Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 152

Blaine Reed

P.O. Box 1141

Delta, CO 81416

Ph/fax (970) 874-1487                                                                                                                                        

………………………………………………………..LIST 152

April 29, 2014

Dear Collectors,

                Here is the e-mail version of my  “spring, after Tucson ” mailed list (just now reaching . Most of this is stuff I’ve had but finally got through research (some, like the LL3.10 below took several tries to finally get done). The hexahedrite (NWA 8302) and Fukang I picked up in Tucson and was thrilled to get them. I am keeping a full slice of the hexahedrite in my collection as it will be the first iron I have that shows a heat alteration rim. I am hanging on to a piece of many of the other things as well, as several of these are things I’ll probably never get as nice an example of (or any) again (L-melt, LL3.10, Eucrite breccia…..)

I should probably note (and should have on the mailed version as well) that many of you, as I, have not received your tax refund. If this is your case and you are interested in things offered here, I’ll be happy to set things aside for you until the IRS sends your refund. So, don’t hesitate to ask me to set things aside. This is actually the case with ANY of my offerings any time of the year. I just ask that, if things change, to let me know if you have changed your mind so I can move the item on to the next interested party.

NWA (8302): Morocco. Iron. Hexahedrite  (IIAB). Found before 2010. Tkw = 22.4 kilograms(?).

I put a question on the TKW as the official report is the 22,4kg and the small card I got when I bought the stuff said it was 15.25kilograms total. Either way, this is a nice, interesting meteorite. It shows a good number of Nuemann lines as a hexahedrite should, as well as lots of small sulfide inclusions. However, this also shows a very distinct re-crystallized heat-alteration rim along the outer edge. I have seen pictures of this in iron meteorites but I don’t recall ever having had an iron before that shows this feature. I picked the full slices as they have the clearest heat rim. The cut pieces all also show natural edge with an alteration zone.

1) Slices: etched one side:

a) 26.5 grams - 36mm x 22mm x 4mm - $65

b) 46.8 grams - 46mm x 35mm x 4mm - sold

c) 135.7 grams - 97mm x 42mm x 4mm - sold

d) 238.7 grams – 170mm x 50mm x 4mm - sold

e) 275.9 grams - 180mm x 70mm x 4mm - $600 – complete slice, really strong heat rim.

Note: I may end up cutting up the complete slice if it does not sell as is. Let me know what size smaller piece you might like and I’ll try to end up with something close to that size if I do cut this.

NWA (7019): Ordinary chondrite. L-Melt rock. Found before February 2011. Tkw = 1315.8 grams.

I got three fragments (two of which fit together) from a dealer in Tucson. It had a weird green color and an odd texture that showed some fairly large vesicles. This made both the seller and I suspect that this was an impact melt. The interior upon cutting supported this hypothesis and later research work confirmed it. The interior shows no chondrules, vesicles and rounded metal/ sulfide inclusions in a fine-grained green matrix. This highly shocked meteorite likely formed by a nearby impact that was large enough to completely melt this material before it escaped its parent body.

1)       Slices:

a) 4.0 grams - 18mm x 15mm x 4mm - $24

b) 7.5 grams - 25mm x 24mm x 4mm - $45

c) 14.4 grams - 45mm x 25mm x 4mm - $85

d) 27.7 grams - 70mm x 40mm x 4mm - $160 – complete slice.

e) 42.4 grams - 75mm x 50mm x 4mm - $240 – complete slice.

2)       End pieces:

a) 34.9 grams - 50mm x 38mm x 14mm - sold

b) 48.8 grams - 45mm x 38mm x 17mm - $245

c) 69.5 grams - 60mm x 37mm x 20mm - $345 – Main mass.   

NWA (7029): Ordinary chondrite (LL3.10). Found before September 2009. Tkw = 205.6 grams.

When I heard the news that this was a 3.10 I didn’t get too excited. BUT when I looked up just how rare such a thing is I began wishing it didn’t, more or less, take three tries to finally get this thing classified (giving up around 25 grams on each try). Currently there are only four LL3.10 meteorites known (including this one) and only another 6 classified at lower metamorphic grades (including Antarctic recoveries). If you include all the Hs and Ls (the rest of the “ordinary chondrites”) then you have another 16 meteorites known with this low or lower of a metamorphic level. Needles to say, these silces show LOTS of chondrules. Also needles to say, I have very little of this special material. I have under 100 grams TOTAL remaining.

1)       Slices:

a) 1.0 grams - 13mm x 12mm x 2mm - $50

b) 2.0 grams - 26mm x 12mm x 2mm - $100

c) 4.0 grams - 26mm x 20mm x 2mm - $200

d) 7.8 grams - 36mm x 25mm x 3mm - $400 – complete slice, lots of interesting inclusions.

NWA (7902): Ordinary chondrite (L3.7), W2. Found before February 2013. Tkw = 2.02 kilograms.

This is one I bought in Tucson last year. The seller, rightfully it turns out, thought this was a type 3 as it shows quite a lot of chondrules on the exterior surfaces. I wasn’t so sure, or at least wasn’t willing to pay the big premium that was being asked on this “type 3” (something like $3/g I think – pretty typical asking price these days for a raw “out of the field” type 3). We eventually came to an agreement we both could live with and one where I can offer this now proven type 3 for substantially less than its starting price from the seller. The interior does not show much metal (pretty much just sulfides) but is nice in texture. There are lots of chondrules of many sizes clearly visible on this roughly 55mm x 35mm cut face. The rest of the stone is

natural wind-polished crust and some fracture (secondary crust?). Nice as it is or great for cutting into slices (which I will likely do if this does not sell intact).

                1954.0 gram main mass – 170mm x 95mm x 70mm - $4000 

NWA (7252): Carbonaceous chondrite (CK5). Found before Feb. 2007. Tkw = 276.1 grams.

This is a piece that I sold after I had sent pieces off for the classification work. After several years it became clear that this was not going to get done so the buyer sold it back to me. More material sent off and the work got done this time. This was originally an individual that was completely crusted but had about 30% secondary crust (so there is likely at least one more related piece out there somewhere). I went ahead and cut the thing up. Slices of this, like most CKs, do not show a lot of chondrules (CKs average only around 15% chondrules in volume) but has an interesting greenish gray matrix.

