P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
December 13, 2022 LIST 256
Dear Collectors:
I recently got done with the time consuming and tedious process of “Inventory”.
I have to pull everything out, open every box, weigh and record the items I still have in inventory at that time. I then make adjustments later – removing things that I managed to sell before the end of the year and adding things I end up buying before the end of the year.
Every time (each year) I end up with some items that I have little of (by weight or number of pieces). I like to offer these (generally at prices lower than earlier offerings) this time of year. A big part of this is if I can sell these items now, then I don’t have to have them as a “line item” in my inventory records carried over to next year. As you will see, these are “named” items (and may be more appealing to some of you as such) that I am trying to offer at “wholesale” prices in an effort to simplify my inventory records.
However, I will also say that you may consider contacting me if there was something on an earlier offering that you thought about getting. IF I still have it (and many things I do – or at least suitable replacements) let me know and I’ll see if I can’t give you a really nice Christmas- time price on it.
CALDWELL, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite L-impact melt. Found 1961. Tkw = 12.9 kilograms.
I remember Steve Arnold (Arkansas) and I tried for years to get this, or at least a piece of it. At the time, ANYTHING L-impact melt was quite in demand, rare and expensive (I think this was not far from when the Tucson Cat Mountain L impact melt that was bringing well north of $100/g). Not sure what changed, but, eventually, year after year of “NO!” turned into “YES”. So we (Steve and I – Steve mostly) finally got it. I did sell a fair amount of slices of this over the years (but certainly NOT for anything like Cat Mountain prices). All I have left are two part slices (they each have one straight cut edge). To be honest, this isn’t a really pretty meteorite - mostly mottled green and brown matrix with very little metal or distinct texture(s). The NWA (14930) L-melt I had on my last list is much prettier, but it is NOT a US named meteorite and this is priced very similarly!
1) Part slices:
a) 41.2 gram ½ slice – 80mm x 60mm x 3mm - $125
b) 63.5 gram ½ slice – 100mm x 70mm x 3mm - $190
CERRO MESA, Argentina. Ordinary chondrite (L6). Found 2006. Tkw = 10.5 kilograms.
Nope, don’t bother to try looking this one up. It is (far) more unofficial than “Ghadamis” listed below. I got a stack of ½ slices (they had one cut edge) probably back around 2008 or 2009. I was assured that it would show up as “official” not long after. Well, it has been more than 10 years and it ain’t official. I am done waiting. I have notes that say it is from Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia, Argentina. It was supposedly found by the same person that found the Gan Gan iron meteorite. My note also says “may have fallen in 1993”. I can actually believe that part. The interior is very fresh. Lots of metal, minor amounts of orange spotting in a light gray (nearly white, actually) matrix. The “natural” edge is nice dark fusion crust (there is a chipped spot of around 1cm and a spot of adhearing caliche) I have two pieces of this (a third got sent to a museum for display – yes this is nice enough example of a fresh L chondrite slice) but I am thinking I’ll keep the smaller of the two for possible display purposes myself. Kind of (actually more than that) a shame this never got properly reported. It is nice material.
239.5 gram ½ slice – 130mm x 95mm x 7mm - $200
GHADAMIS, Libya: Ordinary chondrite (L6). Fell August 26, 2018. Tkw = 100+ kilograms.
I know, I know. This is NOT officially called Ghadamis but rather something completely uninspiring like HaH (436) I believe. I also know that this is “officially” only a find. There was a large fireball in the area and a bunch of super, super fresh chondrite individuals (I have one in my collection and another on a museum loan and they are, by far, the freshest chondrite examples I have) were found in the expected fall area soon ater. The Nomenclature Committee has become quite hard-nosed about what they are willing to allow to be reported as a “fall”. With good reasons. In more recent years, there has been some monkey business that has happened with people taking fresh pieces of earlier falls, trying to tie them to a “big fireball event” and pass them off as new (and often very expensive) meteorites. Now, a piece has to practically hit someone (or something) to be officially recorded as a fall (a direct REPUTABLE witness MUST be available). This was not the case here. This material is (to anyone that knows anything about meteorites) a witnessed fall (even if no one was right under the drop zone of any of the stones during the fall). I got a few pieces of this when it first became available (back in Tucson of 2019). I cut one or two of the stones up to be able to offer smaller pieces to collectors that didn’t want (or couldn’t afford) the paperweight model of this material (I sold some of those really quick as well, actually). These 7 small part slices (weighing from 2.3g up to around 6g or so) are all I have left of this meteorite in inventory. Each of these has at least one edge (and often two) of nice, fresh black fusion crust. I am offering these at about ¼ the price I sold them for originally and likely LESS than I have into them (particularly after saw and sanding losses). I just don’t want to “carry over” a mere 31.9g into the new year’s inventory records.
