Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 274 - meteorites from Denver show and more 14OCT2024

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 274 - meteorites from Denver show and more 14OCT2024

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

LIST 273 - October 14, 2024


Dear Collectors

Here is an offering of some things I have picked up over time by buying a couple smallish collections. I had a few of these in Denver for the show, but they were in a corner of a display case that was not really in “center view”.  Also, I had few actual collectors visit the show this year, so people that would likely be interested in these kind of things simply did not show up in any real numbers. I had thought about holding these back for Tucson. Many of these would be ideal for my tall glass display case in Tucson (right next to the door). Some of these may yet end up there if they don’t sell before the show.

I do have more travels to do. Right now I am thinking one of those longer trips will be kind of near the end of this month. I am trying to pull together meeting with multiple people and, at times, that feels a bit like herding cats. So, until I have them all corralled (or as many as I am going to be able to) I will not know the exact dates (but it shouldn’t interfere with this offering).

There also is a pretty good chance that I will be gone all morning and part of the afternoon on Wednesday (the 16th) this week.

Click on image to enlarge.

ALLENDE, Mexico; Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a nice little, interesting end piece that some may consider to be somewhat “historic” (in addition to its actually being a piece of a historic fall). Just looking at the cut surface (in its little 2” x 2” display box) you can see that it is mostly the classic Allende texture. There is one obvious (but not terribly large) CAI in this. Using the filtered UV LED light I have I can see that this does fluoresce a bit (pinkish purple). However, the more interesting feature is the fine-grained inclusion at the top of the piece. It has a texture (though not the same really black color) of a CM2 meteorite. I have seen these things in Allendes over the years, but these inclusions are not terribly common. This comes with a meteoritelabels.com metal label. However, it is the other label/ “info” that comes with this that will likely make it interesting to many collectors. First, this comes with an ACTUAL original Robert Haag Allende label. This is NOT one of my rip-off copies that I have made and given away for nearly 40 years now (yes, Robert gave me permission to use some of his labels. Off hand, I can only think of Canyon Diablo as another one he gave me permission to copy). What is more interesting is that this comes the original Robert Haag sales invoice (showing the buyer paid $25 dollars for this piece back in January of 2004. Heck I think I was buying this from Robert for closer to $.35/g – but that WAS 40 plus years ago.
4.6 gram end piece – 28mm x 19mm x 8mm - $110

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona. Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1891.
This is a piece I picked up in Denver, like the Sikhote below, this came out of an old collection. Actually, I got several Canyon Diablos out of that collection but THIS is the winner. The other two were, putting it nicely, “genuine”. They were what they were but they were pretty un impressive in their size, shape and condition (they both required considerable work to get them in sellable condition and once there, I simply dropped them in my Canyon Diablo bucket). This is super nice specimen. Actually, one of the nicest I have seen in its size range. It has a great sculpted shape and is really solid (not rust scaling like the two it came with). This was purchased years ago from Alan Lang and comes with an Lang’s Fossils, R.A. Langhienrich Meteorites business card and one of his smaller Canyon Diablo paper labels.
438.4gram sculpted individual – 60mm x 60mm x 20mm - $825

MILLBILLILLIE, Australia. HED achondrite (eucrite). Fell October 1960. Tkw = about 330kg.
When this material first came out, it was the first true eucrite I had ever seen (well, one I could actually own anyway). There was quite a lot of it around. Now it is quite scarce. The only pieces I have seen recently are some larger individuals that Mike Martinez had to sell (and may still have some) in Tucson. I have had very little lately. This is a nice small end piece. It is the classic “salt and pepper” color texture that most Millbillillies were. There were some brecciated textured ones that we all got excited about when we first saw them but this texture is still my preferred one. The back side of this has great thick, heavily flow-lined fusion crust. Unfortunately, as with the vast majority of Millbillillies, that crust has been stained orange from the dirt it sat decades in before being picked up (I did learn a way to chemically remove this BUT that process left a white/ light gray film coating the crust that I never found a solvent or method to remove so I left all of my Millbillillies alone after that). This comes with a meteoritelabels.com metal label. I also have a printout of the page this collector originally chose this from (it seems he paid a touch over $107for it back in January of 2003).
5.3 gram end piece – 26mm x 18mm x 7mm - $120

