Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- After Tucson List #2
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 201
March 7, 2017
Dear collectors,
Here is “After Tucson” #2
ADMIRE, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1881.
This is a little piece that broke off while I was polishing the Admire slice that has the large olivine (the slice offered on the last list. I’ll have another more typical textured large Admire slice on the next list). Mike had opticoned the pieces and etched one side. I then “took ownership” of the pieces before he had the chance to etch the second side. I wanted them simply polished. He didn’t have time before heading off to Tucson (he got there almost a week before I did) so he did not polish them down (which, apparently, is more difficult/ time consuming than etching. But then that is for him. Frankly, I suck at etching). I did the polishing myself and managed to break this little piece off the large olivine chunk off while doing so. This is typical metal and olivine pallasite textured material.
8.9 gram slice – 40mm x 20mm x 3mm - $45 SOLD
CAMPO DEL CIELO, Argentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1576.
Here is a neat large (and thick) etched slice I picked up at the show (I needed a space filler as I sold out of a number of things in the iron section of my table) and wanted something other than Seymchan for an etched iron to show/ sell. Anyway, this is kind of a cool long skinny piece that is etched on both sides. One end has a fairly large (25mm x 20mm) silicate, graphite nodule. A neat display piece.
2695 gam complete etched slice – 300mm x 65mm x 18mm - $1100
GAO, Burkina Faso: (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
This is a nice complete individual. It (aside from a tiny 3mm late atmospheric chip) is completely covered in thick primary crust. There are some areas of light brown oxidation, but most of the crust is a nice dark slate gray to black.
32.2 gram complete crusted individual – 45mm x 22mm x 18mm - $50
GLORIETTA MOUNTAIN, New Mexico: (Pallasite). Found 1884.
Now here are a couple nice specimens of a meteorite type I have not had in a long time (and it has been far longer since I have had individuals of this find). These are natural complete iron (as most of the recovered material from the find are) individuals. Both clearly show rounded, atmospherically sculpted shapes and both have nice patches of original blue-gray iron fusion crust (before Sikhote-Alin came out, this was about the ONLY meteorite a collector could get that showed this). The smaller specimen is a bit cleaner, smoother than the larger one but both are nice representative specimens of this very hard to come by these days meteorite.
1) Complete individuals as found:
a) 19.3 grams – 28mm x 22mm x 8mm - $290
b) 32.1 grams – 35mm x 19mm x 14mm - $450
KATOL, India: (L6). Fell May 22, 2012. Tkw = about 13 kilograms.
Here is a fresh and wonderful specimen that was left on consignment with me for the show (at a price less than ½ of what I have in the few pieces of this fall I have in my collection and for sale). I came really close to getting this thing sold at the show. Unfortunately, that did not work out and, unfortunately, the owner never came back to pick it up (but then I am sure they knew that I would take it home and try selling it to other customers on line and at other shows). Anyway, this is a super nice nearly complete individual. It has had two edges broken of (probably during the fall) but still has probably better than 75% crust coverage. This crust is thick primary crust and is fresh and black aside from some minor dirt and scuff- marks from its landing.
338.6 gram fresh individual – 60mm x 55mm x 45mm - $5100
MUNDRABILLA, Australia: Medium octahedrite (ungrouped). Found 1911.
This is a nice natural individual I got as part of the small collection if irons I got at the show. This particular piece is quite a bit larger than the typical Mundrabilla specimens I see (which are usually around 50 to 80 grams maybe). This piece has a nice sculpted shape, showing nice thumb-printing in many areas but a more rounded, nodular look (typical of smaller Mundrabilla specimens) in others. Nice piece overall.
164.5 gram natural individual – 63mm x 35mm x 25mm - $140 SOLD
NWA (8043): HED achondrite (Diogenite). Found before July 2013. Tkw = over 1860 grams.
Well, truthfully, this particular specimen was obviously cut from one of the pairings to NWA (8043). My largest piece (from the actual 1860g batch that made up NWA (8043)) was only around 50 or 60 grams I think (certainly nowhere large enough to cut a fantastic specimen like this). This amazing super thin slice was cut from a MUCH larger specimen. This piece is cut thin enough that light passes through pretty much everywhere. A real (all be it intensely green) stained glass window. Really neat. I may consider breaking this apart into smaller pieces (at a slightly higher price per gram) if I do not sell it intact and I have enough requests for smaller pieces (but I do kind of really hope it does not come to that).
38.4 gram super thin, transparent slice – 140mm x 75mm x 1mm - $750
Friday 3 March 2017
Wednesday 22 February 2017
Blaine Reed meteorites For sale- List 200 - After Tucson #1
Blaine Reed meteorites For sale- List 200 - After Tucson #1
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 200
February 21, 2017
Dear collectors,
Here is my first (of several) “after Tucson” lists. These are comprised of things I bought and/ or were left with me to sell at the show.
ADMIRE, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1881.
Now here is a slice that will make pretty much any collector say “WOW!”. This has a HUGE (180mm x 100mm) chunk/ cluster of olivine making up better than ½ of the specimen (the remainder being the usual iron/ olivine pallasite mix). I had a slice similar to this (it was cut from the same amazing specimen, which I now own the main portion of) years ago in Tucson and it sold quickly (with good reason). This piece is a thinner one than the one I sold earlier so it shows light through a good number of the crystals. I cannot guarantee stability of any piece of meteorite (even Gibeon will rust if not coated and/or mistreated) but I strongly suspect that this piece is far, far better than most. Part of this is that the end piece (and this slice) was cut over 5 years ago and was sitting around a shop in Arkansas (not exactly a dry area) with no special protection and it hardly had any rust at all (only a few small spots) and took no time at all for me to shine up (most Admire specimens would have probably exploded under such conditions). Secondly, Mike Miller did what little treatment was needed on this piece before I got it (something this thin would not have survived long enough to be polished and etched if it were unstable). I trust him with rust prone material more than anyone else. I have seen (and owned) pieces of “unstable” meteorites from Mike (like Chinga and Nantan slices) that have lasted years with no sign of rust – so he obviously has some pretty good processing secrets.
483.8 gram slice with large olivine – 240mm x 150mm x 3mm - $2500
AIQUILE, Bolivia: Ordinary chondrite (unstudied). Fell November 20, 2016.
Back in 2001, I personally found Bolivia’s first know stone meteorite – an extremely weathered 12.3g fragment of an (H5) called “Sevaruyo”. Carancas ALMOST became their first witnessed fall but managed to make it a few miles into Peru to form its impact crater. Well, here now FINALLY is Bolivia’s true first witnessed fall (of any kind). This material has not been studied yet (that work is being done in Brazil, apparently) but, to me, this is clearly an H4 or H5 breccia. I picked up a few pieces of this (one of which I am keeping) in a trade. These are both slices of a small fragment (most of the pieces recovered from this fall are broken) and have at least one edge showing fusion crust. The interior of these is bright and fresh, showing lots of metal in a white to light gray matrix. Not cheap specimens, honestly, but I don’t think that a lot of this material will be coming out (I hear rumors of making further recoveries “government property”).
1) Part slices:
a) 3.28 grams – 20mm x 17mm x 3mm - $150
b) 5.47 grams – 35mm x 17mm x 3mm - $220
CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
This is another piece that came with the iron collection I bought at the show. It is a nice medium grade (not super art sculpted but certainly not an ugly lump either) that has been moderately wire brushed. It still shows some natural oxide areas among the usual gray-black brushed surfaces. I have priced this at what I was getting (wholesale) out of similar sized (but probably not as nice) pieces during the show.
190.2 gram brushed individual – 55mm x 35mm x 25mm - $160
GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008
This is a nice mirror-polished (on both sides) super thin complete slice. I had sold this to an antiquities dealer some years ago (he thought it might sell to people collecting Egypt stuff among his customers). He ended up trading it back to me this Tucson for Moon/ Mars boxes. Anyway, this is a nice piece and is probably priced below what I sold it for those years ago (it was a consigned item at that time).
41.6 gram mirror-polished complete slice – 85mm x 60mm x 1mm - $145
MOLDAVITES:
I traded for a nice hand-full of these at the show. These are mostly fairly typical pieces (in size shape and texture). I try to have in inventory pieces that are complete (not chips and fragments), have nice texturing (not super deep etching like Besednice pieces but not river rounded lumps either) and are moderately priced. The few I picked out here are merely a few that kind of caught my eye as being a bit better and larger than much of the rest (though there are indeed plenty of other nice pieces remaining in the lot). These are nice complete specimens that are covered with quite intense (but not real deep) pitting/ etching. The largest piece has several deep grooves that are likely the result of ground acid etching of cooling or stretch cracks in the specimen originally after it fell.
1) Nice natural individuals:
a) 7.2 grams – 33mm x 17mm x 9mm - $40
b) 9.9 grams – 30mm x 28mm x 8mm - $55
c) 14.1 grams – 33mm x 30mm x 9mm - $80
SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is actually a pretty nice specimen despite the fact that it has been cleaned (wire-brushed) a bit harsher than I would have chosen. Sadly, it does not really appear that the piece originally had enough rust spots on it to warrant brushing in the first place. None the less, this is still covered with fusion crust (that is just a bit shinier than an unbrushed crusted piece) and is clearly a nice oriented specimen. The front is the conical (all be it fairly thin) thumb-printed shaped you expect on an oriented specimen. The back is very flat and has a clear a roll-over rim running around its outer edge. A nice piece, just cleaned a little more than I would have done.