7 slices with some edge crust on each from 2.3g to 6g+. 31.9g total - $45
NORTHBRANCH, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1972, Tkw = 76 kilograms.
This was found in 1972 but not officially recognized as a meteorite until 1997, when I bought it. This was among the largest (if not the largest) “out of the field” meteorites I ever got. To be honest, it sure was not a pretty thing but it IS a named, US meteorite. I have sold pieces of it over the years – generally not putting much of a spotlight on it (maybe a 20 or 30g slice in a riker in one of my display cases or a semi large slice on a stand on the back of a table at a show). Now I am down to just 3 “semi-large” pieces and an 84g bag of fragments and slices (mostly slices around an inch or so across in size – probably 4g to around 10g each). When I have had this material out at shows, I have had it priced around $1.50/g for large pieces (like 700 or 800g size) and $1.75 - $2.00/g on smaller stuff. Prices here are much lower.
1) Slices: all have “natural” (not cut) edges:
a) 58.8 grams – 80mm x 55mm x 5mm - $60
b) 146.9 grams - 120mm x 67mm x 6mm - $140
c) 432.9 grams – 180mm x 170mm x 5mm - $390
2) Selection of fragments and slices (great for resale) 84.5 grams - $80
TULIA (a), Texas. Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1917. Tkw = 78+ kilograms.
Now THIS is a REAL Tulia. I have mentioned in the past how pieces of Tulia and Dimmitt (both H chondrites) got mixed and scrambled (and, in reality, a piece of Dimmitt went through as Tulia – giving Tulia a H3/4 classification. Nope Tulia is a somewhat fresher H5). This (and the Dimmitt pieces I have had) came from the Monig collection. I did a little research on this recently and found that, apparently, this is a) one of Monigs earlier pieces and b) Glenn Huss recognized it as a Tulia and not a Dimmitt when he and his wife spent months cataloging and labeling pieces in the Monig Collection back in 1981. You see, I have always kind of thought that this was an item labeled as a Dimmitt that happened to be a Tulia. Nope, Glenn recognized it and put a Tulia catalog number (M12.27) on it. I don’t think there were all that many labeled Tulia specimens in the Monig collection and fewer still were ever “released”. I mentioned that this was likely a fairly early recovery specimen for Monig as it also has his (actually done by him) white (well, more yellow these days) “12AI” on a black background cataloging number as well. From the Monig collection catalog, I learned that this is a coded note that could tell him the farmer/ rancher he got the piece from and, hence, roughly its original recovery location. Also, this piece came to me glued (quite sloppy, to be honest). Apparently, Monig did this himself (he would glue pieces together to “complete” the specimen and not loose track of the individual pieces) when broken pieces that fit together were recovered. This piece consists of a larger natural looking chunk (that has the two catalog numbers) and a 87.3g cut fragment that fits onto this. The smaller piece’s rough/ natural side fits to the obvious old natural break on the large piece and has a roughly 55mm x 44mm cut and polished face that CLEARLY shows that this is indeed fully a Tulia (a) specimen (different color, less chondrules, more metal than Dimmitt). As the old glue had kind of given way, I cleaned up a lot of the loose flakes and chips of that (it looked pretty ratty/ shabby otherwise). However, there are still some traces of Monig’s glue job on each of the pieces. Not particularly pretty, but a scarce specimen that has some interesting history attached to it.
563.2g specimen in two pieces – 65mm x 55mm x 50mm - $800.
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.
