P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
LIST 279 - March 19, 2025
Dear Collectors,
Here is the third “after Tucson” offering. I will (likely) have a couple more at some point. However, thanks to various projects (trying to maybe pull together a larger “Spring” mailed/ e-mailed offering), possible trips (visiting the Denver Spring show next month) and more may keep me too busy to put out more of these e-mail offerings for a while (most of the remaining “new” items I brought back from Tucson are mine or belong to someone that is not in a hurry to have me return them so there is not the immediate need/ rush to offer them as some of the pieces I have already offered).
As last time, if you see something you want but need to wait for some $ to come in, let me know. I’d be happy to set things aside for you (I have permission from pretty much everyone these specimens are from to do that.).
CARICHIC, Mexico: (H5). Found 1983. Tkw = 17kg.
This has to be one of the last “new” meteorites Glenn Huss (American Meteorite Lab) offered. The find date is only a couple years earlier than when he closed/ retired. This piece is a nice complete slice. The catalog number painted on it (on the edge) is “H438.5” so it is one of the earlier pieces he traded or sold of this meteorite. I do see some records of pieces of this meteorite out there in an internet search, but not many (and didn’t find any for sale). The interior is pretty typical of a somewhat weathered H chondrite – a fair amount of (generally small) fresh metal flakes, some (but not a lot) chondrules in a mottled medium to dark brown matrix. The natural edge has the classic meteorite rounded “corners”. Much of it shows weathered fusion crust but some of it is old natural chipped (from the fall?) surfaces. This comes with its original American Meteorite Lab label.
302.8 gram complete slice – 120mm x 115mm x 7mm - $1800
DEAKIN (007), Australia: (H6). Found 1989. Tkw = 1.06kg.
I remember having some of this to sell myself years ago. Those piece came from the same place as this one: David New. For a few years, he had a good assortment of different Australian meteorites for sale. I bought specimens of all the different ones I could get for my “micro collection” and others in multiple pieces to sell (to, maybe, help pay for the ones I kept). This piece is an interesting complete slice. About 2/3 of the edge has the classic crusted meteorite shape. I don’t see actual crust on those areas though. If it is there, it is hidden under a light orange/tan layer of adhering material (dirt or caliche). The remaining areas of the edge are clearly areas where a piece has broken or chipped off (but very long ago. There are no recent looking broken/ chipped surfaces). The interior is, as to be expected with an older H find, a medium to dark brown. There are lots of metal grains (many somewhat oxidized to a quasi-metallic looking magnetite/ hematite) and, also to be expected for a Type 6, no real clear complete chondrules (some part chondrules though) visible. This comes with its (now likely 35 year old) original David New label.
74.8 gram complete slice – 85mm x 50mm x 5mm - $400
KUNYA-URGENCH, Turkmenistan: (H5). Fell June 20, 1998. Tkw = 1000kg.
The card that comes with this specimen says that Jim Schwade got this specimen from me back in June of 1999. It is apparent that he got this from my mailed offering sent out that month (I actually found a copy of it!). This piece represents the largest I had available (I had a “42.8g” piece on the list but I often have pieces similar to the pieces actually listed on those mailed lists and whomever asks first gets the largest piece in the size they asked for. I still do this today). On that list (now 25 years ago) I had this material priced at $4.50/ gram. I don’t have this piece priced much higher (I may change this if this does not sell on this offering as a quick check shows others pricing this material at closer to $15/g). To be honest, this is not a terribly pretty piece. It has a lot of rust on its surface. But then, I recall pretty much every piece I had of this did. I kind of wonder if someone, when offering to buy this material after the fall, made the mistake of offering to buy it strictly by the weight. That mistake was made with Juanchenge(which fell only a year earlier). The first pieces of that meteorite to come out were really nice (and also close to $10/g). Weeks/ months later, everything seemed to be rusty, surprisingly so soon after its fall (same as this). What I learned was the Chinese finders of Juanchenge were dropping the meteorites in buckets of water for days/ weeks. They may not look it, but stone meteorites are often quite porous. Let water sink into/ fill those pores and you get a substantially heavier meteorite that brings you more $ when you are being paid strictly by the gram (instead of adding in completeness, condition and such as part of the pricing equation). This does have a patch of fusion crust (about 30mm x 15mm) that clearly shows a thumb-printed texture. This comes with a Jim Schwade Meteorite Collection label.