50.3 gram oriented individual – 40mm x 25mm x 10mm - $175
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 200
February 21, 2017
Dear collectors,
Here is my first (of several) “after Tucson” lists. These are comprised of things I bought and/ or were left with me to sell at the show.
ADMIRE, Kansas: (Pallasite). Found 1881.
Now here is a slice that will make pretty much any collector say “WOW!”. This has a HUGE (180mm x 100mm) chunk/ cluster of olivine making up better than ½ of the specimen (the remainder being the usual iron/ olivine pallasite mix). I had a slice similar to this (it was cut from the same amazing specimen, which I now own the main portion of) years ago in Tucson and it sold quickly (with good reason). This piece is a thinner one than the one I sold earlier so it shows light through a good number of the crystals. I cannot guarantee stability of any piece of meteorite (even Gibeon will rust if not coated and/or mistreated) but I strongly suspect that this piece is far, far better than most. Part of this is that the end piece (and this slice) was cut over 5 years ago and was sitting around a shop in Arkansas (not exactly a dry area) with no special protection and it hardly had any rust at all (only a few small spots) and took no time at all for me to shine up (most Admire specimens would have probably exploded under such conditions). Secondly, Mike Miller did what little treatment was needed on this piece before I got it (something this thin would not have survived long enough to be polished and etched if it were unstable). I trust him with rust prone material more than anyone else. I have seen (and owned) pieces of “unstable” meteorites from Mike (like Chinga and Nantan slices) that have lasted years with no sign of rust – so he obviously has some pretty good processing secrets.
483.8 gram slice with large olivine – 240mm x 150mm x 3mm - $2500
AIQUILE, Bolivia: Ordinary chondrite (unstudied). Fell November 20, 2016.
Back in 2001, I personally found Bolivia’s first know stone meteorite – an extremely weathered 12.3g fragment of an (H5) called “Sevaruyo”. Carancas ALMOST became their first witnessed fall but managed to make it a few miles into Peru to form its impact crater. Well, here now FINALLY is Bolivia’s true first witnessed fall (of any kind). This material has not been studied yet (that work is being done in Brazil, apparently) but, to me, this is clearly an H4 or H5 breccia. I picked up a few pieces of this (one of which I am keeping) in a trade. These are both slices of a small fragment (most of the pieces recovered from this fall are broken) and have at least one edge showing fusion crust. The interior of these is bright and fresh, showing lots of metal in a white to light gray matrix. Not cheap specimens, honestly, but I don’t think that a lot of this material will be coming out (I hear rumors of making further recoveries “government property”).
1) Part slices:
a) 3.28 grams – 20mm x 17mm x 3mm - $150
b) 5.47 grams – 35mm x 17mm x 3mm - $220
CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
This is another piece that came with the iron collection I bought at the show. It is a nice medium grade (not super art sculpted but certainly not an ugly lump either) that has been moderately wire brushed. It still shows some natural oxide areas among the usual gray-black brushed surfaces. I have priced this at what I was getting (wholesale) out of similar sized (but probably not as nice) pieces during the show.
190.2 gram brushed individual – 55mm x 35mm x 25mm - $160
GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008
This is a nice mirror-polished (on both sides) super thin complete slice. I had sold this to an antiquities dealer some years ago (he thought it might sell to people collecting Egypt stuff among his customers). He ended up trading it back to me this Tucson for Moon/ Mars boxes. Anyway, this is a nice piece and is probably priced below what I sold it for those years ago (it was a consigned item at that time).
41.6 gram mirror-polished complete slice – 85mm x 60mm x 1mm - $145
MOLDAVITES:
I traded for a nice hand-full of these at the show. These are mostly fairly typical pieces (in size shape and texture). I try to have in inventory pieces that are complete (not chips and fragments), have nice texturing (not super deep etching like Besednice pieces but not river rounded lumps either) and are moderately priced. The few I picked out here are merely a few that kind of caught my eye as being a bit better and larger than much of the rest (though there are indeed plenty of other nice pieces remaining in the lot). These are nice complete specimens that are covered with quite intense (but not real deep) pitting/ etching. The largest piece has several deep grooves that are likely the result of ground acid etching of cooling or stretch cracks in the specimen originally after it fell.
1) Nice natural individuals:
a) 7.2 grams – 33mm x 17mm x 9mm - $40
b) 9.9 grams – 30mm x 28mm x 8mm - $55
c) 14.1 grams – 33mm x 30mm x 9mm - $80
SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
This is actually a pretty nice specimen despite the fact that it has been cleaned (wire-brushed) a bit harsher than I would have chosen. Sadly, it does not really appear that the piece originally had enough rust spots on it to warrant brushing in the first place. None the less, this is still covered with fusion crust (that is just a bit shinier than an unbrushed crusted piece) and is clearly a nice oriented specimen. The front is the conical (all be it fairly thin) thumb-printed shaped you expect on an oriented specimen. The back is very flat and has a clear a roll-over rim running around its outer edge. A nice piece, just cleaned a little more than I would have done.
50.3 gram oriented individual – 40mm x 25mm x 10mm - $175
Thursday 5 January 2017
Blaine reed meteorites For sale - List 199 - recently mailed list and Tucson info
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 199
January 5, 2017
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
TUCSON SHOW INFO: For the far too rapidly approaching Tucson show, I will be on the road from January 25th until around February 15th. For the show itself, I will be in my usual spot: Ramada Limited (665 N. Freeway, Tucson) room 134. I should be open by mid to late morning Saturday January 28th. I likely will indeed stay through the bitter end – February 11th will be the last day. I open the door most days at 10AM. I will have the door open most evenings until around 9:30pm or so (or later if people are visiting/ still wandering about) but there may be a couple nights I will be out for dinner or such but that should be rare.
SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIB). Fell February 12, 1947.
I had set aside a sealed ammo can of really nice larger shrapnel pieces (now quite rare) many, many years ago. A bulk order for some pieces that I didn’t have readily available in my “working inventory” caused me to pull this batch out. WOW! I really set aside some nice piece way back when. These listed here are all the super classic thin, twisted, heavily stretch-marked top quality specimens one desires from a shrapnel piece. The price might seem high (and it is compared to when I set these aside) but I am offering these at or below what pretty much any Sikhote-Alin shrapnel specimens (generally plain and small) would cost to replace from the very few sources that have them these days.
1) Shrapnel fragments, classic shape, wire brushed clean:
a) 51.1 grams - 47mm x 35mm x 10mm - $50
b) 91.7 grams - 64mm x 35mm x 10mm - $87
c) 134.1 grams - 60mm x 44mm x 17mm - $120
d) 247.2 grams - 70mm x 50mm x 20mm - $210
e) 639.2 grams - 90mm x 60mm x 35mm - $500
DIMMITT, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H3.7). Found 1942. Tkw = about 200 kilograms.
Here are some wonderful individuals that I set aside many, many years ago. I got them when TCU/ Monig collection first started to release specimens to the collecting world (they have since stopped). These all have nice rounded edges, sculpted shapes. They are complete as found (except I have cleaned the dirt off of them) and are mostly primary crusted but some do show some old breaks (most being likely secondary crust). These have a pleasing orange brown to dark chocolate brown color. Unfortunately, none of these has a clear Monig label as, back in those very early days, TCU required that these be removed in hopes that the larger meteorite world would not know where these specimens came from (that didn’t work. TCU soon got flooded with requests for trades and sales – some 200 e-mails in one day at one point I was told!).
1) Nice sculpted individuals:
a) 40.6 grams - 38mm x 32mm x 17mm - $100
b) 86.1 grams - 55mm x 35mm x 30mm - $200
c) 161.5 grams - 65mm x 45mm x 30mm - $365
d) 299.8 grams - 65mm x 50mm x 40mm - $600
e) 495.8 grams - 80mm x 60mm x 50mm - $850
f) 866.7 grams - 120mm x 55mm x 55mm - $1300
NWA 8387: Ordinary chondrite. (LL3.9). Found before February 2014. Tkw = 1149.5 grams.
Here is a piece that I pulled out of a bin of Moroccan chondrites during the 2014 Tucson Show. It looked identical to the NWA (7197) L3.8 that I had offered on a mailed list immediately before the show. I thought that this was another piece and would save time (and some money) on getting it “market ready”. It turned out, however, that this was NOT the same as NWA (7197) but quite a bit rarer. This is an almost equilibrated LL chondrite, not an L. LLs are quite a bit less common then Ls (something like 1/5th or 1/7th as many I think) and the 3s and 4s are the rarer of this group (actually 4s are a bit scarcer than 3s, interestingly). This is quite nice. It has lots of chondrules of all sizes (though the light color makes it a bit hard to see many of them at a casual glance), metal and sulfides in a light mottled gray to tan matrix.
1) Slices:
a) 4.7 grams - 24mm x 15mm x 4mm - $24
b) 8.1 grams - 34mm x 23mm x 3mm - $40
c) 16.2 grams - 46mm x 33mm x 3mm - $80
d) 34.8 grams - 55mm x 52mm x 4mm - $165
e) 60.9 grams - 87mm x 46mm x 4mm - $280 – complete slice.
f) 96.6 grams - 105mm x 54mm x 5mm - $425 – complete slice.
2) End piece:
405.3 grams - 100mm x 56mm x 35mm - $1600 – Main mass.
SaU 582, Oman: Ordinary chondrite (L5) S3, W2. Found March 12, 2010. Tkw = 55 kilograms.