1)       Slices:

a) 1.2 grams - 15mm x 9mm x 3mm - $18

b) 2.7 grams - 22mm x 13mm x 3mm - $40

c) 4.5 grams - 22mm x 20mm x 3mm - $67

d) 9.4 grams - 38mm x 27mm x 3mm - $140

e) 21.5 grams - 47mm x 43mm x 4mm - $300 – complete slice.

NWA (8162): Achondrite. (Eucrite, monomict breccia. Found before September 2013. Tkw = 297.4 grams.

This is one I wish I could have gotten more of. This showed some brecciation on its natural surface. The inside after cutting makes one say “wow”. This shows LOTS of lighter colored clasts of all sizes surrounded by dark highly shocked material. The material in the clasts and the surrounding matrix all have the same composition, making this a “monomict” breccia. This texture is likely due to impacts nearby on the surface of Vesta (yep, the Dawn mission data is finally getting out and it confirms that Vesta is the source for most of the meteorites classiied as HEDs in our collections!). I had this professionally cut (I hair too big for my saw) and highly polished on one side to really bring out the best in this stone.

1)       Slices:

a) .6 grams - 12mm x 10mm x 2mm - sold

b) 1.3 grams - 19mm x 11mm x 2mm - $32

c) 2.4 grams - 23mm x 17mm x 2mm - $60

d) 5.1 grams - 29mm x 27mm x 2mm - $120

e) 9.9 grams - 40mm x 40mm x 2mm - $225 – complete slice.

f) 23.5 grams - 70mm x 58mm x 2mm - $500 – complete slice.

FUKANG, China: (Pallasite). Found 2000. TKW = 1003 kilograms.

This is one that I offered (as a larger slice) on a recent e-mail offering. I picked this up as part of a collection I purchased from a German fossil dealer as a 100 gram square slice. It had never been coated so there were a couple small rust spots on it. In my attempt to put a new shine on this (using my antiquated polishing equipment) I managed to break it into several pieces – the ones listed here. All of these are still large enough to show the texture of this beautiful meteorite with its huge olivine crystals.

1)       Slices:

a) 18.9 grams - 60mm x 30mm x 2mm - $280

b) 26.4 grams - 60mm x 43mm x 2mm - sold

c) 53.7 grams - 89mm x 50mm x 2mm - sold

ACASTA GNEISS: Ancient rock from Acasta River, Canada.

Here is something I picked up a piece of a few years ago and, when I mentioned it, I found there was a big demand for the stuff (my piece got whittled down quite a bit in supplying pieces to people). I finally got some more this past Tucson. These are small 15mmx 20mm or so) pieces mounted in a labeled perky box. This material is, at this point, the oldest known rock in the world. At 4.2 Billion years old this is not quite as old as most meteorites but formed surprisingly early in Earth’s history.

                Small (15mm plus) fragment in perky box – sold out. Will try to get more.   

Please note:

 The post office keeps increasing shipping rates (despite the government’s official claim is that there is no inflation).  For small US orders $3 should still be fine for now. Larger orders are now $12 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it). The real increases came in overseas (or even Canada) shipping. These prices pretty much doubled from what they were a couple years ago. Now small overseas orders are around $9 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Thankfully, it seems that the rate for registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is still around $12.

                My fax machine has pretty much blown up on me. I can nurse it to work if I must (but often loose the incoming fax if I am not really careful). For overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail. I generally get/ deal with phone calls quicker but I will try to keep up on checking e-mail this time.

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 151

Blaine Reed

P.O. Box 1141

Delta, CO 81416

Ph/fax (970) 874-1487

…………………………………………………………………LIST 151

April 1, 2014

Dear Collectors,

I think this is my last “after Tucson” list. Now I’ll have to dig around to come up with new future offerings (I need to get a mailed list pulled together soon as well – it’ll be a busy couple weeks ahead). This is going out a bit later than I would have liked as I went to Montrose (and took longer than expected) to look at some potential meteorites (none were, unfortunately) and buy an old broken pocket watch. I will try to keep on top of e-mails this afternoon but there may be a couple issues. First, I do have some people coming over later (mine and Blake’s birthday – now over the hill at 50 even) so I may not get to check as often as usual. In addition we have ferocious winds right now. High winds like this, for some reason, often knock out our internet/ DSL connection. Strange, I thought it was all wires in the ground. Anyway, I’ll do my best to keep checking (the phone should always work, though we lost power and phone for an hour or so a few days ago during a wind storm as well).

DHOFAR (1286), Oman: (Eucrite), polymict breccia. Found December 2005. Tkw = 848 grams.

Two pieces that fit together were found about 30 meters apart. This meteorite contains clasts/ fragments of various compositions and colors – making it look very much like a howardite. However, this lacked enough pyroxene to be classified as a howardite. I recently sold out of what I had of this meteorite (and tossed out the remaining info cards) but then picked up a few more pieces in Tucson (and re-made new cards).

a)       2.0 gram slice – 20mm x 17mm x 2.5mm - $25

b)       4.2 gram slice – 42mm x 20mm x 2mm - $50

c)       6.8 gram slice – 35mm x 25mm x 3mm - $75

d)       20.2 gram end piece – 40mm x 20mm x 16mm - $200

IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1822.

This is a beautiful ¼ slice (2 cut edges at right angle to each other with the remainder being a long natural edge). This is cut super thin so light passes through all of the crystals. This fantastic material has gotten hard (and expensive) to acquire these days. I think this is the first thin slice of Imilac I have had in several years or more. A simply stunning display piece.

                22.9 gram part slice – 55mm x 55mm x 1.5mm - sold

NWA (769): (Eucrite), unbrecciated. Found November 10, 2000. Tkw = 712 grams.

