Blaine Reed Meteorites List 139 - Summer Meteorite Bargains

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
LIST 139

July 16, 2013

Dear Collectors,

Here is a second "summer bargains" list.

DAR al GANI (476), Libya: Martian Shergottite, olivine phyric. Found 1998. Tkw = 2015 grams,
This is a small ½ end piece where most of the back is the natural (mostly caliche covered) exterior. There is one edge that looks to be a fresh break so I think that this was a larger end piece that some one broke in half at some point. The interior is the usual dark olivine clasts in a green matrix.
.73 gram end piece - 12mm x 8mm x 5mm - $350

NWA (2907): Anomalous achondrite. Found 2005. Tkw = 203 grams.
Not sure why the bulletin says that there is 586 grams of this. I suspect that either there is an error or more of it turned up after I submitted it for research (I am still listed as the "main mass" holder though). Regardless, this is strange stuff. I remember Ted Bunch calling this the "bastard diogenite" because it had such strange chemistry/ mineralogy. It is quite different in appearance from anything else that I can think of. It has a fairly fine crystalline texture (kind of a mix of brown and greenish brown) with a few somewhat larger (1mm or so) darker clasts. This nice end piece could easily be cut into numerous slices if one desired.
19.0 gram end piece - 25mm x 17mm x 17mm - $300 SOLD

NWA (5784): Diogenite / DUNITE. Found 2006. Tkw = 2.6 kilograms.
The total known on this is a bit misleading as the bulk of this stone (all but a few hundred grams I think) were donated to a museum in Canada, so very little is available to collectors. I labeled this Diogenite / Dunite as there has been a change in how all of these things (normal diogenites, "olivine diogenites"and dunites) are named in the Meteoritical Bulletin. Now they are all given the classification of Diogenite. You have to look a little deeper for the details. "Normal" diogenites are orthopyroxenites, olivine diogenites are Harzburgite and for those few (and I do mean few, I think there are only 3 or 4 dunites known at this point) that are over 90% olivine the sub type is "dunite". Regardless of how it is labeled, this is a very rare and important meteorite. This particular piece is a cut fragment (may have some very thin secondary crust on the back but I am going to play it safe and call it weathering) -the only one I have I believe. The interior is an interesting mottled mix of colors ranging from very light tan (nearly white) to dark brown.
13.5 gram cut fragment - 40mm x 35mm x 7mm - $700

NWA (7252): carbonaceous (CK5). Found before February 2007. Tkw = 276.1 grams.
Here is a solid piece that could easily be cut up and sold as slices or enjoyed for the nice display piece as it is. This has distinct contraction cracked fusion crust (all be it wind polished) covering probably 65 to 70% of this piece. There is a 44mm x 39mm cut face and the remainder is an old break of thin secondary crust. The interior is a mixed medium gray and tan with only a few indistinct chondrules visible. This lot consists of the 231 gram main mass and a 6.8 gram slice.
231.3 gram main mass - 50mm x 45mm x 40mm - $1700

PERRYTON, Texas: (LL6). Found 1975. Tkw = 2114 grams.
This is a meteorite I turned up out of the field many years ago and have little recollection of it. It was obviously one of the few that I ended up selling off (to raise money for more field work) before it was ever cut or finished with research. Regardless, this is my last piece of this (I think I only had 50 or 60 grams of it to begin with) and priced at less than half what it was priced at.
8.1 gram slice - 42mm x 20mm x 3mm - $95

ORGUEIL, France: carbonaceous (CI1). Fell May 14, 1864. Tkw = 10.5+ kilograms.
This is a fairly solid piece of this really crumbly stuff. It was part of a 1.0 gram piece that broke on shipping to me. This is, by far, my largest piece of this type meteorite (I have plenty of crumbs in capsules and small glass vials).
.70 gram fragment - 12mm x 10mm x 7mm - $650

RICHFIELD, Kansas: (LL3.7). Found 1983. Tkw = 40.8 kilograms.
This is the largest slice out of this large meteorite. This is possibly the largest slice of an LL3 outside of a museum.
1714 gram complete slice - 345mm x 230mm x 7mm - $5000

