P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
LIST 26 - June 26, 2023
Dear Collectors,
Here is an assortment of things I picked up as part of a large collection (like 9 beer flats full) I bought several years ago. Most of the pieces in that collection were very small/ cheap items (like .1 or .2g $5 or $10 kind of items). I sold most of it off as one large lot to someone wanting the pieces for a retail store. These pieces represent some of the pieces I decided to hang onto for sale at my shows or E-mail offerings like this. I did not offer any of these things earlier as I had quite simply misplaced them. I had looked for them off and on over the past few months (but not real intensely), while nice, these aren’t really “new” items. They are all things I have offered at some point in the past (the shatter cone being the only exception). While looking for something else (a Lunar Gabbro slice) that turned out to quite elusive in my inventory, I discovered the bag that had these (and other) specimens in it in the completely wrong box (with “consignment” items). Not sure how/why it ended up there (likely “cleaning up” in too big a hurry at some point) but, thankfully, I have them out and ready for sale now.
Now this is going to seem a bit strange but, for this offering, I am going to reduce the price of items 5% for folks that are willing to pay with a credit card. Nope, this is certainly NOT normal for me. I usually prefer a simply mailed check (slower but no fees), The reason for this is I am setting up a new credit card processing system (one that has chip reader, tap pay – things that will really only be useful at shows) and I really need to test it a bit before I completely shut down and destroy my old (like 25 years old) machine and processing system. I am hoping to get this new machine/ system tested a bit in the next few days and (assuming it works well for me) shut down and cancel the old system before those folks hit me with a stupid high amount of fees for July (they DRASTICALLY increased their fee structure for me back in January. Now something like $130 a month in fees BEFORE I run a charge (more fees added as soon as I do). I wanted to dump them (and the old machine) ASAP then BUT I didn’t dare risk it as I needed something I could fully trust for the Tucson show (I got this new one in a “slow” sales period so I can play with and test it plenty to iron out any problems before the next show). So, if you want something off of this offering please do consider using a card (5% discount) for this. This will not be repeated unless I find further issues that need to be ironed out (with any “upgrades” needing further testing).
A further note: I have a couple things that I forgot I need to do today. Each will have me "out of the house" for half an hour to an hour maybe. I will honor reservation requests (should there be any) made while i am gone (by phone or E-Mail in the order I receive them (yep, both the e-mail and phone message system have time stamps on them).
IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1822.
This is actually kind of a cool specimen. It is one quite large olivine crystal that obviously popped out of a slice at some point. This crystal is quite gemmy and probably could have a couple nice (but not large) gemstones cut from it. This is (appropriately) in a gemstone holder and comes with a Moritz Karl label.
.33gram olivine crystal – 12mm x 9mm x 1.5mm - $25
JUANCHENGE, China: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell Feb. 15, 1997. Tkw = 100kg.
Like the Murchison below, if I knew had this, I could have sold this several times over by now. I remember when this first came out (Denver show 1997). It was not particularly cheap ($10/g or so I seem to recall). However, it was not long before far more material showed up than buyers who were willing to pay those kinds of prices. Of course, the prices dropped (to around $1/g or so at one point!). However, another “issue” turned up as well. Pieces of this “new” meteorite were showing up looking far more rusty/ weathered than they should have been for something that had just fallen a month or three earlier. It turns out that someone had offered to buy these things from the finders “By Weight” (as we pretty much all do in this biz/ hobby). Well, the folks in China realized that these things are quite porous. As such, they can absorb a surprising amount of water. Water adds weight. So, soak your rocks in a bucket of water for a day or two and you get more money for the same rocks! Maybe good for the finder/ seller but not so much for the specimen. This piece is basically a complete individual. It has something around 80% or so thick primary crust and the remainder being late atmospheric breaks with thin secondary crust. Though this piece is not terribly rusted, I do think it was a piece that was one of the “enhanced weight” pieces. Nice pieces of this meteorite bring some pretty good money these days (Chinese collectors want them back) – equal to or more than what the original first available pieces brought. I am offering this piece for around half of that. Not a bad piece, just not as nice and fresh as some (but has a story to tell).
