likely WILL NOT be able to stay open much after official closing time here (as there will be many, many tables and displays set up on the open floor areas surrounding this meeting room. Pretty sure “security” issues are not going to let me have people hanging around my room while all those displays around me are unattended and protected only by table covers). We shall see.

Regardless of all the stresses and difficulties that this change will bring about for all of us, this particular situation will be ONLY for this year. It seems that while our show promoter was negotiating, preparing to sign contracts for multiple years for this new place, someone else came in and “offered more money” for the venue for the times we needed for all future years past this year. SO, we will be playing this “find a new, functional venue” game again next year (for the spring show, that venue will now be the Western show complex (think the fall “Coliseum” show here).



SEYMCHAN, Russia. Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1967.
Well, these are actually all etched iron portion of this meteorite. I got these in Tucson. I got them from someone who had just gotten them in a trade. They didn’t really fit my usual “specimen” style but they were bright and pretty (and sold well while I did have them on display at the show). The best part is that I got these in such a way that I can sell them cheaper than the sources for this stuff would charge (and cheaper than what I now need to get on my usual “specimen” slices of Seymchan). These are mostly kind of slices but some are also of a bit odd shape ( kind of end pieces and some are like triangles or pyramids). Regardless, all of these are really eye-catching bright silvery metallic. These have a really interesting deep etch but have somehow been processed to leave them with a super shiny bright look to them (usually, longer dips in etching acid makes the etch kind of dark and dingy). Not really “specimens” as far as a collector might generally think but really pretty and eye catching.
1) Cut end etched (all sides) pieces of various shapes:
a) 16.8 gram slice - 35mm x 10mm x 6mm - $50
b) 33.7 gram slice - 34mm x 22mm x 8mm - $100
c) 49.5 gram slice - 38mm x 18mm x 11mm - $140
d) 79.4 gram end piece - 32mm x 32mm x 16mm - $220




GOLD BASIN, Arizona: Ordinary chondrite (L4). Found November 1995. Tkw = about 127kg.
I got a call from a “retired” metal-detector guy literally the night before I was to leave for Tucson. He had lived in Arizona some 20/25 years earlier and had spent a LOT of time metal-detecting for gold (he and his wife, actually). It turns out, they were working the Gold Basin gold site before anyone really understood that many of the “hot rocks” they were digging up were
meteorites. Obviously, once he found out he and his wife made it a point to keep all of these “hot rocks” they found after that. Boy did they find “hot rocks” (and, apparently a fair amount of gold nuggets). They worked the area until about 20 years ago and left to live in Wyoming, taking their substantial bucket of Gold Basin “hot rocks” with them. Well, about 10 years ago, his wife fell into ill health (I am sorry to say) making it important to move out of Wyoming (I love Wyoming but it is a pretty harsh place at times. Hard on even fully healthy people). His wife is still alive (thankfully) but in poor enough health that he felt the need to sell off his Gold Basin “hot rocks” to help fund her care (he had already parted with the gold they’d found. Yep, I did ask). What I am offering here are whole pieces as found (well, I cleaned the dirt off of them). Most are basically complete individuals, though many have chipped edges and secondary crust areas. This material has been on the ground for nearly 25,000 years so don’t expect super fresh looking stones here. I do plan to cut some of these things open (part of the “lapidary work” I am behind on) and offer end pieces of this meteorite in the future (even though it is a really old fall, it still looks very nice inside).
1) Individuals as found:
a) 11.2 grams - 22mm x 20mm x 13mm - $12
b) 20.5 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 12mm - $21
c) 42.0 grams - 34mm x 25mm x 20mm - $40
d) 86.8 grams - 45mm x 40mm x 20mm - $80
e) 180.8 grams - 50mm x 40mm x 30mm - $160
f) 385.6 grams - 75mm x 62mm x 40mm - $325