This might be my last “new” Oman stone. It seems that the Meteoritical Society has indeed set up rules against researchers working on “things that may not have been fully legally exported”. I think this one got done just before that was announced (and there is still some argument as to whether or not there truly was any kind of ban on meteorites from Oman at the time this was found. Frankly, I’d be surprised if they really were concerned about an L5 “getting away” regardless). Anyway, this is nothing special really, just a typical weathered L5 but it is very affordable (for fully studied and prepared material anyway). Chondrules and some metal is visible in the medium to dark brown matrix. Robert Ward found this stuff as a number of large stones (7kg the largest I think) and fragments in a small area. I got a couple kilos of the fragments from him a couple years ago and finally got around to preparing them for sale.
1) Slices:
a) 13.4 grams - 30mm x 28mm x 5mm - $10
b) 23.0 grams - 45mm x 40mm x 5mm - $17
c) 44.1 grams - 60mm x 40mm x 5mm - $33
3) End pieces:
a) 45.2 grams - 55mm x 22mm x 18mm - $32
b) 94.9 grams - 60mm x 35mm x 20mm - $65
c) 162.3 grams - 65mm x 60mm x 20mm - $95
NWA 10637: Primitive achondrite (Brachinite). Found before February 2016. Tkw = 554.2 grams.
It has been a loooong time since I have offered a brachinite on a catalog (possibly more than 20 years, when I had a couple chunks from Australia in the early ‘90s). I picked up this natural fragment late in the show last year (in fact, I think it is the only NWA meteorite I picked up in Tucson last year). Brachinites are one of the very rarest and least understood meteorite types. They are mostly olivine (this one is 87% olivine) along with trace amounts of pyroxene. These rocks likely represent mantle material from an unknown parent body (though their oxygen isotopes overlap those of Angrites). These slices are somewhat weathered (dark to medium almost orange brown) but clearly show the classic equigranular crystal texture of brachinites.
1) Slices:
a) 1.5 grams - 20mm x 9mm x 3mm - $30
b) 2.9 grams - 20mm x 13mm x 4mm - $58
c) 4.9 grams - 30mm x 17mm x 3mm - $98
d) 9.0 grams - 42mm x 28mm x 3mm - $180 – full slice.
e) 17.8 grams - 64mm x 30mm x 3mm - $320 – full slice.
f) 36.4 grams - 80mm x 45mm x 3.5mm - $625 – full slice.
PALLADOT: Extraterrestrial faceted olivine gemstones.
Here is an assortment of wonderful little faceted peridot (olivine) gemstones from the Admire, Kansas pallasite. Admire is one of the most beautiful meteorites in the world but it is known (generally) for rapid rusting (though I have a nice 9.2kg chunk that is indeed very stable – It will be on display for sale in Tucson). However, pieces that do fall apart turned out to be a good source for true outer space gems stones. It turns out that pallasite olivine is indeed noticeably different (under microscopic inspection) from common terrestrial peridot gems. The pallisitc material has unique inclusions (and often shows a “cats eye” Chatoyancy effect – also unique to pallisitic peridot) such that the G.I.A. has officially recognized these as a new gemstone type – now officially listed as “Palladot” (a combination of the words pallasite and peridot). Anyway, here is an assortment of round “brilliant” cut stones at a price of about 1/5th what they were originally priced at. Supply is VERY limited. I do have a few oval and emerald cut (square/ rectangular) in similar sizes and prices available, so ask if that is what you prefer.
1) Round brilliant cut gemstones in glass fronted plastic display box.
a) 1.5mm diameter stone - about .016 carat - $20
b) 2.0mm diameter stone – about .035 carat - $35
c) 2.5mm diameter stone – about .064 carat - $60
d) 3.0mm diameter stone – about .10 carat - $90
Please note:
Shipping: For small US orders $3 should still be fine for now. Larger orders are now $13 (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 $10 (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 $13.
I do have a new 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. How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 199
January 5, 2017
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
TUCSON SHOW INFO: For the far too rapidly approaching Tucson show, I will be on the road from January 25th until around February 15th. For the show itself, I will be in my usual spot: Ramada Limited (665 N. Freeway, Tucson) room 134. I should be open by mid to late morning Saturday January 28th. I likely will indeed stay through the bitter end – February 11th will be the last day. I open the door most days at 10AM. I will have the door open most evenings until around 9:30pm or so (or later if people are visiting/ still wandering about) but there may be a couple nights I will be out for dinner or such but that should be rare.
SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIB). Fell February 12, 1947.
I had set aside a sealed ammo can of really nice larger shrapnel pieces (now quite rare) many, many years ago. A bulk order for some pieces that I didn’t have readily available in my “working inventory” caused me to pull this batch out. WOW! I really set aside some nice piece way back when. These listed here are all the super classic thin, twisted, heavily stretch-marked top quality specimens one desires from a shrapnel piece. The price might seem high (and it is compared to when I set these aside) but I am offering these at or below what pretty much any Sikhote-Alin shrapnel specimens (generally plain and small) would cost to replace from the very few sources that have them these days.
1) Shrapnel fragments, classic shape, wire brushed clean:
a) 51.1 grams - 47mm x 35mm x 10mm - $50
b) 91.7 grams - 64mm x 35mm x 10mm - $87
c) 134.1 grams - 60mm x 44mm x 17mm - $120
d) 247.2 grams - 70mm x 50mm x 20mm - $210
e) 639.2 grams - 90mm x 60mm x 35mm - $500
DIMMITT, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H3.7). Found 1942. Tkw = about 200 kilograms.
Here are some wonderful individuals that I set aside many, many years ago. I got them when TCU/ Monig collection first started to release specimens to the collecting world (they have since stopped). These all have nice rounded edges, sculpted shapes. They are complete as found (except I have cleaned the dirt off of them) and are mostly primary crusted but some do show some old breaks (most being likely secondary crust). These have a pleasing orange brown to dark chocolate brown color. Unfortunately, none of these has a clear Monig label as, back in those very early days, TCU required that these be removed in hopes that the larger meteorite world would not know where these specimens came from (that didn’t work. TCU soon got flooded with requests for trades and sales – some 200 e-mails in one day at one point I was told!).
1) Nice sculpted individuals:
a) 40.6 grams - 38mm x 32mm x 17mm - $100
b) 86.1 grams - 55mm x 35mm x 30mm - $200
c) 161.5 grams - 65mm x 45mm x 30mm - $365
d) 299.8 grams - 65mm x 50mm x 40mm - $600
e) 495.8 grams - 80mm x 60mm x 50mm - $850
f) 866.7 grams - 120mm x 55mm x 55mm - $1300
NWA 8387: Ordinary chondrite. (LL3.9). Found before February 2014. Tkw = 1149.5 grams.
Here is a piece that I pulled out of a bin of Moroccan chondrites during the 2014 Tucson Show. It looked identical to the NWA (7197) L3.8 that I had offered on a mailed list immediately before the show. I thought that this was another piece and would save time (and some money) on getting it “market ready”. It turned out, however, that this was NOT the same as NWA (7197) but quite a bit rarer. This is an almost equilibrated LL chondrite, not an L. LLs are quite a bit less common then Ls (something like 1/5th or 1/7th as many I think) and the 3s and 4s are the rarer of this group (actually 4s are a bit scarcer than 3s, interestingly). This is quite nice. It has lots of chondrules of all sizes (though the light color makes it a bit hard to see many of them at a casual glance), metal and sulfides in a light mottled gray to tan matrix.
1) Slices:
a) 4.7 grams - 24mm x 15mm x 4mm - $24
b) 8.1 grams - 34mm x 23mm x 3mm - $40
c) 16.2 grams - 46mm x 33mm x 3mm - $80
d) 34.8 grams - 55mm x 52mm x 4mm - $165
e) 60.9 grams - 87mm x 46mm x 4mm - $280 – complete slice.
f) 96.6 grams - 105mm x 54mm x 5mm - $425 – complete slice.
2) End piece:
405.3 grams - 100mm x 56mm x 35mm - $1600 – Main mass.
SaU 582, Oman: Ordinary chondrite (L5) S3, W2. Found March 12, 2010. Tkw = 55 kilograms.
This might be my last “new” Oman stone. It seems that the Meteoritical Society has indeed set up rules against researchers working on “things that may not have been fully legally exported”. I think this one got done just before that was announced (and there is still some argument as to whether or not there truly was any kind of ban on meteorites from Oman at the time this was found. Frankly, I’d be surprised if they really were concerned about an L5 “getting away” regardless). Anyway, this is nothing special really, just a typical weathered L5 but it is very affordable (for fully studied and prepared material anyway). Chondrules and some metal is visible in the medium to dark brown matrix. Robert Ward found this stuff as a number of large stones (7kg the largest I think) and fragments in a small area. I got a couple kilos of the fragments from him a couple years ago and finally got around to preparing them for sale.
1) Slices:
a) 13.4 grams - 30mm x 28mm x 5mm - $10
b) 23.0 grams - 45mm x 40mm x 5mm - $17
c) 44.1 grams - 60mm x 40mm x 5mm - $33
3) End pieces:
a) 45.2 grams - 55mm x 22mm x 18mm - $32
b) 94.9 grams - 60mm x 35mm x 20mm - $65
c) 162.3 grams - 65mm x 60mm x 20mm - $95
NWA 10637: Primitive achondrite (Brachinite). Found before February 2016. Tkw = 554.2 grams.