I don’t think I have ever had any pieces of this meteorite before. I got a small lot of fragments, cut fragments and a couple slices at the show. Most of this does indeed look very similar in texture to typical Millbillillie but with much smaller crystal size (really fine-grained). However, a couple pieces do show some uniform (pretty much no crystal texture visible) light gray clasts. Most of the fragments and cut fragments have some (some pieces quite a lot) of nice dark crust that has not had its texture wind-polished away.

a)       2.0 gram slice – 20mm x 10mm x 4mm - $25

b)       3.9 gram fragment – 20mm x 15mm x 10mm - $49 – 12mm x 15mm crust.

c)       5.4 gram slice – 30mm x 18mm x 5mm - $67

d)       10.9 gram end piece – 23mm x 15mm x 17mm - $135 – back ~ 35% crust.

e)       15.8 gram end piece – 35mm x 17mm x 16mm - $195 – back 40%+ crusted.

f)        38.0 gram end piece – 55mm x 30mm x 17mm - $450 – back over 50% crusted.

NWA (7325): Ungrouped achondrite. Found 2012. Tkw = 345+ grams.

This is the stuff that showed weird green fusion crust on the rare pieces that had crust. Its low iron content, texture and other features have led some to believe that this may be from the planet Mercury (though others would argue that this material is far too ancient to be from a body of that size). Regardless, this is strange and unique material no matter where it came from. I have a few cut pieces and one fragment (that actually does have a small 3mm x 2mm patch of the weird green crust) that I picked up from Matt in Denver back in December but only recently got around to cataloging them.

                a) .61 gram slice – 18mm x 10mm x 1mm - $580

                b) .87 gram end piece – 14mm x 10mm x 4mm - $785

                c) 1.54 gram fragment – 13mm x 12mm x 7mm - $1400 – has small patch of     crust.

                d) 1.68 gram slice – 28mm x 16mm x 1mm - $1590

NWA 8159: Martian. Augite basalt. Found 2013. Tkw = 149.4 grams.

This is one that brings up mixed emotions for me. I am thrilled at its discovery as I am the one that pretty much discovered this gem. It was in the “likely junk to go out to the rock garden” pile that a fellow meteorite dealer had at the 2013 Denver Show. He had me going through MANY (easily over 100) rocks to see what might be important (with the rain and flooding during the show, I had plenty of time for this and found it, at times, to be an interesting distraction). I saw this one in the “junk” pile and commented that it most definitely was a meteorite as it had clearly visible shock veins. Thankfully, he had cut the thing so I had a cut surface to run the XRF on. I expected the thing to come up as a Eucrite, as that is pretty much what the thing looked like. HOWEVER, the chemistry of the thing came up as MARTIAN! At that point, the owner said that if this turned out to be the case he would give me “a complete slice of like 20grams” (gads, I wish I had gotten THAT in writing now). Anyway, not only did this thing turn out to be Martian, it turned out to be a completely new type of Martian! It has some similarities to various features of Nakhlites and Shegottites but yet is overall different. I did indeed get a package from the owner containing a sample for my helping in the discovery once this was officially reported. It contained a 2.2g block. I double/ triple checked the box to be sure I didn’t miss anything else in the packing material. Nope, nothing. I figured more would come later after cutting. I checked the Meteoritical Bulletin report for the thing and it did list me as having some of this (but unfortunately not anything about my part in the discovery) and it did indeed confirm that my share was indeed 2.2 grams. Now don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have this (certainly better than NOTHING which is easily what I could have ended up with). I guess I am being a little greedy myself. A couple grams certainly will change my month, but 20grams would have changed my year (but then, I would have found it really difficult to break up a complete slice). I split the thick block into two thinner slices and then broke those up into the pieces listed here. I have already sold some and am keeping a small piece for myself so I have less than 1.25 grams total to sell.  The price is going to seem really high BUT this is right about what much larger pieces were selling (and pieces were indeed selling) for per gram in Tucson. The price has supposedly been raised (right after the show) to $8159/ gram. Given what the other unique Mars rock “Black Beauty” has been bringing, this is probably not all that unreasonable or surprising. Anyway, get em while I got em. I’ll give the contact info for the holder of the main portion of this material if I run out or you really need something bigger than I have here. All of these pieces are in a membrane box.

a)       .042 gram slice – 3mm x 3mm x 2mm - sold

b)       .080 gram slice – 4mm x 4mm x 2mm - $420

c)       .115 gram slice – 6mm x 4mm x 2mm - sold

d)       .335 gram slice – 9mm x 7mm x 2mm - sold

e)       .580 gram slice – 11mm x 9.5mm x 2mm - $2900

SMARA, Western Sahara. Achondrite (Eucrite), polymict breccia. Found 2000. Tkw = 12.87 kilograms.

Here is a eucrite that came from the NWA area but has an actual name and known find location. In addition, this is interesting in that it is a breccia containing clasts of many types (including subophitic basalts, granular microgabbros and impact melt clasts). I have two piece that were once one; a long part slice that I managed to break (not intentionally however) during transport back home from the show.

                19.0 gram part slice – 35mm x 34mm x 6mm - $230

                25.1 gram part slice – 45mm x 35mm x 6mm - $300

SPRING WATER, Canada: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1931.

Here is a fairly small block that I have left exactly as I got it. It is a piece that is cut on all sides. It has not been polished or coated but yet still shows bright metal (with no distinct rusting) and nice bright crystals. I think that this was an old research work piece as it is in a research type snap lid plastic vial. This also has the number 135d written on it in black ink (a big part o the reason I left this thing alone – handling while polishing or the spray coating material could have easily destroyed this feature) indicating that this was likely cut from the early Nininger Spring water specimen.

                11.67 gram block – 17mm x 14mm x 12mm - $250

VACA MUERTA, Chile: Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Found 1861.

This is a small cut fragment that came in as part of a collection. It is nothing special but the small (17mm x 11mm) cut face does show more metal than most Vaca pieces I have had.

                8.0 gram cut fragment – 18mm x 13mm x 14mm - $24

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 150 - yet more after Tucson stuff

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 150 - yet more after Tucson stuff

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 150
March 18, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is yet another “after Tucson” list.