DARWIN GLASS, Impact glass from 700ky old Mt Darwin, Tasmania crater.
Here are some really interesting pieces of this crater glass that usually only comes in clunky dark angular chunks. I traded for a pretty good bag of this material in Tucson. Yep, most of it was the usual blocky chunks. However, I found some really interesting obviously stretched, ropy pieces. You can almost see the action of this stuff forming while flying and twisting through the air in these pieces. ALL of these have that obvious stretching, taffy pull look to them and, better yet, each and every one of these has a natural hole or bridge (often several in a single piece). I didn’t find much of this type material in my lot so I don’t have a lot of these pieces (why I am putting them on this list – these spring offerings tend to be a bit less responded to and I would most likely run out of these things quickly on a Fall or January offering).
1) Natural, taffy-pull look pieces as found:
a) 1.7 grams - 20mm x 11mm x 8mm - $8
b) 3.5 grams - 17mm x 15mm x 13mm - $15
c) 6.8 grams - 35mm x 18mm x 12mm - $25
d) 9.7 grams - 33mm x 20mm x 15mm - $33 - not piece in group photo.



MOON / MARS NECKLACES:
Steve Arnold (of ‘Meteorite Men” not Chicago) left some of these with me in Tucson right before he left town for home. I immediately sold one but I still have enough to offer them here. Each of these is a metal disk (coin, basically) that is actually a “Map” (front and back) of each respective body (are textured and toned to match, somewhat, the actual textures and tones of the real parent body. Each piece has a couple mm or so slice of the actual parent body material epoxied to it. The Moon coins are 25mm diameter and are struck in .999 fine silver. The Mars ones are just over 30mm in diameter and are struck in copper (so their natural color matches the natural color of Mars quite nicely). Each of these comes with an 18” silver plate chain and are in a plastic gemstone display container. Each, of course, comes with a signed Steve Arnold C.O.A.
1) Moon rock slice on 25mm .999 silver coin - $90
2) Mars rock slice on 30mm copper coin - $90
3) One of each - $160

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

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

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale, List 205

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale, List 205

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                              
……………………………………………………LIST 205

June 6, 2017

Dear collectors,

Here is a second offering pulled from a batch of material I recently got from a collector who has decided to trim his collection a bit.

I am going to try something new with this offering. I have taken a group photo of the items on this list (plus the 190g Wolf Creek just because I mentioned it). I have arranged them in the photo alphabetically from left to right, top to bottom (the Bassikounou is the top left item, then the Chinese Tektites, etc.).

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale, List 205
(Click on Image to Enlarge)

BASSIKOUNOU, Mauritania: (H5). Fell October 16, 2006. Tkw = around 80 kilograms.
Wow! This little piece was obviously picked up right after the fall. It shows heavy, super fresh black primary crust with some hints of orientation (the presence of a “roll-over rim” around one side of the stone). The crust is complete except for one small (around 4mm x 2mm) late fall chip in one part of the roll-over rim that shows a bright white interior. Nice really fresh specimen of this fall.
13.6 gram fresh, complete individual – 25mm x 19mm x 17mm - $80

CHINESE TEKTITES:
Here are three specimens that are indeed quite different from each other in shape and textures. I’ll give a bit of description for each in their individual listings.
16.6 grams irregular. This is my smallest and weirdest shaped piece. I was one of the first people to have Chinese Tektites in the more “recent” times. A Chinese mineral dealer wanted to trade me equal weights of Chinese meteorites for US meteorites (this was back in the days I had lots of different weathered meteorites from Kansas, Texas and such). Of coarse I said “sure”. Next year, he brought a big 50 pound or so box of “meteorites” insisting that I trader him 100 pounds of US meteorites for them. Unfortunately, he had brought me a box of Chinses Tektites. We had some pretty heated discussions as to why I couldn’t give him equal weight of actual meteorites for tektites. Towards the end of the show (this happened in Tucson) we came to some kind of agreement where I ended up with the box of tektites. Not a bad thing. At that time, Chinese tektites were not available anywhere on the market. Another plus was that the things looked completely different than any other tektites on the market. They had really weird shapes, deep fine grooving/ etching texture (on one side anyway. Most, as this piece, had a slightly curved smooth side -  as if they were once part of a large smooth inside sphere that latter broke apart). One person commented that the things looked like some kind of strange “rubble”. Anyway, this is a piece from those days (possibly even that original batch as the previous owner got it from me). I do have some of these “original batch” pieces around here somewhere so if there are more people that want a similar piece to this one after it sells, I’ll try and dig them up and make them available.
16.6 grams irregular shape– 40mm x 25mm x 10mm - $5
b) 36.5gram quasi tear-drop. This one is a long stretched out piece that definitely narrows out towards the tail. It has a good amount of the typical fine deep grooving/ pitting typical for Chinese tektites.
36.5g grams quasi tear-drop – 75mm x 20mm x 15mm - $10
c) 110.9 gram tear drop/ hershey’s kiss. Now this one is really nice! It has a super shape. It is a cross between a tear drop and hershey’s kiss. Overall, it has the distinct tear-drop shape (nice long thin tail) but has a large head concentrated at one end (no gradual thinning on this one).  A really nice piece that I considered keeping myself.
110.9 gram tear-drop/ hershey’s kiss – 80mm x 40mm x 30mm - $50