It has been a loooong time since I have offered a brachinite on a catalog (possibly more than 20 years, when I had a couple chunks from Australia in the early ‘90s). I picked up this natural fragment late in the show last year (in fact, I think it is the only NWA meteorite I picked up in Tucson last year). Brachinites are one of the very rarest and least understood meteorite types. They are mostly olivine (this one is 87% olivine) along with trace amounts of pyroxene. These rocks likely represent mantle material from an unknown parent body (though their oxygen isotopes overlap those of Angrites). These slices are somewhat weathered (dark to medium almost orange brown) but clearly show the classic equigranular crystal texture of brachinites.
1) Slices:
a) 1.5 grams - 20mm x 9mm x 3mm - $30
b) 2.9 grams - 20mm x 13mm x 4mm - $58
c) 4.9 grams - 30mm x 17mm x 3mm - $98
d) 9.0 grams - 42mm x 28mm x 3mm - $180 – full slice.
e) 17.8 grams - 64mm x 30mm x 3mm - $320 – full slice.
f) 36.4 grams - 80mm x 45mm x 3.5mm - $625 – full slice.
PALLADOT: Extraterrestrial faceted olivine gemstones.
Here is an assortment of wonderful little faceted peridot (olivine) gemstones from the Admire, Kansas pallasite. Admire is one of the most beautiful meteorites in the world but it is known (generally) for rapid rusting (though I have a nice 9.2kg chunk that is indeed very stable – It will be on display for sale in Tucson). However, pieces that do fall apart turned out to be a good source for true outer space gems stones. It turns out that pallasite olivine is indeed noticeably different (under microscopic inspection) from common terrestrial peridot gems. The pallisitc material has unique inclusions (and often shows a “cats eye” Chatoyancy effect – also unique to pallisitic peridot) such that the G.I.A. has officially recognized these as a new gemstone type – now officially listed as “Palladot” (a combination of the words pallasite and peridot). Anyway, here is an assortment of round “brilliant” cut stones at a price of about 1/5th what they were originally priced at. Supply is VERY limited. I do have a few oval and emerald cut (square/ rectangular) in similar sizes and prices available, so ask if that is what you prefer.
1) Round brilliant cut gemstones in glass fronted plastic display box.
a) 1.5mm diameter stone - about .016 carat - $20
b) 2.0mm diameter stone – about .035 carat - $35
c) 2.5mm diameter stone – about .064 carat - $60
d) 3.0mm diameter stone – about .10 carat - $90
Please note:
Shipping: For small US orders $3 should still be fine for now. Larger orders are now $13 (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 $10 (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 $13.
I do have a new 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. How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.
Tuesday 6 December 2016
Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 198
Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 198
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 198
December 6, 2016
Dear collectors,
This list is a few of the things I have turned up so far that I’d like to move out/ find a new home for so I don’t have to carry them through to next year (these are items that I have only one or two pieces remaining). I am hoping that I will have one more list later this month but a tight schedule and the fact that I have indeed done most of the inventorying (I may not find many more specimens to offer) may preclude that though. So, even though it is more than a bit early, I’ll say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, etc now just incase I don’t put out another offering until 2017.
BUZZARD COULEE, Canada: (H4). Fell November 20, 2008.
I had a small part hand full of nice complete little individuals of this meteorite a year ago. These two pieces are the ONLY ones I have remaining. Both are complete (each does have a small area of secondary crust). Both are also quite fresh. The larger specimen is particularly so. The smaller piece’s crust is not quite as black as it seems to have some adhering dirt (too cold out and too small to risk trying to air blast this right now. I’d probably only succeed in blowing it out of my cold fingers and into the oblivion of my gravel driveway).
a) 1.0 grams – 9mm x 8mm x 7mm - $20
b) 1.6 grams – 12mm x 8mm x 8mm - $30
COPROLITE: Fossilized dung.
Yep, that is indeed what this is. I don’t know the “origin” (location where it “fell” or species that did the deed) of this dropping but it does look quite different that the ones you commonly see at most rock shows (which tend to be a squiggly long dropping stuck together like a pile of noodles - which are supposedly from turtles, or so I have been told). Regardless, this does have a pretty obvious dung like shape. I got this some years ago for a customer that special requested one of these before I headed out to a show but then changed their minds once I came home with one. This is a larger item (needing a box) so shipping on this (for US orders) will be $5.
122.4 grams – 60mm x 40mm x 30mm - $15
NWA Unstudied: Impact melt rock (likely L type).
I bought this interesting specimen(s) years ago with the promise that it was already in the research process and that I’d be given the NWA number (and classification info) when it was done. I simply set it aside and forgot it (aside from inventorying it every year). I finally went back to the source on this one during this past Denver show a couple months ago. No records found. Nothing in the system indicating that it was indeed ever in research (though a research sample had clearly been removed from the piece). Oh well, these things happen. It is still a pretty cool specimen (but too small for me to want to go through the trouble and expense of pushing it through classification now). This is a small golf ball sized individual that has had an end removed (presumable for the original “research and reserve” specimen) and then another piece cut off (you get that latter piece with this. The larger piece is 39.5g and the thin end piece is 5.8 grams). The exterior of this has the strange slaggy (and gas bubbled) look some of these impact melts have (think Cat Mountain – the first time any of us had seen this on a genuine meteorite). The interior has a super fine- grained greenish gray matrix with numerous (mostly small) gas bubbles (nope, no metal really visible in this, unfortunately). I am now offering this for likely quite a bit less than I paid for it those years ago.
45.3 grams (two pieces) – 33mm x 30mm x 24mm - $150
NWA (2115): Olivine Diogenite. Found 2003. Tkw = 642 grams.
Well, the bag these were in when I got them years ago said “olivine diogenite” on it. The Meteoritical Bulletin though just says “Diogenite” for this particular meteorite in the official report. However, they (the Nomenclature Committee) recently (right when I managed to land a truly rare “Dunite”, unfortunately) decided to lump all the diogenite types: orthopyroxenites (the usual diogenites), olivine diogenites (those that contain some olivine) and Dunites (pretty much all olivine) under the plain heading of “diogenite” for classification reporting now. However, unlike regular diogenites (those that are pretty much all orthopyroxene) this particular meteorite has a Faylite (iron content of olivine number) reported for it (Fa=27.7) in its research report. So the report does not say “olivine diogenite” but this MUST contain a fair amount of olivine for this number to be obtained and reported. I can’t recall the particulars of how I got this stuff (it was a long time ago) I just had it set aside as “really special” (olivine diogenites were really rare and quite expensive at the time). Regardless, I am pricing these pieces at pretty much the same or less than what a similar common/normal diogenite would sell for these days. The smaller “specimen” is a bag of 3 similar sized fragments. The larger piece is a nice end piece showing an interesting crystalline/ brecciated texture. The backside of this piece though does show some hints of resin remaining on the surface. This is because this material is normally very fragile so it generally had to be “stabilized” with a soak in resin or Paleo Bond to cut successfully.
a) 4.7 grams – three similar sized fragments - $35
b) 16.1 grams end piece – 32mm x 22mm x 15mm - $100
NWA (5488): Primitive achondrite, (Lodranite), brecciated. Found 2008. Tkw = 110 grams.
I am pretty certain that I got this years ago from Matt Morgan. I have a vague recollection that I had a customer lined up for this particular piece so I “pre-paid” for this one when I ended up returning the rest of the stuff to Matt, being sure that it was sold. The sale never went through though so I ended up simply setting it aside. I probably should keep it for my collection (and just might if it does not sell here). This is a nice fairly thin end piece. The backside is weathered and wind polished but shows a generally rounded texture (this is certainly not a sharp angular broken fragment). The interior is mostly dark brown but by reflecting light off of the polished face, lots of breccia fragments of all sizes (tiny up to around 10mm in size) are visible.
15.7 grams end piece – 37mm x 28mm x 5mm - $500
NWA (8022): Lunar feldspathic breccia. Found 2013. Tkw = 1226 grams.
Not sure where I got this little specimen from (possibly part of some collection I picked up but then set this aside and never offered it perhaps). The research work says that this is a “highly recrystallized fragmental breccia”. This little specimen does not look very exciting – a mottled light to medium gray matrix with hints of a couple thin black shock veins.
.17 gram slice – 10mm x 5mm x 2mm - $50
SaU (504), Oman: (L5/6), S2, W3. Found March 12, 2010. Tkw = about 20 kilograms.
I am pretty certain that this is my very last piece of this meteorite (but now that I have said this, I’ll find more when I finish inventory work – Murphy’s law almost requires it now). This is a complete slice of an obviously fragmented piece of meteorite. The highly (diamond) polished face interior does show a few fine cracks but is really very solid otherwise (this won’t end up accidentally being a puzzle piece). This is certainly not an exciting meteorite – just a pretty typical weathered L-chondrite with a mottled medium to dark brown interior. Plenty of magnetite grains (most used to be FeNi grains) are visible but not much actual fresh metal. The unpolished back side shows more of a mottled brown and greenish gray color with lots of really fine black veins (shock and or weathering).
104.4 gram slice – 85mm x 50mm x 7mm - $50
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 198
December 6, 2016
Dear collectors,
This list is a few of the things I have turned up so far that I’d like to move out/ find a new home for so I don’t have to carry them through to next year (these are items that I have only one or two pieces remaining). I am hoping that I will have one more list later this month but a tight schedule and the fact that I have indeed done most of the inventorying (I may not find many more specimens to offer) may preclude that though. So, even though it is more than a bit early, I’ll say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, etc now just incase I don’t put out another offering until 2017.
BUZZARD COULEE, Canada: (H4). Fell November 20, 2008.