CHINGA, Russia: Ni-rich ataxite. (IVB) anomalous. Found 1913. Tkw = 80+ kilograms.
This is a nice solid (no rust scaling) end piece I picked up as part of a small collection during the show. The cut face is simply polished, not etched (this doesn’t show much when etched anyway). A nice piece for display.
196.2 gram end piece – 55mm x 28mm x 40mm - $300

FRANCONIA, Arizona: (H5). Found October 31, 2002. Tkw = 100+ kilograms.
This meteorite is interesting in that small grains of native copper have been found in cut pieces. I have not had a lot of this material over the years even though quite a lot of it was found (not sure any more is turning up these days either). I think most who found pieces kept them. Anyway, I was able to trade for a few nice complete individuals at the show. These are all distinctly complete and are covered with fusion crust, though that crust is a thin secondary crust in some areas on most of these stones. Nice small pieces.
a) 16.3 gram individual – 28mm x 18mm x 16mm - $25
b) 32.8 gram individual – 30mm x 30mm x 19mm - $50
c) 47.8 gram individual – 37mm x 30mm x 20mm - $70

NWA (unstudied): Oriented individual.
Now here is a bit of a crime. This is a quite fresh chondrite (likely L5 or L6) that was very clearly perfectly oriented. Much of the crust is brown on the front side but it clearly shows a line where it changes to black that shows how this was sitting in the ground when it was found. The front shows nice flow lines and a number of elongated “flower petal” thumb-prints. The back side (which is mostly black with some minor dirt attached – this has not been cleaned at all) shows rough textured bubbly in spots crust. There is also a very distinct bubbly roll-over rim around the edge of this piece. The “crime” is that somebody chopped off one side of this specimen (kind of like Lafayette). This does allow you to see the white interior and how surprisingly thick the fusion crust is on this stone (around 1mm thick or so). The bigger “crime” though is that the piece that was cut off was not kept with this beauty. None the less, this is a classic example of an oriented meteorite.
265.8 gram oriented ½+ individual – 85mm x 50mm x 33mm - $400

NWA (2932): Stony-iron (Mesosiderite). Found 2005. Tkw = around 15 kilograms.
This is one I wish I had more of. This is what a mesosiderite should be. This is a slice that is quite fresh and shows lots of metal (some as large round nodules) and lots of silicates (including at least one large cm sized crystal that looks like olivine but is likely pyroxene). A superb specimen for someone looking for a truly representative mesosiderite piece for their collection.
115.6 gram complete slice – 88mm x 55mm x 7mm - $1100

NWA (6963); Martian (Shergottite). Found 2011. Tkw = 8 to 10 kilograms.
This is a part slice that looks surprisingly like the coarse-grained portions of Zagami. The edges though give this one away as a find. There is one tiny (2mm x 2mm perhaps) patch of black crust but the remainder of the natural edge (about half of the specimen’s edge as two sides appear to be cut) shows some minor adhering dirt. This meteorite, like Zagami, also has a lot of Maskelynite glass, some as shock veins, though this piece shows this mostly as the occasional darkened shocked pocket rather than veins. This piece is in a neat Steve Arnold prepared riker display box and is ready for display or passing around to interested friends or lecture attendants.
2.25 gram part slice is riker display – 20mm x 12mm x 4mm - $700

QUIJINGUE, Brazil: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1984. Tkw = 59 kilograms.
This meteorite was found buried one meter deep by a farmer digging holes for planting trees. He later gave it to a miner who got it identified as a meteorite. I remember when this came out some years ago. I was worried (as I am with any new pallasites) about this being a “ruster” (and some people may have indeed had problems with this, I don’t know though). However, this piece was uncoated and came from Germany (quite humid) and it looked quite fine to me (only a couple tiny rust spots is all I found). I have coated it though just to be safe. I have two pieces that were from the same slice (I broke it as someone at the show needed a smaller piece and it was clear that it would be easy to snap the piece into several smaller specimens).
a) 5.4 gram part slice – 25mm x 20mm x 3mm - $80
b) 35.9 gram part slice – 63mm x 46mm x 3mm - $525

PHILIPPINITES: Rizal province, Philippines.
Here are a few “Rizalites” I recently picked up from Alan Lang (unfortunately, these did not come with any labels). The smallest and largest pieces here are flatish and have a slightly indented bottom but both show some nice fairly deep grooving on their top sides. The middle sized piece is more the classic large round specimen (as is typical from this area) but lacks grooving to speak of.
a) 47.6 gram individual – 40mm x 40mm x 20mm - $40
b) 111.8 gram individual – 45mm x 43mm x 37mm - $84
c) 121.6 gram individual – 63mm x 53mm x 25mm - $100

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 149, more after Tucson things 04MAR2014

Blaine Reed Meteorites - List 149, more after Tucson things

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 149
March 4, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is another “after Tucson” list. I’ll probably have a couple more but the one that should go out later this month (on the 18th I believe) may be off in its timing as I may be out of town for a bit around that time.

BROWNFIELD (1937), Texas: (H3.7) found 1937. Tkw = about 47 kilograms.
Here is a cut fragment I sold to a collector many years ago. There are two cut faces that both show lots of chondrules and some metal in a light to medium brown matrix. The natural portion of this specimen is roughly equally divided between old natural break and fusion crust.
36.9 gram cut fragment – 48mm x 25mm x 18mm - $250

DHOFAR (1286), Oman: (Eucrite), polymict breccia. Found December 2005. Tkw = 848 grams.
Two pieces that fit together were found about 30 meters apart. This meteorite contains clasts/ fragments of various compositions and colors – making it look very much like a howardite. However, this lacked enough pyroxene to be classified as a howardite. I recently sold out of what I had of this meteorite (and tossed out the remaining info cards) but then picked up a few more pieces in Tucson (and re-made new cards).
a) 2.0 gram slice – 20mm x 17mm x 2.5mm - $25
b) 4.2 gram slice – 42mm x 20mm x 2mm - $50
c) 6.8 gram slice – 35mm x 25mm x 3mm - $75
d) 20.2 gram end piece – 40mm x 20mm x 16mm - $200