GOLD BASIN, Arizona: (L4). Found 1995. Tkw = 125+ kilograms.
There were a lot of pieces of this meteorite recovered, but I don’t see many available today. This is supposedly one of (if not the) oldest known U.S. strewn fields – having possibly fallen 20 to 25 thousand years ago. Looking at this piece, you’d never guess that kind of age. This is a nice solid individual/ fragment that has a roughly 45mm x 20mm cut face that shows a nice, quite fresh, mottled gray and brown matrix with quite a lot of metal visible. The exterior is also fairly fresh. This shows several levels of crusting. The heaviest (primary) crust on the very back still shows flow lines. Another surface is completely crusted but has a less smooth, rounded texture so it is not fully developed as the “primary” crust. Two more faces look like they may be old fractured surfaces, though one does seem to show some smoothing so it might (actually both could be) be a very light tertiary crusted surface.
131.6 gram individual with polished face – 45mm x 30mm x 30mm - $130

IMPACTITE, Monturaqui crater, Chile.
Here are two pieces in one display container. One is a 7.2 gram complete piece that is natural as found. The other is a small (1.5 gram) cut fragment (cut face is about 15mm x 12mm) that shows the melted/ brecciated structure plus at least one clear nickel-iron bleb (a bit of the iron meteorite that formed the crater).
8.7 grams: two specimens. One natural, one cut - $15

PHILIPPINITE: Tektite from the Philippine Islands.
This is likely from the Rizal provence (making it a “Rizalite”). It shows lots of the wide/ deep grooves of tektites from this area. However, this one is a completely odd shape rather than the usual round specimens. There are some areas of “modern” chipping on one end, but the bulk of the specimen is natural ancient surfaces (so it is not merely from a weirdly broken originally round specimen). Interesting piece.
20.9 grams – 40mm x 25mm x 20mm - $20

SAHARA (98280): likely (L6).
Unfortunately, this one never got fully reported. That is kind of a shame as this is actually a really nice specimen. It is quite fresh. The exterior shows nice dark (all be it a little dirty in spots) gray/ chocolate brown fusion crust (with only light wind-polishing). The interior has a great breccia structure showing light brown angular to somewhat rounded clasts (of all sizes up to around 1 centimeter or so) surrounded by black shock veins/ melt material. I sold a couple similar (but NWA) end pieces in Tucson for closer to $2/g.
53.8 gram end piece – 40mm x 25mm x 20mm - $60

WOLF CREEK, Australia: Found 1947.
Shale balls (oxidized iron meteorite) and fragments is about the only thing you will ever see from this crater. I think only a kilogram or so of fresh metal was found. This is a nice little basically complete shale ball as found. This was originally bought from me years ago. I have not had a lot of pieces of Wolf Creek over the years but far fewer small piece like this that weren’t just angular fragments that came from a larger ball that got broken apart. A quick check shows that I offered some larger similar pieces on a list a little over a year ago. Further checking shows that I have only one specimen remaining from that offering (a 190g complete shale ball for $200). This is a nice little piece for someone that wants a small yet still rounded complete shale ball.
25.5 gram shale ball as found – 30mm x 25mm x 15mm - $40

Baline Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 164 Novak Collection Pt.2

Baline Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 164 Novak Collection Pt.2

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………….LIST 164
December 2, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is another selection of items from the Novak collection.