I had a small part hand full of nice complete little individuals of this meteorite a year ago. These two pieces are the ONLY ones I have remaining. Both are complete (each does have a small area of secondary crust). Both are also quite fresh. The larger specimen is particularly so. The smaller piece’s crust is not quite as black as it seems to have some adhering dirt (too cold out and too small to risk trying to air blast this right now. I’d probably only succeed in blowing it out of my cold fingers and into the oblivion of my gravel driveway).
a) 1.0 grams – 9mm x 8mm x 7mm - $20
b) 1.6 grams – 12mm x 8mm x 8mm - $30
COPROLITE: Fossilized dung.
Yep, that is indeed what this is. I don’t know the “origin” (location where it “fell” or species that did the deed) of this dropping but it does look quite different that the ones you commonly see at most rock shows (which tend to be a squiggly long dropping stuck together like a pile of noodles - which are supposedly from turtles, or so I have been told). Regardless, this does have a pretty obvious dung like shape. I got this some years ago for a customer that special requested one of these before I headed out to a show but then changed their minds once I came home with one. This is a larger item (needing a box) so shipping on this (for US orders) will be $5.
122.4 grams – 60mm x 40mm x 30mm - $15
NWA Unstudied: Impact melt rock (likely L type).
I bought this interesting specimen(s) years ago with the promise that it was already in the research process and that I’d be given the NWA number (and classification info) when it was done. I simply set it aside and forgot it (aside from inventorying it every year). I finally went back to the source on this one during this past Denver show a couple months ago. No records found. Nothing in the system indicating that it was indeed ever in research (though a research sample had clearly been removed from the piece). Oh well, these things happen. It is still a pretty cool specimen (but too small for me to want to go through the trouble and expense of pushing it through classification now). This is a small golf ball sized individual that has had an end removed (presumable for the original “research and reserve” specimen) and then another piece cut off (you get that latter piece with this. The larger piece is 39.5g and the thin end piece is 5.8 grams). The exterior of this has the strange slaggy (and gas bubbled) look some of these impact melts have (think Cat Mountain – the first time any of us had seen this on a genuine meteorite). The interior has a super fine- grained greenish gray matrix with numerous (mostly small) gas bubbles (nope, no metal really visible in this, unfortunately). I am now offering this for likely quite a bit less than I paid for it those years ago.
45.3 grams (two pieces) – 33mm x 30mm x 24mm - $150
NWA (2115): Olivine Diogenite. Found 2003. Tkw = 642 grams.
Well, the bag these were in when I got them years ago said “olivine diogenite” on it. The Meteoritical Bulletin though just says “Diogenite” for this particular meteorite in the official report. However, they (the Nomenclature Committee) recently (right when I managed to land a truly rare “Dunite”, unfortunately) decided to lump all the diogenite types: orthopyroxenites (the usual diogenites), olivine diogenites (those that contain some olivine) and Dunites (pretty much all olivine) under the plain heading of “diogenite” for classification reporting now. However, unlike regular diogenites (those that are pretty much all orthopyroxene) this particular meteorite has a Faylite (iron content of olivine number) reported for it (Fa=27.7) in its research report. So the report does not say “olivine diogenite” but this MUST contain a fair amount of olivine for this number to be obtained and reported. I can’t recall the particulars of how I got this stuff (it was a long time ago) I just had it set aside as “really special” (olivine diogenites were really rare and quite expensive at the time). Regardless, I am pricing these pieces at pretty much the same or less than what a similar common/normal diogenite would sell for these days. The smaller “specimen” is a bag of 3 similar sized fragments. The larger piece is a nice end piece showing an interesting crystalline/ brecciated texture. The backside of this piece though does show some hints of resin remaining on the surface. This is because this material is normally very fragile so it generally had to be “stabilized” with a soak in resin or Paleo Bond to cut successfully.
a) 4.7 grams – three similar sized fragments - $35
b) 16.1 grams end piece – 32mm x 22mm x 15mm - $100
NWA (5488): Primitive achondrite, (Lodranite), brecciated. Found 2008. Tkw = 110 grams.
I am pretty certain that I got this years ago from Matt Morgan. I have a vague recollection that I had a customer lined up for this particular piece so I “pre-paid” for this one when I ended up returning the rest of the stuff to Matt, being sure that it was sold. The sale never went through though so I ended up simply setting it aside. I probably should keep it for my collection (and just might if it does not sell here). This is a nice fairly thin end piece. The backside is weathered and wind polished but shows a generally rounded texture (this is certainly not a sharp angular broken fragment). The interior is mostly dark brown but by reflecting light off of the polished face, lots of breccia fragments of all sizes (tiny up to around 10mm in size) are visible.
15.7 grams end piece – 37mm x 28mm x 5mm - $500
NWA (8022): Lunar feldspathic breccia. Found 2013. Tkw = 1226 grams.
Not sure where I got this little specimen from (possibly part of some collection I picked up but then set this aside and never offered it perhaps). The research work says that this is a “highly recrystallized fragmental breccia”. This little specimen does not look very exciting – a mottled light to medium gray matrix with hints of a couple thin black shock veins.
.17 gram slice – 10mm x 5mm x 2mm - $50
SaU (504), Oman: (L5/6), S2, W3. Found March 12, 2010. Tkw = about 20 kilograms.
I am pretty certain that this is my very last piece of this meteorite (but now that I have said this, I’ll find more when I finish inventory work – Murphy’s law almost requires it now). This is a complete slice of an obviously fragmented piece of meteorite. The highly (diamond) polished face interior does show a few fine cracks but is really very solid otherwise (this won’t end up accidentally being a puzzle piece). This is certainly not an exciting meteorite – just a pretty typical weathered L-chondrite with a mottled medium to dark brown interior. Plenty of magnetite grains (most used to be FeNi grains) are visible but not much actual fresh metal. The unpolished back side shows more of a mottled brown and greenish gray color with lots of really fine black veins (shock and or weathering).
104.4 gram slice – 85mm x 50mm x 7mm - $50
Tuesday 1 November 2016
Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 197 - Mars, Rizalite, Taza
Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 197 - Mars, Rizalite, Taza
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
OR email- brmeteorites@yahoo.com
……………………………………………………LIST 197
November 1, 2016
Dear collectors,
Here is a small offering-
Dar al Gani (476), Libya: Martian (Shergottite). Found 1998. Tkw = 2015 grams.
Here is a nice complete super thin slice I picked up in some sort of trade deal many years ago. This thing is so thin in fact that you can indeed see some light coming through a few small crystals. This specimen, for obvious reasons, is stored in a membrane box (which will be sent with it). Even so, I had to use a small piece of tape to keep it from sliding around inside the box as it is so thin that even one of these super storage/ display boxes couldn’t completely hold it in place. This is great opportunity for someone who wants a great Mars rock slice that has a maximum surface area for minimum weight.
4.72 gram complete slice – 77mm x 30mm x .5mm - $2300
NWA (998): Martian (Nakhlite). Found 2001. Tkw = 456 grams.
I got this one because I had a customer that wanted a “substantial” piece of Nakhlite – far bigger than what I had available on hand. They also wanted something that was quite fresh (I know there is some “new” Nakhlite floating around out there right now – but the pieces I have seen of this material seem to be quite weathered and have lots of dirt/ caliche attached to them). They also liked the fact that carbonate minerals that formed on Mars (from water flowing through this rock ON MARS) have been found (these may yet be found in the “new” stuff, but I suspect that terrestrial weathering/ contamination may make it hard to positively ID). The best part though was that the piece I received was very solid and has lots of fusion crust. Basically, I ended up breaking the original large specimen in half and my customer took the larger half. So, now I have this nice 3 gram piece available. As already mentioned, it is a solid specimen (some of this stuff is quite crumbly) that is mostly a fragment but does have a roughly 10mm x 7mm cut face on one end. The fusion crust is a bit weathered but is easy to recognize and covers a roughly 17mm x 10mm or so area of one side. I will likely break this up into smaller specimens at some point but I’d like to see if there is anyone out there that wants a large crusted piece of this interesting material (priced pretty much the same as pieces of the “new” material I have seen) before I take that step.
2.98 gram crusted fragment – 17mm x 14mm x 7mm - $3300
TAZA/ NWA (859): Iron. Plessitic octahedrite (ungrouped). Found 2001. Tkw = 75+ kilograms.
Here are a few small complete individuals that I actually picked up as part of the Lang collection of stuff but had set aside (months ago) for possibly putting on a mailed list and then promptly forgot. I have decided to offer them here and now as I don’t really have anywhere near enough specimens to list them on one of those offerings. Anyway these are all natural as found. They have rounded/ atmospherically sculpted shapes. They do have the usual brown oxidized surfaces (as well as some minor amounts of adhering caliche) but they all still show good amounts of blue-gray fusion crust as well. Nothing exceptional (nope, no super oriented pieces) but nice none the less.
1) Individuals as found:
a) 7.9 grams – 20mm x 15mm x 5mm - $39
b) 12.8 grams – 20mm x 17mm x 10mm - $62
c) 27.3 grams – 20mm x 20mm x 12mm - $130
PHILIPPINITE: Tektite from the Rizal province, Phillipines.
This is a fantastic example of a real (and really nice) Rizalite. It is a large round specimen that is covered with deep grooves. A true classic example and one of the best I have ever had.
213.4 grams – 60mm x 50mm x 50mm - $450
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
OR email- brmeteorites@yahoo.com
……………………………………………………LIST 197
November 1, 2016
Dear collectors,
Here is a small offering-
Dar al Gani (476), Libya: Martian (Shergottite). Found 1998. Tkw = 2015 grams.