40.7 gram complete individual – 30mm x 25mm x 20mm - $200
LIBYAN DESERT GLASS:
I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with this specimen. I had thought about simply tossing it in with my other Libyan glass pieces but this one is not the same style. Most of my usual pieces are kind of mid to higher grade – more clarity (but substantially higher price). This one is quite “foggy” - has lots of internal air bubbles, many filled with milky white cristobalite (high temp/ high pressure form of quartz). This is a complete natural fragment. Nothing real exciting, just a nice sample in a style (somewhat milky) that is, generally, the easiest (and cheapest) to find. This comes with a Michael Farmer Meteorites label.
25.2 gram natural fragment – 45mm x 30mm x 20mm - $20
MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell Sept. 28, 1969.
If I had remembered I had this (and could have found it) I would have sold this particular piece several times over by now. This is a single solid piece (the Murchison I offered on my last “mailed” catalog were fragments in a capsule). It is really a small slice but it looks more like a cut fragment (one “cut” side is quite small). This is in a gemstone holder and comes with a “Mr. Meteorite” label.
.13gram slice – 8mm x 3mm x 3mm - $80
NWA (8160): Carbonaceous chondrite. (CV3). Found 2013. Tkw = 5.3kg.
The biggest specimen here was probably the most valuable item in the entire 9 beer flat lot. This is the same material that I have been putting out at shows the past few years as my “CV3” material. I got a fair amount of moderate sized pieces of this some years ago. I have cut what pieces I could and have been offering end pieces of this since. This is somewhat weathered material, but not bad. If anything, the weathering has enhanced the appearance of the material. It was turned some of the (very obvious) chondrules shades of orange/ brown, making them really stand out. These all show a really classic CV3 texture (chondrules, CAIs.in a medium to dark gray matrix) and are priced below what I have on them when I put them out at shows (these pieces cost me less). If these don’t sell from this offering, they will be out for sale in Denver this fall.
a) 7.1 gram slice – 25mm x 14mm x 10mm - $35
b) 11.0 gram slice – 40mm x 32mm x 6mm - $55
c) 116.2 gram end piece – 70mm x 30mm x 35mm - $550
RICHFIELD, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (LL3.7). Found 1983. Tkw = 41kg.
I once had the entire mass of this meteorite. I have long since cut it up and sold it off. I think, right now, I only have a few tens of grams of it remaining in inventory. This sample came from me originally but has had more work done on it. When I had this meteorite cut up, I did not have the classification work finished on it. The part I had cut off myself (for research/ classification work) did not look like this was anything important. This was because, it turned out, this meteorite has a lot of solar-wind implanted gasses (this was sitting on the surface of its parent body for a considerable amount of time). These implanted gasses have darkened some areas of the meteorites to the point that it hides the chondrules, making those areas look like a type 5 at best. As such, thinking I had a big L5 on my hands, I had it cut as I would any common stone meteorite at the time (around 5 or 6mm thick). Now I have cut some of those thicker pieces in two, making them closer to 2.5mm thick. This piece looks like it was probably cut using a wire saw (which, with the right operator, could probably cut one of my original thick slices into three or four thinner ones). This piece is sub 1mm in thickness. As such, it does not have a lot of weight but does have a really good surface area. Better yet, though this piece does show some solar wind gas darkening in spots, it shows lots of chondrules (including one really light tan one that is 5mm or so in diameter) – looking more like the type 3 it is.
2.7 gram slice – 36mm x 35mm x 1mm - $45
Keurusselka, Finland, SHATTER CONE Can’t saw that I have ever had (or even seen) a shatter cone from this locality. The ancient impact is, apparently, the large of 12 known in Finland. It is also, at 1.15 billion years old, one of the very oldest known. It is not known how big the original crater was as much of it has long since eroded away (not surprising, given its age) but it is guessed to have been somewhere between 14km and 36km in diameter (NOT something you would to have been in the area to see forming). This is a dark “granitoid” rock (looks like a typical granite but with a lot more dark minerals). It is fairly coarse-grained but yet still shows the shattercone structure quite well. This rock is also quite ancient – forming around 1.88 billion years ago. It doesn’t have a label with it but is easily identifiable as it has “KEURAUSSE/LKA” written in black paint (on a white paint background) on one end.
254.0 grams – 160mm x 75mm x 20mm - $40
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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 $5. 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 $9 to $16 (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 $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). 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.