BRENHAM, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1882.
Here is a ¼ slice that I sold Mr. Novak some years ago. It is a piece that was cut from the 351 pound piece that was found on a hill. The slices I have had from this piece (which were properly prepared by Marlin Cilz using no water) have been very stable. This one supports that. I have done nothing to it and it looks great! This has 2 cut edges and one long natural edge.
83.1 gram part slice – 55mm x 50mm x 6mm - $290

CAMPO del CIELO, Argentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1576.
This is a lightly etched end piece. The interior shows some light staining (most likely from someone as lousy at as me trying to etch the thing and failing to neutralize the acid completely when done). There is some minor small rust spots around the edges but this is nice overall. The back is fully natural in shape but has been wire-brushed. A nice hand specimen that would be great for a pass-around display piece.
359.1 gram end piece – 90mm x 45mm x 20mm - $70

CHINGA, Russia: Ataxite, Ni-rich (ungrouped). Found 1913.
This is a nice complete individual. It has been somewhat wire-brushed but still retains (mostly0 a nice dark brown patina. This has the usual somewhat flattened “lensoidal” shape that most of the meteorites found from this fall have. A nice clean and solid individual.
908. 5 gram individual – 100mm x 60mm x 30mm - $550

DRONINO, Russia: Ataxite Ni-poor (ungrouped). Found July 2000. Tkw = around 3000 kilograms.
This piece was somewhat surprising. I would expect a slice of this common to rust meteorite completely fall apart. However, this actually in really great shape when I got it. There was a little bit of rusting around the edges (this is a complete slice) but that was it! I am not sure what this was coated with originally. It seemed like some kind of wax – kind of sticky/ slimy. I stripped it of and re-coated the thing. This shows bright polished metal on one side and deeply etched (only bringing out a granular texture) on the other. Both sides show lots of the elongate sulphide inclusions common in this meteorite.
132.0 gram complete slice – 130mm x 30mm x 4mm - $130

GOLD BASIN, Arizona: (L4). Found November 1995. Tkw = over 127 kilograms.
Here are three pieces Gordon had in his collection. The smallest is an end piece and still shows a nice fresh interior. The smaller fragment does appear to be just a fragment (no real crust that I can see) but is all original old surfaces (no fresh breaks), The 238g piece is quite nice. The exterior is all old natural. Much of it is old secondary or fractured surfaces but the top (nearly 50% of the stone) still shows obvious fusion crust.
a) 28.7 gram end piece – 30mm x 30mm x 15mm - $35
b) 39.7 gram fragment (all natural) – 37mm x 35mm x 13mm - $50
c) 238.5 gram individual – 70mm x 55mm x 40mm - $235
d) a large one I had from earlier at a much lower price; 1483 gram individual/ fragment as found - $1100.00. This is the largest I have ever had and is likely close to the largest ever found. The largest reported in the Bulletin is 1520 grams.

NANTAN, China: Medium octahedrite (IAB). Found 1958.
This came with no label. Looking it over though, its colors, surface features and the shiny in areas (like it has been coated with lacquer at one time) tell me it is a Nantan. This surprises me a bit as this piece is quite solid and only needed the lightest of wire-brushing to bring it to top form. It is rare, but there are indeed stable pieces of Nantan that are not just oxide. This appears to be one of them. It may have some oxides yet in some of the deeper recesses (where a wire brush won’t reach) but it is actual iron overall. This is a nice hand specimen and could easily be mistaken for a Canyon Diablo or such.
676 gram iron individual – 70mm x 70mm x 40mm - $100