Here is a nice complete super thin slice I picked up in some sort of trade deal many years ago. This thing is so thin in fact that you can indeed see some light coming through a few small crystals. This specimen, for obvious reasons, is stored in a membrane box (which will be sent with it). Even so, I had to use a small piece of tape to keep it from sliding around inside the box as it is so thin that even one of these super storage/ display boxes couldn’t completely hold it in place. This is great opportunity for someone who wants a great Mars rock slice that has a maximum surface area for minimum weight.
4.72 gram complete slice – 77mm x 30mm x .5mm - $2300
NWA (998): Martian (Nakhlite). Found 2001. Tkw = 456 grams.
I got this one because I had a customer that wanted a “substantial” piece of Nakhlite – far bigger than what I had available on hand. They also wanted something that was quite fresh (I know there is some “new” Nakhlite floating around out there right now – but the pieces I have seen of this material seem to be quite weathered and have lots of dirt/ caliche attached to them). They also liked the fact that carbonate minerals that formed on Mars (from water flowing through this rock ON MARS) have been found (these may yet be found in the “new” stuff, but I suspect that terrestrial weathering/ contamination may make it hard to positively ID). The best part though was that the piece I received was very solid and has lots of fusion crust. Basically, I ended up breaking the original large specimen in half and my customer took the larger half. So, now I have this nice 3 gram piece available. As already mentioned, it is a solid specimen (some of this stuff is quite crumbly) that is mostly a fragment but does have a roughly 10mm x 7mm cut face on one end. The fusion crust is a bit weathered but is easy to recognize and covers a roughly 17mm x 10mm or so area of one side. I will likely break this up into smaller specimens at some point but I’d like to see if there is anyone out there that wants a large crusted piece of this interesting material (priced pretty much the same as pieces of the “new” material I have seen) before I take that step.
2.98 gram crusted fragment – 17mm x 14mm x 7mm - $3300
TAZA/ NWA (859): Iron. Plessitic octahedrite (ungrouped). Found 2001. Tkw = 75+ kilograms.
Here are a few small complete individuals that I actually picked up as part of the Lang collection of stuff but had set aside (months ago) for possibly putting on a mailed list and then promptly forgot. I have decided to offer them here and now as I don’t really have anywhere near enough specimens to list them on one of those offerings. Anyway these are all natural as found. They have rounded/ atmospherically sculpted shapes. They do have the usual brown oxidized surfaces (as well as some minor amounts of adhering caliche) but they all still show good amounts of blue-gray fusion crust as well. Nothing exceptional (nope, no super oriented pieces) but nice none the less.
1) Individuals as found:
a) 7.9 grams – 20mm x 15mm x 5mm - $39
b) 12.8 grams – 20mm x 17mm x 10mm - $62
c) 27.3 grams – 20mm x 20mm x 12mm - $130
PHILIPPINITE: Tektite from the Rizal province, Phillipines.
This is a fantastic example of a real (and really nice) Rizalite. It is a large round specimen that is covered with deep grooves. A true classic example and one of the best I have ever had.
213.4 grams – 60mm x 50mm x 50mm - $450
Tuesday 4 October 2016
Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale - List 196
Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale - List 196
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………..LIST 196
October, 2016
Dear collectors,
Here is the e-mail version of my “after Denver” mailed list. I got slammed with a bunch of calls yesterday afternoon (good thing!) so it is time (past time?) to release this to everyone else (I try my best to make it so pretty much everyone gets this at the same time by mail and then release it electronically as soon as I start receiving calls). Those of you that also get the mailed version of this will notice that a few things (mostly one of a kind end pieces/ main masses) have already disappeared. However those of you getting this e-mailed version have a couple (small) benefits over the mailed list folks. First, it seems that I somehow (prepared the list to fast?) managed to NOT get my largest pieces of the neat Imilac fragments typed onto the mailed list. Not a huge difference/ big deal but these things (particularly the larger pieces) were extremely popular at the show (I pretty much sold out all the pieces I brought). Secondly, it turns out that the maps are a bit cheaper to mail than I thought. I had to use a mailing tube I had bought at a shipping store (our post office had none of the free priority mailing “tubes”) to calculate roughly what those things were going to cost to ship. It seems that the mailing tube I purchased is much heavier than the ones that the USPS supplies for free. The purchased mailing tube and map combo came in at $11for US shipping. Using the USPS “tube” it is only $7 (I just shipped one out). So, two small benefits for those of you getting this electronic version of the list.
ODESSA, Texas: Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1923.
Here are some pieces I picked out of a small batch I was surprised to find in my deep storage. I have absolutely no idea when I got these, just that they were not part of business inventory (hence the lack of inventory record concerning them and my forgetting about them.). I suspect that they were a gift from one of the guys I used to buy large quantities from more than 25 years or so ago (when you actually could still get Odessa). I picked out the “larger” ones of the batch and hand cleaned them (air abrasion). Some do still have some caliche stuck to them but otherwise have a nice dark brown patina.
1)Natural shaped individuals, lightly cleaned:
a) 5.0 grams - 18mm x 13mm x 5mm - $10
b) 10.5 grams - 27mm x 13mm x 8mm - $20
c) 20.4 grams - 25mm x 15mm x 13mm - $40
NWA (8220): Ordinary chondrite, (H6), S2, W2/3. Found December 2013. Tkw = 509 grams.
Here is one that I am pretty certain that the outer edge (more oxidized) is the part that got studied. The interior portions are actually quite fresh – showing lots of really fine metal grains in a medium gray matrix. Without the research work, I would have guessed that this was an enstatite chondrite. Heck, this thing even passes the scratch and sniff test! Scratch the surface a bit with your fingernails and sniff – it has the distinct odor of sulfur (though perhaps not as strong as in a genuine enstatite chondrite). Anyway, I don’t have a lot of this available so don’t wait too long to ask if you want a piece of this one (my offerings of these fairly small, affordable studied NWA things seem to sell out pretty quickly the past few lists).
1) Slices:
a) 9.0 grams - 30mm x 19mm x 5mm - $15
b) 18.2 grams - 49mm x 30mm x 5mm - $30
c) 43.0 grams - 68mm x 53mm x 4mm - $70 – complete slice.
NWA (8538): Ordinary chondrite (LL6), melt breccia. Found July 2014. Tkw = 994.8 grams.
A single rounded stone was recovered. This shape made this very hard for me to cut, unfortunately (it kept slipping out of the saw vise and such). I ended up making quite a mess of it. Thankfully, Marlin up in Montana had more than enough skill to clean up these pieces for me from thick wedged pieces to nice thin slices that are now much more uniformly thick (though some do show some wedging yet). Regardless, this has an interesting interior. It has obvious large, wide shock melt veins surrounding rounded fragments of lighter brown to light tan colored chondrite fragments. Research showed that this is the 5th known meteorite classified an LL6 melt breccia with only 1.7kg total known among all 5! Interesting and rare material.
1) Slices:
a) 2.0 grams - 22mm x 15mm x 3mm - $15
b) 4.1 grams - 23mm x 20mm x 3mm - $30
c) 7.0 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 3mm - $50
d) 11.1 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 3mm - $79
e) 30.6 grams - 65mm x 40mm x 4mm - $215
f) 61.7 grams - 90mm x 70mm x 4mm - $430 – really nice complete slice!
2) End piece, Main mass:
159.7 grams - 80mm x 55mm x 27mm - $900
NWA (7021): Carbonaceous chondrite (CO3). Found before September 2009. Tkw = 134.4 grams.
Here is another meteorite that took quite a number of years to finally make it through research. I got this as part of an assortment of fairly small NWA individuals I picked up at the 2009 Denver Show. This little piece had nice black crust covering most of it with a thin secondary crust covering a flat broken side (so we know there is at least one more piece of this out there somewhere). Research showed this to be a low shock and low weathering grade meteorite. The interior (and black crust) supports the low weathering as it is a lot lighter than the vast majority of CO3’s I’ve seen (aside from falls), having a
mottled medium gray and light brown color. Lots of small chondrules are visible as well as some small grains of metal – something that I rarely see in CO3’s. Obviously, I have very little of this material available.
1) Slices:
a) 2.3 grams - 17mm x 15mm x 3mm - $35
b) 5.4 grams - 30mm x 18mm x 3mm - $80
c) 9.4 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 3mm - $140
NWA (7397): Martian (Shergottite). Found 2012. Tkw = 2130+ grams.
I picked up a good assortment of natural fragments and individuals from a collector that had them for years. I cut up the pieces that were pretty obviously just fragments. I left the nice obvious individuals (rare for this meteorite) which are covered (probably 75% or more) in black crust alone. The cut pieces turned out quite nice. They show the usual mixed texture of large rounded pyroxene “oikocrysts” in a fine-grained matrix of pyroxene, masleynite and olivine. Nearly all of the cut specimens show at least some shock veining and many show at least some fusion crust. This offering is, by far, the cheapest I have offered mars rock in many, many years (like since early Zagami days) and these pieces are priced around ½ of what a quick internet search showed others asking for samples of this meteorite.
1) Cut fragments:
a) .67 grams - 13mm x 8mm x 3mm - $84
b) .98 grams - 14mm x 9mm x 4mm - $123
c) 1.69 grams - 16mm x 14mm x 4mm - $210
d) 2.79 grams - 25mm x 17mm x 5mm - $340
e) 4.03 grams - 35mm x 13mm x 4mm - $490 – crusted back.
f) 8.40 grams - 32mm x 17mm x 8mm - $1000 – really nice crusted back.