PARK FOREST, Illinois: (L5). Fell March 26, 2003. Tkw = about 18kg.
Gads, has it really been that long since this fell? It seems like yesterday (well, maybe the day before) when everyone was so stirred up about this fall. I never have had many pieces of it (probably could count all I have handled on my fingers and toes and maybe have a few fingers and toes left over). This is a wonderful little oriented individual that, according to the hand written card the original owner made for it, was found by Steve Arnold’s daughter (in the S.E. part of the strewn field). This was found some time after the fall itself (there is a small brown oxidation spot on it – likely with a metal bleb right underneath). The owner’s notes say he “won it on E-Bay in May of 2003” so it this wasn’t out in nature for terribly long. This is a great little strongly oriented individual. The front dome has nice smooth almost shiny black crust. There is a nice ridge of bubbly/ frothy crust around the entire edge of the back side (surprisingly thick in some areas).Wish this could be blown up to hundreds of grams/ a kilo size, it would be a real show stopper. This comes with the above mentioned original owner’s written note and a Meteoritelables.com metal label.
.86g oriented individual – 10mm x 8mm x 5mm - $100 -- SOLD

SIKHOTE–ALIN, Russia. Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a piece I picked up while in Denver. It is a wonderful highly thumb-printed fusion crusted individual. It is mostly covered in nice, original fusion crust. There are some areas where minor rusting has damaged the surface a bit but the rest of it is perfectly original. This piece had not been messed with (dipped in acid, wire-brushed, gun blued…..) as oh so many crusted Sikhote-Alins have been. In Denver, I saw the Russians (the original sources of this material) were asking $6/g for their pieces. These pieces were just average size (10g to 50g or so) and average shape (mostly roundish). This is a great piece that was quite clearly not picked up long after the fall and came out of an old collection.
164.1g beautiful crusted individual – 60mm x 30mm x 15mm - $820 -- SOLD

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: HED achondrite (diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931.
This one kind of makes me think of Star Wars. I head the name ‘Tatahouine” there (the name of a planet in the movie – the dry dusty one I believe, similar in nature to where I live) looong before I ever heard of it as a meteorite. I have always thought this to be a weird/ interesting meteorite. IF I were to see a hunk of something like this on its own, I certainly wouldn’t think “meteorite” upon looking at it (I probably shouldn’t have said that publicly. Now every greedy crack pot that has stubbed his toe on a weird looking rock will take that to mean their river cobble/ slag, coal furnace clinker COULD be a meteorite). Strange blocky bright green crystals with dark veins through it does not look meteorite (though the dark veins do give it away a bit – as they are shock veins). I have not had many “large” pieces of this meteorite. By that, I mean pieces that are larger than a couple grams. This thing really blew itself apart (low in the atmosphere – low enough that only small traces of fusion crust can be found on any of this. One has to look really carefully to find this. This piece does have quite a few small (really small) fusion crust patches scattered about its surfaces. However one (pointed) end has a pretty nice patch of small fusion crust lines overlapping each other. These ARE rare in this kind of size (and once commanded well over $100/g because of that rarity). This comes with a meteoritelabels.com metal label as well as an ELKK Meteorites business card and label..
6.10 grams – 20mm x 15mm x 11mm - $250

ZAGAMI, Nigeria: Martian (Shergottite). Fell October 3, 1962. Tkw = 18kg.
I remember when Robert Haag was able to get his hands on a chunk (a big chunk) of this. Prior to that, owning a piece of Mars was an expensive proposition. I had a tiny crumb of Chassigny in a capsule that cost me $100 (1985 time frame maybe) and I was thrilled to have it. Robert brought out the Zagami at $100/g and we all bought (and bought, and bought) it. I upgraded to a bigger piece every chance I got (then, many years later, stupidly sold the piece. I think it might have helped me buy a piece of land or such so it wasn’t sold just to “turn into dollars”). This is a nice little rectangular slice that shows one clear thin shock vein. This came from Eric Twelker/ Meteorite Market (so you know you have no reason to doubt its authenticity). It comes with one of his (weight recorded) info card and a meteorite labels.com metal label.
.28gram part slice – 11mm x 5mm x 1.5mm - $300

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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 $17 for large things.

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). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).

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

List 233: Fresh from Costa Rica Aguas Zarcas and more

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

December 17, 2019

Dear collectors,

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

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

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

List 233
Click on Image to Enlarge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale -List 136 David New labeled material

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale -List 136 David New labeled material

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 136

April 13, 2013

Dear Collectors,

Here is a neat small collection of David New labeled material I picked up in Phoenix recently. All of these are nice specimens and come with a corresponding David New label. These are not in alphabetical or type order, just in order that they were in the plastic storage/ tackle box that they came in.