SHIROKOVSKY, Russia: Fake pallasite.
I vividly remember when this stuff acme out. I lost quite a bit of money on it (as many of us did). It first appeared priced at around $50/g. I did not buy any – too expensive. I was also hesitant as the metal had a man-made granular look to it to me. Regardless, I ended up taking some to sell on consignment (after I was shown the “official” research reports that clearly said this was indeed a meteorite). Dumb. I ended up refunding everybody’s money (and only got partial refund from the seller). None the less, most collectors LIKE being able to have/ show a good counterfeit, as long as they know/ pay for what they are really getting. Once we figured out that this was fake, I tried to get the folks handling this to make/ prepare more of it in mostly thicker slices for cabechons/ lapidary material (I am sure it would sell well, if priced for what it IS not as a “rare” meteorite). No luck there, unfortunately. This is (was) a super thin 4 gram slice. It was already broken when I got the collection in Denver, but I have managed to finish the job in bringing all of this stuff home (should have put it in its own box). Anyway, it is a bag of small (one up to 2cm x 3cm) slices that would be great for the micro seller. These come with 3 different cards; one info card, one hand-written label and the card, apparently, of the original seller.
4.0 grams of slices - $20

TOLUCA, Mexico: Coarse octahedrite. Found 1776.
This one was needing some work when I got it. I went to knocking off the obvious loose fragments and then started to wire-brush the piece. Thankfully I was paying attention. As a rolled the thing over I noticed that I came fairly close to removing a museum number that I had not noticed on my initial inspection of the piece. It turns out that this specimen is a Monig piece! It has a very clear M8.33 painted on it (this likely would have been put on this piece buy Glenn and Margaret Huss when they cataloged the Monig collection. This, unfortunately, does not have a matching Monig label. It does have a Mark Bostic Collection label though. This has the weight as 482 grams, so it seems I only lost a couple grams in cleaning this piece.
479.9 gram Monig labeled individual – 90mm x 45mm x 35mm - $400

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 149, more after Tucson things 04MAR2014

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 149, more after Tucson things

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 149
March 4, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is another “after Tucson” list. I’ll probably have a couple more but the one that should go out later this month (on the 18th I believe) may be off in its timing as I may be out of town for a bit around that time.

BROWNFIELD (1937), Texas: (H3.7) found 1937. Tkw = about 47 kilograms.
Here is a cut fragment I sold to a collector many years ago. There are two cut faces that both show lots of chondrules and some metal in a light to medium brown matrix. The natural portion of this specimen is roughly equally divided between old natural break and fusion crust.
36.9 gram cut fragment – 48mm x 25mm x 18mm - $250

DHOFAR (1286), Oman: (Eucrite), polymict breccia. Found December 2005. Tkw = 848 grams.
Two pieces that fit together were found about 30 meters apart. This meteorite contains clasts/ fragments of various compositions and colors – making it look very much like a howardite. However, this lacked enough pyroxene to be classified as a howardite. I recently sold out of what I had of this meteorite (and tossed out the remaining info cards) but then picked up a few more pieces in Tucson (and re-made new cards).
a) 2.0 gram slice – 20mm x 17mm x 2.5mm - $25
b) 4.2 gram slice – 42mm x 20mm x 2mm - $50
c) 6.8 gram slice – 35mm x 25mm x 3mm - $75
d) 20.2 gram end piece – 40mm x 20mm x 16mm - $200

FUKANG, China: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 2000. Tkw = 1003 kilograms.
Here is a square cut slice of this beautiful pallasite. This meteorite probably has the largest, on average, olivine crystals of any pallasite. I tell people that you pretty much need a rodeo belt-buckle sized piece of this meteorite to begin to see its texture. Thankfully, this is pretty much what I have here. The crystals, with the exception of a couple on one side, all pass light, making this a nice natural “stained glass window”. This is a piece that came uncoated from Germany. I have coated it but have left the few minor rust spots alone as I have not figured out how to regain the mirror polish after sanding these meteorites.
100.5 gram slice – 90mm x 89mm x 2mm - $1300