2) Complete individuals:
a) 8.7 grams - 23mm x 14mm x 13mm - $1000
b) 14.3 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 17mm - $1550
IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1822.
Here is a nice assortment of the wild, sculpted, twisted “individuals” that once were fairly plentiful around the Imilac impact site. I have not offered any of these in many, many years. These have been cleaned to remove the usual adhering dirt (both on the metal and in the pockets). They show wild shapes of brown patina metal with yellow to pinkish red shattered olivine in the pockets. I know many people look at these as “weathered individuals”. My personal suspicion is that these are really pallasite “shrapnel fragments” that were blown from the piece(s) that formed the 10m or so diameter crater/ impact pit in the area (shock effects would certainly explain the pulverized olivine in these pieces better than simple weathering).
1) Shrapnel individuals, cleaned to remove dirt:
a) 2.5 grams - 14mm x 10mm x 7mm - $20
b) 5.8 grams - 20mm x 15mm x 10mm - $45
c) 10.1 grams - 21mm x 18mm x 18mm - $75
d) 14.3 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 10mm - $105
e) 19.1 grams – 25mm x 25mm x 15mm - $140
METEORITE MAP: Map of meteorite localities for North America, published 2000.
I know, I know, these are not fully up to date. Regardless, these are really neat as they show a LOT more than just the localities (names, type, fall/ find). This also shows the location and size of known craters (“modern” like Meteor Crater and ancient like Sudbury and Chicxulub). This also shows surface soil/ vegetation cover types AND the extent of glacier cover during the last two ice ages (it is easy to see that there are few meteorites recovered North of those lines). I had these many years ago, but those were the plain unlaminated ones (and tore quite easily). These I have now are laminated so they are tough and long lasting. I don’t have very many of these (less than 10) but I took all I was offered in a trade. I have to use a priority mailing tube for these so shipping will be $7 for US orders. For overseas orders I’ll have to research shipping costs individually but I suspect that they may be quite prohibitive, unfortunately.
Meteorites of North America map - $30
Please note:
Shipping: 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). Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. 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 $13.
I do have a new 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. How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………..LIST 196
October, 2016
Dear collectors,
Here is the e-mail version of my “after Denver” mailed list. I got slammed with a bunch of calls yesterday afternoon (good thing!) so it is time (past time?) to release this to everyone else (I try my best to make it so pretty much everyone gets this at the same time by mail and then release it electronically as soon as I start receiving calls). Those of you that also get the mailed version of this will notice that a few things (mostly one of a kind end pieces/ main masses) have already disappeared. However those of you getting this e-mailed version have a couple (small) benefits over the mailed list folks. First, it seems that I somehow (prepared the list to fast?) managed to NOT get my largest pieces of the neat Imilac fragments typed onto the mailed list. Not a huge difference/ big deal but these things (particularly the larger pieces) were extremely popular at the show (I pretty much sold out all the pieces I brought). Secondly, it turns out that the maps are a bit cheaper to mail than I thought. I had to use a mailing tube I had bought at a shipping store (our post office had none of the free priority mailing “tubes”) to calculate roughly what those things were going to cost to ship. It seems that the mailing tube I purchased is much heavier than the ones that the USPS supplies for free. The purchased mailing tube and map combo came in at $11for US shipping. Using the USPS “tube” it is only $7 (I just shipped one out). So, two small benefits for those of you getting this electronic version of the list.
ODESSA, Texas: Iron. Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1923.
Here are some pieces I picked out of a small batch I was surprised to find in my deep storage. I have absolutely no idea when I got these, just that they were not part of business inventory (hence the lack of inventory record concerning them and my forgetting about them.). I suspect that they were a gift from one of the guys I used to buy large quantities from more than 25 years or so ago (when you actually could still get Odessa). I picked out the “larger” ones of the batch and hand cleaned them (air abrasion). Some do still have some caliche stuck to them but otherwise have a nice dark brown patina.
1)Natural shaped individuals, lightly cleaned:
a) 5.0 grams - 18mm x 13mm x 5mm - $10
b) 10.5 grams - 27mm x 13mm x 8mm - $20
c) 20.4 grams - 25mm x 15mm x 13mm - $40
NWA (8220): Ordinary chondrite, (H6), S2, W2/3. Found December 2013. Tkw = 509 grams.
Here is one that I am pretty certain that the outer edge (more oxidized) is the part that got studied. The interior portions are actually quite fresh – showing lots of really fine metal grains in a medium gray matrix. Without the research work, I would have guessed that this was an enstatite chondrite. Heck, this thing even passes the scratch and sniff test! Scratch the surface a bit with your fingernails and sniff – it has the distinct odor of sulfur (though perhaps not as strong as in a genuine enstatite chondrite). Anyway, I don’t have a lot of this available so don’t wait too long to ask if you want a piece of this one (my offerings of these fairly small, affordable studied NWA things seem to sell out pretty quickly the past few lists).
1) Slices:
a) 9.0 grams - 30mm x 19mm x 5mm - $15
b) 18.2 grams - 49mm x 30mm x 5mm - $30
c) 43.0 grams - 68mm x 53mm x 4mm - $70 – complete slice.
NWA (8538): Ordinary chondrite (LL6), melt breccia. Found July 2014. Tkw = 994.8 grams.
A single rounded stone was recovered. This shape made this very hard for me to cut, unfortunately (it kept slipping out of the saw vise and such). I ended up making quite a mess of it. Thankfully, Marlin up in Montana had more than enough skill to clean up these pieces for me from thick wedged pieces to nice thin slices that are now much more uniformly thick (though some do show some wedging yet). Regardless, this has an interesting interior. It has obvious large, wide shock melt veins surrounding rounded fragments of lighter brown to light tan colored chondrite fragments. Research showed that this is the 5th known meteorite classified an LL6 melt breccia with only 1.7kg total known among all 5! Interesting and rare material.
1) Slices:
a) 2.0 grams - 22mm x 15mm x 3mm - $15
b) 4.1 grams - 23mm x 20mm x 3mm - $30
c) 7.0 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 3mm - $50
d) 11.1 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 3mm - $79
e) 30.6 grams - 65mm x 40mm x 4mm - $215
f) 61.7 grams - 90mm x 70mm x 4mm - $430 – really nice complete slice!
2) End piece, Main mass:
159.7 grams - 80mm x 55mm x 27mm - $900
NWA (7021): Carbonaceous chondrite (CO3). Found before September 2009. Tkw = 134.4 grams.
Here is another meteorite that took quite a number of years to finally make it through research. I got this as part of an assortment of fairly small NWA individuals I picked up at the 2009 Denver Show. This little piece had nice black crust covering most of it with a thin secondary crust covering a flat broken side (so we know there is at least one more piece of this out there somewhere). Research showed this to be a low shock and low weathering grade meteorite. The interior (and black crust) supports the low weathering as it is a lot lighter than the vast majority of CO3’s I’ve seen (aside from falls), having a
mottled medium gray and light brown color. Lots of small chondrules are visible as well as some small grains of metal – something that I rarely see in CO3’s. Obviously, I have very little of this material available.
1) Slices:
a) 2.3 grams - 17mm x 15mm x 3mm - $35
b) 5.4 grams - 30mm x 18mm x 3mm - $80
c) 9.4 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 3mm - $140
NWA (7397): Martian (Shergottite). Found 2012. Tkw = 2130+ grams.
I picked up a good assortment of natural fragments and individuals from a collector that had them for years. I cut up the pieces that were pretty obviously just fragments. I left the nice obvious individuals (rare for this meteorite) which are covered (probably 75% or more) in black crust alone. The cut pieces turned out quite nice. They show the usual mixed texture of large rounded pyroxene “oikocrysts” in a fine-grained matrix of pyroxene, masleynite and olivine. Nearly all of the cut specimens show at least some shock veining and many show at least some fusion crust. This offering is, by far, the cheapest I have offered mars rock in many, many years (like since early Zagami days) and these pieces are priced around ½ of what a quick internet search showed others asking for samples of this meteorite.
1) Cut fragments:
a) .67 grams - 13mm x 8mm x 3mm - $84
b) .98 grams - 14mm x 9mm x 4mm - $123
c) 1.69 grams - 16mm x 14mm x 4mm - $210
d) 2.79 grams - 25mm x 17mm x 5mm - $340
e) 4.03 grams - 35mm x 13mm x 4mm - $490 – crusted back.
f) 8.40 grams - 32mm x 17mm x 8mm - $1000 – really nice crusted back.
2) Complete individuals:
a) 8.7 grams - 23mm x 14mm x 13mm - $1000
b) 14.3 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 17mm - $1550
IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1822.
Here is a nice assortment of the wild, sculpted, twisted “individuals” that once were fairly plentiful around the Imilac impact site. I have not offered any of these in many, many years. These have been cleaned to remove the usual adhering dirt (both on the metal and in the pockets). They show wild shapes of brown patina metal with yellow to pinkish red shattered olivine in the pockets. I know many people look at these as “weathered individuals”. My personal suspicion is that these are really pallasite “shrapnel fragments” that were blown from the piece(s) that formed the 10m or so diameter crater/ impact pit in the area (shock effects would certainly explain the pulverized olivine in these pieces better than simple weathering).
1) Shrapnel individuals, cleaned to remove dirt:
a) 2.5 grams - 14mm x 10mm x 7mm - $20
b) 5.8 grams - 20mm x 15mm x 10mm - $45
c) 10.1 grams - 21mm x 18mm x 18mm - $75
d) 14.3 grams - 30mm x 25mm x 10mm - $105
e) 19.1 grams – 25mm x 25mm x 15mm - $140
METEORITE MAP: Map of meteorite localities for North America, published 2000.