SEYMCHAN, Russia: (Pallasite). Found 1967.
Here is a piece that, admittedly is not a super bargain as it sits. However, it is what this could become that makes it a deal. It is a highly pallasitic end piece that is loaded with olivine and certainly wouldn't produce anything but purely pallasitic material if cut up. Frankly, I like it just the way it is. It looks and displays nice. This is to big to weigh on any of my really accurate scales. However, I know from the scale that I usually weigh heavier items on that this is something over 6.6 kilograms.
6.6kg pallasitic end piece - 210mm x 135mm x 120mm - $13,000

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is not only a nice, possibly oriented, fusion crusted individual it is also an art piece. This thing developed a fairly long bent tail that twists up from a wide flat base giving this thing the appearance of a scorpion. A really neat and rare piece or the animal shape collector.
307.2 gram scorpion individual - 65mm x 50mm x 55mm - $950

ZAGAMI, Nigeria; Martian (Shergottite). Fell October 3, 1962. Tkw = 18.1 kilograms.
This is a small cut fragment (there is a 5mm x 4mm cut face) in a membrane box. There is no crust so this is a true fragment. This is the thinner grained material and does show a couple thin shock veins.
.178 gram cut fragment - 6mm x 5mm x 4mm - $100

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 127 - after Denver stuff

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 127 - after Denver stuff


Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 127

October 2, 2012

Dear Collectors,

Here are a few things I got at the show a couple weeks ago. This is a bit rushed as I am also trying to pull together a mailed listing right now as well (as well as madly working on as much of a solar hot water system as I can possibly accomplish on my own while the weather is still nice). I did not pick up a whole lot of material at the show (that's what happens when you are stuck running a room I guess). The bits I got here are, on review of the list, typically on the more expensive side (not necessarily in price per gram, just over all cost). I usually try to have more material on the affordable side, but simply did not come up with much this time.

LAFAYETTE, Indiana: Nakhlite. Found before 1930. Tkw = 800 grams.
Here is a small crumb (about 1mm x 1.5mm) of this super famous and rare meteorite. This fantastically oriented meteorite was found in the Purdue University geological specimen collection. Less than 200 grams was cut from this beautiful stone for research and distribution to collections. As such, pieces of this are rare in private hands. This piece came from a specimen that came from the Jim Schwade collection. It is in a gem case mounted in a riker box that has a picture of the main mass and basic info (type, find date) inside. Nice little display. I have had these in the past and they have always sold rapidly.
Small (roughly 1mm x 1.5mm crumb in display box - $75

LANCE, France: Carbonaceous (CO3.5). Fell July 23, 1872. Tkw = 51.7 kilograms.
Here are a few fragments (one "large" one and a few small) in a capsule in a Paris Museum container (30mm diameter, 10mm thick plastic disk). I had a few other similar contained specimens, but sold them before Ann Black helped determine that they were Paris museum pieces. I am surprised that this one didn't sell at the show, but then it is not cheap and I had the display case absolutely packed with stuff (easy to get lost in the clutter). Anyway, this is my last such "Paris" piece.
.30 grams fragments in capsule in Paris museum container - $100

LOST CITY, Oklahoma: Fell January 3, 1970. Tkw = 17 kilograms.
These are small blocks of this super famous and important meteorite mounted in Riker boxes with a photograph of the fireball and information card. This was the first meteorite in the US to be recovered from photographs of the meteor trail. Three stations of the Prairie Network of sky cameras picked up the trail and allowed a calculation of the likely fall point. 6 days later, a search team discovered the first specimen, a 9.8 kilo mass, by nearly driving over it as it sat in a road. It took over 10 years of operation of this sky monitoring systems operation before this meteorite was recovered from those efforts. As such, this has been considered to be one of the "most expensive meteorites of all times" (not that it is much "cheaper" now).
a) .57 gram block – 8mm x 7mm x 3mm - $125
b) 1.10 gram block – 10mm x 6mm x 5mm - $240