I know, this was supposed to go out Tuesday (the 16th) But I am, yet again, leaving town (I have been gone something like 7 weeks this year so far). I am going up to the Denver Spring Show next weekend. I will be leaving Thursday morning so waiting until Tuesday to send this out would have only left 2 days to take, pack and ship orders (on top of trying to prepare and pack for the trip). I don't set up at this show. It is the only one where I am not stuck permanently in a room. I get to wander around and visit/ work deals with the dealers that are set up. However, I will have a "sleeping room" at the hotel. So, if there is anybody out there that will be attending the show and wants me to bring anything in particular to see, please let me know so I can get it packed for the trip. I should get back home from this trip on Tuesday the 23rd.

MILLBILLILLIE, Australia: Achondroite (eucrite).
Here is another piece but this is a nice complete slice that has nice natural (uncleaned) crust completely around its edge. The interior is the bright salt and pepper texture of much of this material but does have a couple zones (one vein like) that are really fine grained.
14.4 gram complete slice – 37mm x 33mm x 5mm - $250

CAMEL DONGA, Australia: Achondrite (eucrite). Found 1984. Tkw = 30+ kilograms.
This is a complete individual. It is a later recovery as the crust is complete but no longer fully shiny but closer to 50% shiny and somewhat brown in areas. Early found pieces of this meteorite (in the late 80's) were often really nice with black shiny crust. This eucrite was unusual in that it has a high amount of native iron in it. It is probably this that caused this material to weather so rapidly (and does indicate that, as we suspected at the time, this fell very shortly before it was first "found").
14.7 gram individual – 28mm x 20mm x 17mm - $350

TENHAM, Australia: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Fell Spring 1879.
Not sure whether to call this a slice or an end piece. It was obviously cut off of a naturally broken end of a stone but there is a little bit of sanding flat spots on that natural broken surface. Regardless, this is a nice specimen and has complete fusion crust around its edge.
13.0 gram complete "slice" – 33mm x 25mm x 5mm - $100

HOLBROOK, Arizona: Ordinary chondrite (L/LL 6). Fell July 19, 1912.
The label on this has one minor error – it lists the fall year as 1915 (a "mint error" perhaps?). Any way this is a part slice that has two cut edges and the remainder is fusion crusted (about 50% of the edge is crusted). This has a little bit of wetahering to it, so it was not a real early recovery but nice none the less. It does have an interesting 4mm troilite nodule on the polished side. Wasn't sure how to price this one. More recent find individuals and fragments have generally been offered to me around $20 to $30/ gram.
14.4 gram part slice – 37mm x 28mm x 5mm - $400

HENBURY, Australia: Iron. Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1931.
This is a nice shaped little individual that has been wire brushed (rare for Henbury actually). It has a long sculpted shape resembling many of the Canyon Diablo rim specimens I have seen but still has some red dirt in a deeper spot clearly showing that this nice piece is indeed a Henbury.
38.2 gram elongate brushed individual – 65mm x 20mm x 10mm - $100

MOLDAVITE: Besednice locality.
It has been a long time since I have had a Besednice moldavite. This locality is famous for the deeply etched frilly shaped specimens found there. No other locality really quite matches the sculpting/ delicate shapes of the Besednice pieces. This is a nice complete specimen that is thin so it does not have as deep o etching as some I've seen (but it clearly shows beautiful green coloration even in a box). However, it does have a fairly delicate frilly edge.
2.5 gram complete specimen – 38mm x 15mm x 5mm - $75

WILUNA, Australia: Ordinary chondrite. (H5). Fell September 2, 1967. Tkw = 150+ kilograms.
This is basically a complete slice of a fragment that was found some time after the fall. It has brown fusion crust along 50% of the edge (remainder being natural break). The interior still shows lots of metal and chondrules in a mixed tan and brown matrix.
18.7 gram complete slice – 55mm x 25mm x 5mm - $150

ESQUEL, Argentina: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found before 1951. Tkw = 750 kilograms.
This is a fairly thick rectangular slice that I strongly suspect David got from Alan Lang as one side is unpolished. Some 25 years ago some of us dealers got some 5kg blocks of Esquel and this was how Alan prepared his pieces early on (we had little time to get things ready for the Tucson show, I barely got my pieces done in time). Regardless, this piece shows really pretty gemmy mostly green olivines. This could be cut into several thinner pieces, but then the matching New label would no longer match.
20.5 gram rectangular slice – 30mm x 20mm x 7mm - $500

GIBEON, Namibia: Iron. Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
This is a thick rectangular piece that has one natural edge. This is obviously a fairly old piece as the coating has yellowed quite a bit but has done a great job of keeping the piece rust free. One face is etched and shows a nice texture.
44.2 gram part slice – 30mm x 20mm x 9mm - $90