FUKANG, China: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 2000. Tkw = 1003 kilograms.
Here is a square cut slice of this beautiful pallasite. This meteorite probably has the largest, on average, olivine crystals of any pallasite. I tell people that you pretty much need a rodeo belt-buckle sized piece of this meteorite to begin to see its texture. Thankfully, this is pretty much what I have here. The crystals, with the exception of a couple on one side, all pass light, making this a nice natural “stained glass window”. This is a piece that came uncoated from Germany. I have coated it but have left the few minor rust spots alone as I have not figured out how to regain the mirror polish after sanding these meteorites.
100.5 gram slice – 90mm x 89mm x 2mm - $1300

GOLD BASIN, Arizona: (L4). Found November 24, 1995. Tkw = about 127 kilograms.
This is the stuff that many found discarded as simple “hot rocks” by people metal detecting for gold in the area. A new gold rush into the area was started once it was found that these “hot rocks” were often meteorites. I have two as found specimens. The smaller is a blocky piece that might cut fairly well but is nice the way it is. The larger is the largest, by far, Gold Basin piece I have had. It is, at best, half of the original stone so this was a real monster when it fell some 20-25 thousand years ago (I think this strewn field is still reported as the oldest chondrite fall outside of Antarctica). Both pieces show areas of natural breaks as well as clear weathered fusion crust (typical Gold Basin material in other words).
a) 350.8 gram individual/ fragment as found – 80mm x 50mm x 40mm - $435
b) 1483.3 gram fragment/ individual as found – 150mm x 120mm x 50mm - $1500

NWA (845): (R4), W1. Found March 5, 2011. Tkw = 36+ grams.
The total known on this must be wrong. 36 grams is listed but I got a bit over 40 grams of nice thin slices from a German fossil dealer in Tucson. This meteorite appears to have a known find location (the info given with it has coordinates, which are also reported in the Meteoritical Bulletin) but still ended up being called just an NWA. None the less, these are nice thin slices that show lots of chondrules in a nice medium brown (with hints of orange) matrix. Some of these (the part slices) have one cut edge.
a) .61 gram part slice – 16mm x 9mm x 1mm - $12
b) .94 gram part slice – 27mm x 11mm x 1mm - $19
c) 2.1 gram slice – 28mm x 22mm x 1mm - $40
d) 3.6 gram slice – 36mm x 26mm x 1mm - $67
e) 8.1 gram part slice – 40mm x 30mm x 2mm - $150

NWA (853): Achondrite (Ureilite). Found March 2001. Tkw = 720 grams.
I thought about keeping this one (and may yet do so). It is a rectangular blocky piece that shows 3 cut faces. However, the majority of the natural uncut part clearly shows distinct fusion crust (covering around 40% or so of the specimen). I don’t recall having a ureilite before that showed much of any crust let alone distinct heavy black crust. Interesting and no doubt fairly rare. Grab it before I change my mind.
131.8 gram cut fragment – 50mm x 35mm x 30mm - $2000

PORTALES VALLEY, New Mexico: (H6). Fell June 13, 1998. Tkw = 71.4 kilograms.
This is easily the weirdest “H6” I have ever seen. Even the “chondritic” portion looks strange. It does not seem to show any chondrules and has a crystalline texture, fine metal grains and some large metal veins, making it look almost identical to the Fortuna Winonaite I offered earlier. I thought this was “reclassified” into some kind of “achondritic metallic melt breccia” but the Meteoritical Bulletin does not seem to mention anything about this. Anyway, this is a nice partial slice that is mostly silicates but does show quite a lot of metal veins running through it. This has two labels with it; one from the Jake Pelletier Collection and one (with a picture of the specimen) from Robert Woolard. This is supposed to be a 42.8 gram specimen but a small (.2g or so) piece has broken off of one corner at some point (this piece is still with the specimen in its membrane box). There are two cut edges (making up 40% or so of the edge) but the majority is natural and shows some fusion crust.
42.6 gram part slice – 100mm x 68mm x 2mm - $1500

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 148, first after Tucson offering 25FEB2014

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 148, first after Tucson offering 25FEB2014

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 148

February 25, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is my first “after Tucson”, things I hauled home list. I didn’t pick up a whole lot of material volume wise (fits in a milk crate or two) but I did get quite a variety. Many of the things need a bit of work (light polishing and such) and many are still packed. I may end up doing more than the usual “first and third Tuesday” offerings (heck, this one is a week late but then I was not even home yet last Tuesday) as I work through this pile (a fair number of items are consigned so I need to sell them or return them to their owners before too long).


ETTER, Texas. Ordinary chondrite (L5). Found 1965. Tkw = 338+ kilograms.
Here is a nice Huss prepared (and numbered) specimen. It is thicker than we usually cut things these days, but that is how he cut these over a couple decades ago. There is one natural “crusted” edge (which contains the H47.181 catalog number). The other edges (as the face) are nicely polished to show a neat jade green (with some brown highlights) matrix.
37.6 gram part slice – 37mm x 35mm x 8mm - $150

FORTUNA, Argentina: Achondrite (Winonaite). Found May 27, 1998. Tkw = 312 grams.
This was a bit of a surprise to find in a collection a fossil dealer from Germany was selling. I was a bit nervous about this thing as well. It looks very similar to and XRF’ed fairly close to (but then all of the chondrites and primitive achondrites have nearly identical chemical compositions, particularly when you start accounting for weathering) a piece of Portales Valley I had on display (which will be offered on a future list). However, upon getting home and doing a bit of research, I do see that this is indeed Fortuna and not a mixed up Portales. I found pictures of some slices on line that match this thing perfectly. Anyway, only a singe 312 gram stone was found. Very few pieces of this ultra rare material got into the collector’s market. The major portion of this find is in a private collection in Germany and, I am told, will never be released (I think it is supposed to be willed to a museum or such). I didn’t fully realize how rare Winonaites are. I have had a piece or two of different ones (never had a piece of Fortuna before) over the years. I have had lots of requests for pieces of this type meteorite that I have not been able to satisfy over the years as well (note: if this fails to sell intact I will probably cut it up and attempt to satisfy some of the demands for small winonaite pieces I have recorded). Anyway, this is a (somewhat wedged, unfortunately) complete slice of the stone and does seem to show remnant fusion crust around most of the edge. The interior has lots of fine metal and several metal veins in a crystalline green/ brown matrix. A neat and really rare specimen.
21.54 gram complete slice – 60mm x 38mm x 3mm - $3000