NWA (unstudied): Diogenite. Found before September 2011. Tkw = 40g.
I got this little beauty at the show last year. BUT I got a bigger one for my collection this year. This is a fresh almost complete individual. It has crust (black with contraction cracks though a bit shiny from wind polishing) covering probably 90% of the specimen. It has one end broken (about 16mm x 15mm) that clearly shows the Bilanga like diogenite internal texture (though a bit hidden by adhering dirt – I have not attempted to clean this in any way). I am selling this for what I paid for it. This is actually cheaper than its current replacement cost, from what I saw at the show this year. From the prices I saw, any Diogenite (and eucrite or howardite for that matter) was priced at $12 to $15/g and above (unstudied even!). I know the official reports are that we don't have inflation here in the US, but those economists sure aren't looking into the meteorite world for their numbers.
39.76 gram individual – 42mm x 25mm x 20mm - $400

NWA (unstudied): Thin sections.
Here are some neat little "kits" a friend of mine created. He has been working on making his own thin-sections the past few years and has gotten quite good at it. He made these from a selection of miscellaneous pieces he pulled out of one of my miscellaneous NWA trays a couple years ago. He thinks that these are all an L6 with high shock level (he has found ringwoodite in all of these). These "kits" each contain the thin-section, the end piece it was made from and a couple photos of the slide through a microscope (in regular and crossed polarizers light). Neat items! I am trying to get him to put similar kits together with know items in the future as well.
Thin section with end piece it was made from and photos - $50

NWA (2968): Ungrouped achondrite (Dunite). Found 2004. Tkw = 265 grams.
This was one of those super rare/ super important things that I pretty much sold all of before I even had a chance to publicly list it (not a bad thing to have happen on my end). Some months ago, I had someone looking for a piece of this and I could not locate one at all. I thought I had set aside some. Recently while going through my "micro" box collection I discovered that I had two pieces hiding there, one being this huge (for this stuff) piece. (Now I wish I could find the 20 odd grams of NWA (5782) acapulcoite/ lodranite breccia I thought I set aside hiding there as well). Anyway, this piece was among the very largest that I got. I am not going to cut this as this material has the nasty habit of breaking apart into small little blocks when cutting or polishing (and in nature apparently, as there really were no big pieces). I have heard rumor of this stuff "going for" hundreds of dollars per gram. I am keeping this piece (partly due to its size) much more reasonable for now.
9.65 gram natural fragment – 18mm x 15mm x 12mm - $1000

ZAGAMI, Nigeria: Mars rock (Shergottite). Fell October 3, 1962. Tkw = 18.1 kilograms.
Happy birthday to this fall tomorrow! This fell 50 years ago. This specimen is certainly the signature piece of this offering. In fact, this comes with 2 signatures! This is a Haag collection piece and he has personally signed both the certificate of authenticity and the information card that comes with it! And, as a "birthday special" this is also priced below (per gram wise) pretty much ANY Mars rock that I am aware of right now! This is a great chance to get an "historic" specimen (Robert does not sell or sign much these days) at an affordable (per gram wise anyway) price. I have a picture of this piece ready to go out to interested collectors.
16.8 gram part slice – 70mm x 30mm x 4mm - $7000

Blaine Reed Meteorites List #105 21JUN2011

Blaine Reed Meteorites List #105 21JUN2011

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
………………………………………………………LIST 105

June 21, 2011

Dear Collectors,

I am finally getting caught up after an endless series of trips and visitors so I am finally getting a chance to put an offering together (a bit late I admit, but the last visitor was here until late this morning). 

This is yet another offering of picked up in Tucson or consigned stuff (mostly consigned stuff actually). 

I do have yet more traveling planned for fairly soon (I will be gone the weekend of July 4th and yet again July 7th through about July 12th), but these should not greatly affect taking and shipping orders from this list. 