GOLD BASIN, Arizona: (L4). Found November 24, 1995. Tkw = about 127 kilograms.
This is the stuff that many found discarded as simple “hot rocks” by people metal detecting for gold in the area. A new gold rush into the area was started once it was found that these “hot rocks” were often meteorites. I have two as found specimens. The smaller is a blocky piece that might cut fairly well but is nice the way it is. The larger is the largest, by far, Gold Basin piece I have had. It is, at best, half of the original stone so this was a real monster when it fell some 20-25 thousand years ago (I think this strewn field is still reported as the oldest chondrite fall outside of Antarctica). Both pieces show areas of natural breaks as well as clear weathered fusion crust (typical Gold Basin material in other words).
a) 350.8 gram individual/ fragment as found – 80mm x 50mm x 40mm - $435
b) 1483.3 gram fragment/ individual as found – 150mm x 120mm x 50mm - $1500

NWA (845): (R4), W1. Found March 5, 2011. Tkw = 36+ grams.
The total known on this must be wrong. 36 grams is listed but I got a bit over 40 grams of nice thin slices from a German fossil dealer in Tucson. This meteorite appears to have a known find location (the info given with it has coordinates, which are also reported in the Meteoritical Bulletin) but still ended up being called just an NWA. None the less, these are nice thin slices that show lots of chondrules in a nice medium brown (with hints of orange) matrix. Some of these (the part slices) have one cut edge.
a) .61 gram part slice – 16mm x 9mm x 1mm - $12
b) .94 gram part slice – 27mm x 11mm x 1mm - $19
c) 2.1 gram slice – 28mm x 22mm x 1mm - $40
d) 3.6 gram slice – 36mm x 26mm x 1mm - $67
e) 8.1 gram part slice – 40mm x 30mm x 2mm - $150

NWA (853): Achondrite (Ureilite). Found March 2001. Tkw = 720 grams.
I thought about keeping this one (and may yet do so). It is a rectangular blocky piece that shows 3 cut faces. However, the majority of the natural uncut part clearly shows distinct fusion crust (covering around 40% or so of the specimen). I don’t recall having a ureilite before that showed much of any crust let alone distinct heavy black crust. Interesting and no doubt fairly rare. Grab it before I change my mind.
131.8 gram cut fragment – 50mm x 35mm x 30mm - $2000

PORTALES VALLEY, New Mexico: (H6). Fell June 13, 1998. Tkw = 71.4 kilograms.
This is easily the weirdest “H6” I have ever seen. Even the “chondritic” portion looks strange. It does not seem to show any chondrules and has a crystalline texture, fine metal grains and some large metal veins, making it look almost identical to the Fortuna Winonaite I offered earlier. I thought this was “reclassified” into some kind of “achondritic metallic melt breccia” but the Meteoritical Bulletin does not seem to mention anything about this. Anyway, this is a nice partial slice that is mostly silicates but does show quite a lot of metal veins running through it. This has two labels with it; one from the Jake Pelletier Collection and one (with a picture of the specimen) from Robert Woolard. This is supposed to be a 42.8 gram specimen but a small (.2g or so) piece has broken off of one corner at some point (this piece is still with the specimen in its membrane box). There are two cut edges (making up 40% or so of the edge) but the majority is natural and shows some fusion crust.
42.6 gram part slice – 100mm x 68mm x 2mm - $1500

Blaine Reed Meteorites- List 142. More interesting small rarities

Blaine Reed Meteorites- List 142. More interesting small rarities

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 143

October 22, 2013

Dear Collectors,

Here is my second “after Denver list”. Much like the last one, this is mostly small, inexpensive (from an overall price stand point not necessarily from a price per gram view though) but interesting things offering. Some of these things are meteorites that I am certain I have never had pieces of before.