GLORIETTA MOUNTAIN, New Mexico: (Pallasite). Found 1884. Tkw = 190+ kilograms.
I think this might be the first slice of the pallasitic material from this find I have had. I have had lots of the just iron material (which was relatively affordable) but don’t recall ever having a pallasite piece (which are usually VERY expensive). This is a nice complete slice that has nice large olivine crystals (which all transmit at least some light and some are certainly clear enough to cut gemstones from if one were so inclined) and lots of troilite. Both sides have been mirror polished, so no etching on this one (and, as I fairly well stink at etching I am not going to risk messing up this specimen by trying to do it myself). I have pictures of this one already in my computer for those interested.
36.2 gram complete pallasitic slice – 75mm x 45mm x 2mm - $1300

INDOCHINITE: Bao Loc, Vietnam.
Here is a really large specimen I got from Alan Lang (this comes with his label). It is almost perfectly round but is (fairly) thin and dish-shaped (the back side has a gentle depression. Deeper, and this thing could have made an ash tray). I think I have had some Vietnam tektites in the past (some Niniger ones a few years ago I think) but they are quite uncommon. This is a nice large hand specimen. I had three but quickly sold two in Tucson (I didn’t find this piece until near the end of the show or it likely would have sold as well).
256.0 gram complete individual – 80mm x 78mm x 25mm - $130

NORTH HAIG, Australia: Achondrite (Ureilite). Found 1961. Tkw = 964 grams.
This is a small slice that I got as part of a collection that was recently sent to me. I didn’t think much of the piece on first inspection (it looked kind of like an old H chondrite or such) as it only had its name on the plastic bottle it was in. Further work quickly changed my opinion though. Anything from Australia is in high demand these days, as are pretty much any achondrites (or witnessed falls) that have not been available recently. This has both things going for it. In addition, according to the Catalog of Meteorites, very little of this material has gotten out. I have only this one small piece unfortunately.
.23 gram slice – 9mm x 5mm x 2mm - $100

NWA (1000): Achondrite (Eucrite). Found 2001. Tkw = 1200 grams.
This appears to be another one of those “fell through the cracks” things that has been completely worked up by UCLA but never got reported to the Nomenclature Committee (even NWA (869) got stuck in this limbo for many years). Regardless, this is an interesting specimen that looks quite different from any other eucrites. It has a strange texture showing long thin crystals in a weird darker reddish brown matrix. Frankly, this looks more like an angrite than anything (but XRF showed it is definitely a eucrite). This comes with a label that has the write up/ research results from UCLA on this material.
3.68 gram slice – 33mm x 16mm x 3mm - $70

SIERRA COLORADA, Argentina. Ordinary chondrite (L5). Found 1995. Tkw = 71.3 kilograms.
I remember when this stone came out, along with a huge nicely oriented meteorite also from Argentina (can’t remember the name of that one right now – Rio Limay I think). Edwin managed to work a deal to acquire these wonderful gems. Not sure what happened to the big oriented piece (left mostly intact I hope) but this one (the smaller stone) got cut up. It’s been quite awhile since I have had a piece of this. This is a rectangular part slice that has one natural edge. It shows a fair amount of metal (this isn’t weathered significantly) in a mottled dark green and gray matrix (which shows a bit better on the back, unpolished side).
14.3 gram part slice – 41mm x 26mm x 4mm - $55

WELLS, Texas: Ordinary chondrite: (LL3.3). Found 1985. Tkw = 4135 grams.
I had the main mass of this one years ago. It all quickly sold (often in large pieces). I have had a few pieces over the years since, but not many. Here is a natural fragment with a polished face (that is about 20mm x 15mm). This does not show any metal but does show LOTS of chondrules (this was a weathered meteorite but the weathering brought out the chondrules really well). Regardless, there are only a few known LL3.3s (4 listed in the most recent Mteorites A to Z) so this might be important for those of you looking to fill out all of the sub-types in your collection.
5.6 gram fragment with polished face – 25mm x 20mm x 6mm - $140

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 148, first after Tucson offering

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 147 - email version of latest mailed list

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 147 - email version of latest mailed list

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

…………………………………………………….LIST 147

January, 2014

Dear Collectors,

Here is the e-mail version of my new mailed list that is just now getting into collector’s hands. For those of you that want the particulars of Tucson- PLEASE CONTACT ME.

CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Graphite nodules.
It has been along time since I have had any of these. I picked these up from a mineral dealer that had a few meteorites at the Creede show this past August. I have heard a couple different theories on just what these things are. One theory is that they are graphite inclusions (that have metal veins running through them) that have been left behind after a large meteorite that contained them has weathered away. I have a couple things that bother me about this theory. First, I have seen many inclusions in Canyon Diablo meteorites, including graphite inclusions, but not any that really match the textures of a cut piece of one of these. Second, these things tend to be quite unstable and tend to rust away rapidly (not bad if left intact though, for that reason these have only been brushed NOT cut. No evidence of rusting since I purchased them). It is a bit hard for me to imagine a big piece of iron rotting away leaving some of these behind. The other theory (with its own set of hard to believe/ imagine problems) is that these things formed from the baking of the lime stones at the exact impact site all the way back to carbon (with the calcium and oxygen being completely driven off). This graphite (carbon) would have then mixed with some of the actual iron body that formed the main crater. Either way, these are fascinating and quite rare items. I have VERY few.
1) Natural shaped individuals/ fragments lightly brushed:
a) 5.0 grams – 23mm x 18mm x 7mm - $10
b) 16.1 grams - 30mm x 17mm x 13mm - $32
c) 39.4 grams - 43mm x 34mm x 22mm - $75
d) 61.6 grams – 53mm x 33mm x 25mm - $110

NWA (7018): Ordinary chondrite, (H6), S2, W2/3. Found before February 2011. Tkw = 443.4 grams.
This is yet another case of supposed to be primitive achondrite but was really an H chondrite. The seller said that this was a another piece of an already known brachinite. It certainly did look like it could be (and I didn’t have any XRF machine and data to help). I cut it up into slices and did find a couple things that looked like they could be chondrules. Otherwise, this thing had the crystalline texture of an anchondrite. Unfortunately, research work did show it was an H. Fortunately, the Moroccan who sold it to me gave me some credit towards other things for this “goof”. Anyway, this does have a lighter brown color than typical “weathered” H chondrites (more of a nice medium brown). It has a crystalline look like a brachinite and only a very rare chondrule or something hinting at being a chondrule. This one was probably only a tiny step away from being an “H7”.
1) Slices:
a) 4.5 grams - 20mm x 20mm x 5mm - $9
b) 8.5 grams - 30mm x 23mm x 4mm - $17
c) 25.9 grams - 50mm x 35mm x 5mm - $45 – complete slice.