HENBURY, Australia: Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found 1931.
This is a nice little end piece. The cut and etched face is roughly 25mm x 15mm or so. The remainder is wire brushed and has a nice thumb-printed shape. A nice display piece!
64.5 gram end piece – 30mm x 18mm x 25mm - $100

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is a really nice shaped small shrapnel fragment. It has a fantastic torn shape and a pleasing dark brown color (this was only lightly brushed). This stuff, believe it or not, is getting very hard to come by. There was VERY little available at the Denver spring show and it was priced at or slightly higher than this superior specimen.
9.9 gram lightly brushed shrapnel fragment – 30mm x 15mm x 12mm - $9

NWA 906: (H3.8). Found June 2001. Tkw = 1031 grams.
This is a nice end piece with one edge cut off (kind of a "book end" cut). This has quite a lot of metal in a medium brown matrix, so it is not highly weathered.
4.7 gram cut end piece – 25mm x 16mm x 6mm - $30

NWA 925: (H3.8). Found June 2001. Tkw = 897 grams.
This is distinctly different than the sample above. This is a bit fresher, has a lighter color and a bit of porous texture to it.
4.5 gram slice – 24mm x 20mm x 2mm - $30

PLAINVIEW (a), Texas: (H5) breccia. Found 1917. Tkw = 700+ kilograms.
A 25 pound piece of this meteorite fell into a horse corral in early spring 1903, so this meteorite should probably be called a fall rather than a find (I have had slices of the horse corral specimen and they do indeed match other Plainview slices). This is a nice part slice that has ½ of its edge crusted and the remainder divided between a natural break and a sawn edge.
15.6 gram part slice – 36mm x 26mm x 5mm - $55 

ALLENDE, Mexico: carbonaceous chindrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
This is a nice slice that has one edge of crust (remaining edges are breaks or very late stage crust). I am nearly out of this stuff in my inventory so I was glad to get a piece or two in this consignment lot.
4.4 gram slice – 25mm x 23mm x 3mm - $35 

NWA 2663: Carbonaceous chondrite. (CO3.1). Found 2004. Tkw = 580grams.
This is a nice macro specimen in a plastic display box, showing lots of tiny chondrules in a medium to dark brown matrix.
2.0 gram slice – 15mm x 13mm x 3mm - $30

ZAGAMI, Nigeria: Martian (Shergottite). Fell October 3, 1962. Tkw = 18.1 kilograms.
This is a small fragment with a roughly 5mm x 4mm cut face. This does not have any fusion crust that I can see, but it does have a good number of thin black shock lines running through it.
.178 gram fragment with cut face – 6mm x 5mm x 4mm - $160

ESQUEL, Argentina: (Pallasite). Found 1951.
This is a particularly aesthetic little piece. It has a nice arrangement of large gemmy crystals, a couple of which nicely transmit light (and the remainder are interesting in that they act like windows to looking down inside the slice). The edge is nearly ½ natural as well! The only problem I can see (and this is only for some people) is that it is a wedged sample and not uniform thickness (but this is what allows for the diversity of crystal appearances though).
8.1 gram slice – 31mm x 20mm x 4mm - $250

IMILAC, Chile: (Pallasite). Found 1822.
This is a really nice "weathered" fragment – the ones that have the wild shape and sandy olivine crystals that range from yellow to pink in color. I personally feel that these are more likely impact shrapnel fragments, as the bulk of them were found surrounding an impact crater. Regardless, this is a particularly nice example.
13.1 gram fragment – 25mm x 16mm x 12mm - $95

SEYMCHAN, Russia: (pallasite). Found 1967. 
This is a nice rectangular slice with fairly dark but yet gemmy olivines. I sold this piece to the owner a few years ago and have not been able to come up with as nice of material for replacement (I am nearly out of truly pallasitic pieces of this meteorite).
5.9 gram slice – 26mm x 17mm x 3mm - $90 

THIN - SECTIONS:
Unfortunately, I have only these two specimens. The dimensions are the area of actual meteorite material on the slide.

Allende, Mexico: (CV3.2) – 23mm x 18mm - $50

Waltman, Wyoming: (L4) – 22mm x 16mm - $50