BURSA, India: (L6). Fell 1946. Tkw = 25 kilograms.
I am quite certain that this is a meteorite that I have not had a piece of before. I am not certain that I have ever had a meteorite from Turkey before. As much of the things on this list, these are small fragments. Unlike many of the other pieces listed though, the plastic research vial contains the lot of smaller pieces in this case. Part of this is because there was no real stand out pieces size wise but part of it was that most of these small pieces show nice patches of fusion crust (not the case with the larger but single piece specimens).
a) .04 gram fragment in a capsule - $12
b) .075 gram fragment in a capsule - $20
c) .133 grams fragments (most showing crust) in plastic vial - $40

DHURMSALA, India: (LL6). Fell July 14, 1860. Tkw = 149.4 kilograms.
This is a batch of fragments (up to 4 or 5mm in size) in a lidded research vial labeled “Dhurmsala #41a chips”.
.28 grams o fragments in vial - $40

ERGHEO, Somalia: (L5). Fell July 1, 1889. Tkw = 20 kilograms.
This might be one of the ones that I have never offered a piece of before. However, I think I had a piece of this in my micro collection that I sold privately years ago (helped pay or the land I am living on now I think). These are a mix of capsules of fragments, capsules that have only one fragment and the plastic research vial (that is labeled “Ergheo $45a chips” that contains a single (the largest) fragment I had in this batch.
a) .055 gram fragment in capsule - $10
b) .10 gram of fragments in capsule - $20
c) .152 gram fragment in plastic lidded vial - $30

GOLD BASIN, Arizona: (L4). Found 1995. Tkw = about 200 kilograms.
This is a neat little specimen I won at the COMETS auction during the Denver Show. I think this was the first of the specimens being sold with the proceeds going to the club. They put on one heck of an event with great food, beer and fun. To support them, I bid on this. It didn’t cost a lot but I was more than thrilled to help out the club. This piece is interesting in that it comes in its original University of Arizona labeled bag (they were doing research on this material when it started showing up). The bag is labeled with a bright (almost neon) orange label that has “UA 1016, D. Hill” on it. The piece is only 1.8 grams. It is an angular fragment but still has one side (15mm x 6mm) that is obviously old weathered crust.
1.80 gram natural fragment – 16mm x 7mm x 6mm - $10

KUNASHAK, Russia: (L6). Fell June 11, 1949. Tkw = 200+ kilograms.
I still have a slice or two of this that I offered on an earlier list. This however is a batch of fragments (up to 6 or 7mm sized) in a lidded vial that is labeled “Kunashak #741 chips.
1.0 gram of fragments in lidded research vial - $15

NULLES, Spain: (H6). Fell November 5, 1851. Tkw = 8.85 kilograms.
This is one I am certain I have never had before. Not even in my own collection. These are all single fragments in either a capsule or (the largest) a plastic lidded vial. The vial is labeled “Nulles #783 chips”.
a) .16 gram fragment in capsule - $30
b) .26 gram fragment in plastic vial - $50

ORGUIEL, France: Carbonaceous chondrite (CI1). Fell May 14, 1864. Tkw = 10.5+ kilograms.
This is a batch of fragments in a capsule that is in a membrane box. It looks to be that about 2/3 of the weight is in one fragment that is roughly 8mm x 5mm x 4mm.
.25 grams of fragments in capsule in membrane box - $300

SANTA ROSALIA, Mexico: (Pallasite). Found 1950. Tkw = 1631 grams.
Personally, I think this is, perhaps, the rarest most interesting thing on this list. It is not a fall (so there will be a large segment of the collecting community that will have no interest in it) BUT it is a PALLASITE! And not just any pallasite, but one that is probably nearly impossible to acquire (really low total known weight). I think next to falls (perhaps even exceeding falls) pallasites are the most important collection focus (they are generally beautiful and truly rare). I know I have never had any pieces of this one. Two of these pieces have at least some visible olivine and two are “just” metal fragments (though they may show pockets where there was olivine). The largest is in a pill vial labeled “Santa Rosalia 599.1”.
a) .18 gram cut fragment with some olivine in a capsule – 7mm x 4mm x 2mm - $40
b) .37 gram cut metal fragment – 14mm x 5mm x 2mm - $40
c) .72 gram cut metal fragment – 10mm x 8mm x 2mm - $80
d) .54 gram cut fragment with obvious olivine – 14mm x 4mm x 3mm - $150

SARATOV, Russia: (L4). Fell September 6, 1918. Tkw = 328 kilograms.
This is another lidded plastic research style vial that is nearly full of fragments, dust and chondrules. The vial is labeled “Saratov #740 chips”.
1.5 grams of fragments in vial - $10