NWA (7197): Ordinary chondrite. (L3.8). Found before February 2009. Tkw = 1148.5 grams.
The weathering grade reported for this one (W3) has me confused. I have a bag of cut pieces of this meteorite and they all look quite fresh. There is quite a bit of metal and sulfides visible in a very light gray, nearly white matrix. Unfortunately, the chondrules, while very present, are not all that easily visible in much of this material. However, in the rare spot that does show some oxidation, they are visible and there are a lot of them (hmm, should I put this in some water for a few weeks?). I suspect that the t-section for the research work was from one of these more weathered areas (I seem to recall that I bought this one after specimens had already been sent in). Despite the report, this is definitely one of the fresher type 3s (visually anyway) I’ve had.
1) Slices:
a) 3.2 grams - 30mm x 13mm x 3mm - $13
b) 6.1 grams - 32mm x 18mm x 3mm - $25
c) 11.1 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 3mm - $45
d) 20.5 grams - 70mm x 33mm x 3mm - $80
e) 45.4 grams - 67mm x 60mm x 4mm - $175

NWA (7346): Ordinary chondrite. (LL6), W1. Found before February 2009. Tkw = 269.3 grams.
This one was originally thought to be a howardite as it has lots of fine shock veins and light clasts/ breccia fragments in a medium gray matrix. The XRF showed it was just an LL though (much to the disappointment of the original buyer of this who
bought it as a howardite). Full research work proved this to be the case. Aside from the presence of some metal and sulfides (very little actually, but a little more than a typical achondrite would have) this could easily be mistaken for a howardite in any collection. This was a small stone so I don’t have a lot of this fresh, interesting and aesthetic material.
1) Slices:
a) 2.8 grams - 17mm x 17mm x 4mm - $17
b) 6.0 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 4mm - $36
c) 12.1 grams - 35mm x 27mm x 4mm - $70
d) 25.2 grams - 58mm x 35mm x 4mm - $145

SaU (560), Oman: Ordinary chondrite. (H6), W3. Found March 2006. Tkw = 2776 grams.
I got this from Robert Ward and was able to get it classified and reported later through UNM. Robert had already cut and polished some of this. He had cut a thin end piece off of this stone (which I broke in these smaller pieces) and left the bulk of it as a nice large end piece that displays very nicely. He put a high diamond polish on these so they are quite nice in appearance. Unlike the NWA (7018) listed above, this does have quite a number of obvious chondrules and chondrule fragments.
1) End pieces:
a) 20.9 grams - 30mm x 12mm x 12mm - $25
b) 50.9 grams - 48mm x 45mm x 10mm - $50
c) 111.6 grams - 85mm x 40mm x 10mm - $100
d) 2306.4 grams - 140mm x 110mm x 70mm - $1150 – main mass, nice display piece.

NWA (7020): Carbonaceous chondrite (CR2). Found before February 2011. Tkw = 715 grams.
It has been quite a while since I have been able to offer a CR. This type meteorite is one of my favorites. Lots of chondrules, many of which are surrounded by metal, along with lots of other chunks of metal (some rounded looking like metal chondrules) make these one of the most visually striking meteorites available. This one took a bit of time to get through research. Part of it was that the original thin-sectioned piece had pretty much no water altered minerals in it – making it possible that this was a super rare CR3. Other pieces t-sectioned pieces later showed some (but still very little) hydrated minerals so this eventually passed through the nomenclature committee as a CR2 after all. I have only a handful of mostly small end pieces available (however, I do have a pretty good bag of small individuals/ fragments if any of you need pieces for meteorite kits/ micros or such). Of the two largest sizes I have only one of each, unfortunately.
1) Cut fragments/ end pieces:
a) .8 grams - 13mm x 10mm x 3mm - $20
b) 1.5 grams - 15mm x 11mm x 5mm - $38
c) 3.0 grams - 24mm x 14mm x 4mm - $75
d) 5.1 grams - 23mm x 20mm x 6mm - $125
e) 10.0 grams - 27mm x 23mm x 8mm - $250
f) 15.8 grams - 35mm x 25mm x 8mm - $395

NWA (8043): Achondrite. (Diogenite). Found before July 2013. Tkw = over 1860 grams.
This neat material is something Matt got for me from one of his sources. This is strange/ different looking material. These are somewhat angular fragments (natural but cleaned of most adhering dirt) that are composed of blocky intensely green crystals. The classification description described this meteorite as “somewhat friable (a bit crumbly but these pieces are fairly solid) material is composed almost entirely of coarse-grained transparent green pyroxene crystals”. I put “over 1860 grams” on the TKW of this. 1860 grams is what I got (which was assigned the NWA(8043) number) but I saw a few handfuls or so of this at the Denver Show and this is more than likely paired to NWA (7977), which was 3.4kg. None the less, interesting and different material and probably the cheapest diogenite I have ever offered. Note: I have very few of the larger size pieces.
1) Natural fragments, cleaned to remove most of the original adhering dirt:
a) 5.4 grams - 20mm x 13mm x 12mm - $33
b) 10.2 grams - 30mm x 15mm x 9mm - $61
c) 21.3 grams - 30mm x 27mm x 13mm - $125
d) 38.6 grams - 42mm x 30mm x 20mm - $225
e) 59.3 grams - 45mm x 35mm x 25mm - $340
f) 130.2 grams – 50mm x 47mm x 30mm - $735

Please note:
The post office drastically increased most shipping rates (and they are going to increase them yet again later this month). For small US orders $3 should still be fine. Larger orders are now $12 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it). The real increases came in overseas (or even Canada) shipping. These prices pretty much doubled from what they were before. Now small overseas orders are around $9 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Thankfully, it seems that the rate for registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is still $12 (for now).
My fax machine has pretty much blown up on me. I can nurse it to work if I must (but often loose the incoming fax if I am not really careful). For overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail. I generally get/ deal with phone calls quicker but I will try to keep up on checking e-mail this time.