43.2 gram fragment with crust – 40mm x 30mm x 15mm - $250
SARATOV, Russia: Ordinary chondrite (L4). Fell Sept. 6, 1918. Tkw = 328kg.
At one time, I had a pretty good pile of this meteorite, including pieces that were many kilos in size (this was like 25 or 30 years ago). Lately, I rarely see a piece or Saratov, large or small. This is an interesting meteorite. I have always liked it. Probably its most obvious feature is that it is quite friable (though not quite as bad as the Bjurbole, Finland meteorite). It is not hard to simply rub this thing and have chondrules start to fall out (the matrix turns to fine dirt if you do this). It is really common, when receiving a piece of this, to find at least a few chondrules that have managed to escape on their own in whatever box or bag the piece is received in. The Jim Schwade label that comes with this piece has the weight as 696 grams. My weight has it at 694.7 grams. So, only about a gram difference from when the card was made up (some years ago). Some of this MIGHT be humidity escaping the specimen (Illinois is far more humid than I am here. This meteorite is very porous and will absorb some moisture if left unprotected in a humid place) but I suspect that a good portion may be due to chondrules making a break for it (I know there were a few loose in the bag when I got it). Anyway, this is a really nice nearly fist-sized specimen that has a nice patch of fusion crust (about 55mm x 70mm in size) on one end. As mentioned above, this comes with its original Jim Schwade Collection label.
694.7 gram fragment – 100mm x 60mm x 55mm - $2100
SELMA, Alabama: Ordinary chondrite (H4). Found 1906. Tkw = 140.9kg.
This is another David New specimen. I did have some of this (smaller, much smaller) meteorite for sale years ago (and I seem to recall that all of those came from David New as well). This piece look like it might have been a museum collection specimen at some point. It has an old (looks like it has been there a long time) number painted on it in a very Nininger-like way – black numbers on a white (now cream colored due to age) rectangle. That number is “3856”. This piece is actually larger than those in some famous museum collections (and entirely missing in many others) and may be rare as such. This piece is an end piece that has part of the “bottom” cut off of it – so a “bookend”. Actually, it stands up perfectly as a bookend on its own. No display stand needed. The interior shows a lot of fine fresh metal grains in a medium to dark brown matrix. There are certainly lots of chondrules visible but you have to look a bit closer to see them. All of the exterior surfaces of this piece look to be old natural fractures. I don’t see anything that I’d feel confident in calling “weathered fusion crust” on it. Regardless, this a nice looking specimen of an older historic find that not a lot of has gotten out into the collecting world. This comes with its original David New label.
604.8 gram bookend – 120mm x 95mm x 30mm - $2400
TSAREV, Russia: Ordinary chondrite (L5). Found 1969.
Now I have had quite a bit of this meteorite in recent history. In fact, I know I have a number of slices remaining (just need to dig a little bit to find them). However, I don’t have the old David New label to go with any of those pieces. I thought that that this was a part slice, looking at it in its Riker. Nope, it is actually a cut end piece (an end piece that has two sides cut that makes it basically rectangular). The back side is original rounded natural weathered surface. What is more interesting is that the back side has a deep natural hole/ thumb-print that goes all the way through the piece. So, this specimen has a natural hole near one of the shorter ends. Interesting piece!
73.3 gram cut end piece – 65mm x 39mm x 10mm - $300
Shipping:
I will probably have to custom quote most of these. I can probably get the Kunya-Urgench in one of my standard jewelry box inside a padded envelope ($5 for “ground”). It and the Tsarev and Deakin pieces would fit just fine in a Priority small flat-rate box ($10). The other things (Carichic, Selma, Saratov) will require substantially larger packaging.