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 146, last of 2013

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 146, last of 2013

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………………………LIST 146

December 17, 2013

Dear Collectors,

This is going out the right day but a bit later than I would have liked. I was out of town for 5 days and I just got back last night. Of coarse, there were great piles of mail, phone messages, etc. waiting for me (I seem to get more “business” when I am not home. Maybe I should try to be gone more often). Anyway, I got caught up on the really important stuff and finally got around to typing this up well after 1PM. This will most certainly be my last list of 2013.

WHITECOURT, Canada: Iron. Medium octahedrite (IIIAB). Found July 1, 2009.
Here is one of the tiny handful of known meteorites that have an associated impact crater. The crater is about 40meters (about 130 feet) in diameter. Many meteorite fragments have been found since its discovery. Unfortunately, not all that many pieces have made it into collector’s hands. Most of the area where meteorites have been found has long since been protected as off limits for hunting meteorites. A further burden lies in getting the proper export permits for the material. Regardless, these three pieces were found by a customer of mine AND legally exported. The two larger pieces even have their exact find coordinates with them. These all have the full legal export permits. However, the two largest specimens here were exported under one certificate so I made a copy of this certificate (front and back) to put with the smaller specimen (the larger comes with the original as does the smallest piece listed here). Anyway, these are all natural as found fragments that have a very obvious shrapnel shape to them. I think these may be the first pieces of this meteorite I have offered.
a) 40.5 gram individual – 35mm x 26mm x 15mm - $300 – has original export permit papers.
b) 49.7 gram individual – 36mm x 28mm x 15mm - $350 – has photo copy of export permit.
c) 67.6 gram individual – 55mm x 30mm x 15mm - $490 – has original export permit papers.

CAT MOUNTAIN, Arizona: (L5), impact melt breccia. Found 1980. Tkw = 2.7 kilograms.
I remember the excitement and confusion this thing created when it came out. Robert Haag had bought this thing from a guy
that found it while hiking on A-mountain in Tucson. The thing certainly didn’t look like a meteorite. It looked like slag,
complete with some gas bubbles (a big part of what the “confusion” was over. How could a meteorite look like this?). Cutting
and research did indeed show that this was a meteorite. I think it was the very first of its kind reported (these things are still quite rare but a number o them have come out of NWA). The stuff was so weird and exciting it rapidly sold at hundreds of
dollars per gram! Anyway, I did not get any myself and this piece may be the first I have offered (certainly the only large piece anyway). This is a nice ¼ slice (two cut edges, the remainder being the natural fusion crust/ natural edge). This piece also has nice internal structure as well. There are areas that look like highly shocked L5 but there is a large “vein” of melt flow (about
40% of the surface) splitting this “matrix” material. Neat piece. The provenance on this (so you can be sure it is NOT an NWA
being passed on as a more desirable specimen) is I got it from Matt Morgan who got it from the collector that bought it directly from Robert Haag years ago. There were no certificate/ cards with this but the writing on the bag sure looks like Robert’s hand writing to me.
13.3 gram ¼ slice – 40mm x 40mm x 2mm - $1000

CLAXTON, Georgia: (L6). Fell December 10, 1984. Tkw = 1455 grams.
This is the famous one that took out a mail box in its fall. I owned that for around 5 years before selling it off and buying a piece of land with the proceeds. Anyway, I have not had a piece of the meteorite in a long time. Matt had this small piece set out and I asked if I could offer it on a list. Obviously the answer was “yes”. This not an extremely exciting piece. Just a nice fresh triangular shaped slice in a membrane box. However, what little of this was released to collectors years ago has long since found homes and it is a rare day that one has the chance to buy any piece of this one.
.635 gram slice – 16mm x 8mm x 2mm - $300

CUMBERLAND FALLS, Kentucky: (Aubrite). Fell April9, 1919. Tkw = 14.1 kilograms.
Here are a couple really nice little micros (?) These are probably better termed as “macros”, small but still show a good representative texture (breccia in this case). These are the kinds of pieces I would have in my “micro” collection (in fact I may indeed have a similar piece of this meteorite hiding there right now). Not cheap, but very nice and rarely offered.
a) .83 gram slice – 15mm x 12mm x 2mm - $200
b) 1.13 gram slice – 14mm x 14mm x 2mm - $280

D’ORBIGNY, Argentina: (Angrite). Found 1979. Tkw = 16.55 kilograms.
I think this one was even worse than Cat Mountain for creating a stir in the collecting community. The first time I ever saw it ( a large piece that ASU had for a potential trade) I could not believe that it could possibly be a meteorite. It had a weird elongate crystal texture. Different but not that different. However, this thing had holes in it, sometimes very large holes. AND these holes sometimes had weird long brown crystals growing in them. Absolutely astounding. I it weren’t for the presence of at least some fusion crusty, and a lot of detailed scientific work, this thing would likely never have been recognized as a meteorite. (HOWEVER – this does NOT mean that things that have a passing resemblance to this, or other meteorite types ARE meteorites.). These are nice, thin small slices. These pieces (except the very smallest) have some open areas/ vesicles, though most of these are very irregular in shape. The largest piece though does have a 3mm “crater” that is really a portion of one of the large round vesicles found in this meteorite.
a) .57 gram slice – 10mm x 10mm x 2mm - $150
b) 1.00 gram slice – 13mm x 12mm x 2mm - $260
c) 1.56 gram slice – 20mm x 13mm x 2mm - $405
d) 1.90 gram slice – 20mm x 16mm x 2mm - $495