I know, I know, these are not fully up to date. Regardless, these are really neat as they show a LOT more than just the localities (names, type, fall/ find). This also shows the location and size of known craters (“modern” like Meteor Crater and ancient like Sudbury and Chicxulub). This also shows surface soil/ vegetation cover types AND the extent of glacier cover during the last two ice ages (it is easy to see that there are few meteorites recovered North of those lines). I had these many years ago, but those were the plain unlaminated ones (and tore quite easily). These I have now are laminated so they are tough and long lasting. I don’t have very many of these (less than 10) but I took all I was offered in a trade. I have to use a priority mailing tube for these so shipping will be $7 for US orders. For overseas orders I’ll have to research shipping costs individually but I suspect that they may be quite prohibitive, unfortunately.
Meteorites of North America map - $30
Please note:
Shipping: 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). Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. 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 $13.
I do have a new 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. How ever, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.
Tuesday 30 August 2016
Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 195 Denver show info, last of Lang Collection Items
Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 195 Denver show info, last of Lang Collection Items
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 195
August 30, 2016
Dear collectors,
Here is the last of my Lang Collection pieces (all three of them) plus some Allende and Tissint.
DENVER SHOW INFORMATION:
I can’t believe that it is already that time. I will be leaving next Wednesday morning (Sept 7th) and won’t be back home until September 21st (this show is slowing getting stretched out into another Tucson. Next year will be even worse). For this year, I will be in my usual location: Ramada Plaza (4849 Bannock street) Room 224. I should be open by mid afternoon Saturday the 10th. I will be open at 10AM the rest of the show days (through Sunday the 18th). I will open most evenings until 9PM or so (later if people are still around) but will close early (6PM) on the last day (Sunday the 18th) and probably either the Friday or Saturday before for the COMETS party (I am pretty sure they are having one again this year, I just don’t know the day). The phone number for the hotel is (303) 292-9500 and I am in room 224 (from the 10th through the 18th).
News about next year: If you want to experience the wandering hotel rooms set up as show rooms thing but not to the huge, often overwhelming degree as Tucson, this show is your last chance (at least in Denver). I had heard rumors that I would be loosing my show room (which I have had for around 28 years now) while attending the Colorado Springs show back in early June. Turns out that this is no rumor. I got the official notification that the Ramada is no longer welcoming the show a few days ago The only option I am left with is taking a space at the venue that the spring show ended up in – Crowne Plaza way out east (15 miles I think) in a HUGE ballroom environment. I did tour the place during the spring show hoping to scope out a room I could set up in but that is not going to work. The rooms are far away from the bulk of the show (and somewhat hard to find). Plus they are really small and extremely crowded with furniture. I think about the only people who MIGHT be able to set up a valid (business wise) display in one of these rooms would be the gemstone dealer that only needs a card table and a single brief case of inventory to have a successful show. Thankfully, my somewhat early warning has allowed me to reserve a private meeting room at this new show. It is a bit of a ways from the main ball rooms but it will allow me to stay open as late as I want (and there will be a number of other dealers filling other similar rooms in the area so I won’t be completely alone). Anyway, I will certainly try to fully notify everyone once I know fully what this change brings.
ONE LAST NOTE: I do need to be gone part of this afternoon so please understand if there is a delay in my response to any questions/ order requests.
ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
Here are a couple more really fresh/ early recovery pieces. One is an angular fragment and the other is a fairly thick (and somewhat wedged) slice. Unfortunately, neither has any fusion crust but they are nice pieces none the less. The slice is nothing special really but it does show lots of chondrules, small to medium sized CAIs and some obvious gold colored troilite inclusions. The fragment though has a couple interesting features: a nice irregular CAI (around 5mm x 7mm) and a weird round (5mm) inclusion that is mostly clear crystals of some kind inside and surrounded by troilite around its outside.
a) 35.0 grams fresh fragment – 55mm x 40mm x 10mm - $350
b) 35.7 gram slice – 60mm x 37mm x 7mm - $360
NWA (978): Rumaruttite (R3.8), S3, W2. Purchased August 1, 2001. Tkw = 722 grams.
For awhile, R chondrites were fairly easy to come by. Not so these days. Now they are quite expensive even fresh out of the field (unstudied) if they are recognized by the sellers (which is not particularly hard given their chondrule rich texture and complete lack of magnetic attraction). Most R chondrites are some shade of brown inside. This particular one is distinctly different. It does have the numerous chondrules and sulfides (not fresh metal) visible, but these are set in a medium to dark gray matrix. I have only two different specimens here. The smallest is actually two natural fragments. The largest is a natural fragment that has a roughly 25mm x 10mm polished face. These specimens are Lang Collection pieces and are in Riker boxes so shipping will be a bit higher for people that want to keep the boxes they are in.
a) 3.0 grams; 2 natural fragments (.7g, 2.3 g) - $60
b) 14.6 gram natural fragment with polished face – 30mm x 18mm x 15mm - $250
NWA (1208): Ordinary chondrite (H5), S2, W3. Found 1999. Tkw = 368 grams.
I can’t be certain, but there is a pretty good change that this could be the “main mass”. A single 368gram stone was found and 63 grams were given for classification. This leaves a total of just over 300 grams of remaining material. This particular specimen represents 36% of the remaining material. So, unless the other remaining material was left as a large cut fragment (no or few slices removed) then this should be the main mass. This piece is a cut fragment. The Bulletin description merely mentions “well defined chondrules” for features and this does indeed show a good number of nice round chondrules set in a medium to dark brown matrix. The backside is mostly old natural fracture surface bit there is a roughly 50mm x 15mm or so patch of fairly nice crust along one edge. This is yet another Lang collection piece in a Riker so shipping will be a bit more for those that want to keep it in the riker box it is in (you will get the label regardless)
110 gram cut fragment – 60mmx 40mm x 15mm - $80
TISSINT, Morocco: Martian (Shergottite). Fell July 18, 2011. Tkw = over 7 kilograms.
This is a meteorite that I thought we might be seeing lots of pieces of for many years. Nope, the stuff got pretty much picked out and distributed in a big hurry. Not much of it is available these days (and pretty much none is from the Moroccan sources I have). I got these pieces from a collector that, wisely, bought them when this material was readily available. These are all nice pieces and each has its own special features that I will try to briefly describe below.
1) Slices:
a) .15 grams part slice – 9mm x 5mm x 1.5mm - $105
b) 1.04 gram part slice – 22mm x 12mm x 1.5mm - $700 – some crust along edge, many small (1 to 2mm) melt zones.
c) 2.39 gram full slice – 30mmx 20mm x 1.5 mm - $1600 – 2/3 of edge crusted. Interior shows a couple large black melt zones containing gas bubbles.
d) 3.37 gram part slice – 35mm x 18mm x 2mm - $2200 – has many nice melt areas and veins. Some gas bubbles, one of which goes completely through the slice.
2) End pieces:
a) 1.99 grams – 20mm x 18mm x 4mm - $1300 – back is around 60% plus fusion crusted.
b) 3.82 grams – 28mm x 27mm x 3mm - $2500 – back mostly late natural fracture but edges have some crust.
3) Individual: This piece was listed as a “fragment” on the hand-written label that came with it. This is clearly more of a nice individual. There are a few minor chipped edges/ points that are clearly breaks. The largest obvious “break” is about 15mm x 5mm. Careful inspection though reveals the presence of very light (and spotty) fusion crust covering most of this area. So, it is a break but might be better classified as a zone of (very) light secondary fusion crust. The remainder of the stone is covered in nice shiny black fusion crust.
3.71 gram individual – 15mm x 12mm x 12mm - $2500
Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
……………………………………………………LIST 195
August 30, 2016
Dear collectors,
Here is the last of my Lang Collection pieces (all three of them) plus some Allende and Tissint.
DENVER SHOW INFORMATION:
I can’t believe that it is already that time. I will be leaving next Wednesday morning (Sept 7th) and won’t be back home until September 21st (this show is slowing getting stretched out into another Tucson. Next year will be even worse). For this year, I will be in my usual location: Ramada Plaza (4849 Bannock street) Room 224. I should be open by mid afternoon Saturday the 10th. I will be open at 10AM the rest of the show days (through Sunday the 18th). I will open most evenings until 9PM or so (later if people are still around) but will close early (6PM) on the last day (Sunday the 18th) and probably either the Friday or Saturday before for the COMETS party (I am pretty sure they are having one again this year, I just don’t know the day). The phone number for the hotel is (303) 292-9500 and I am in room 224 (from the 10th through the 18th).
News about next year: If you want to experience the wandering hotel rooms set up as show rooms thing but not to the huge, often overwhelming degree as Tucson, this show is your last chance (at least in Denver). I had heard rumors that I would be loosing my show room (which I have had for around 28 years now) while attending the Colorado Springs show back in early June. Turns out that this is no rumor. I got the official notification that the Ramada is no longer welcoming the show a few days ago The only option I am left with is taking a space at the venue that the spring show ended up in – Crowne Plaza way out east (15 miles I think) in a HUGE ballroom environment. I did tour the place during the spring show hoping to scope out a room I could set up in but that is not going to work. The rooms are far away from the bulk of the show (and somewhat hard to find). Plus they are really small and extremely crowded with furniture. I think about the only people who MIGHT be able to set up a valid (business wise) display in one of these rooms would be the gemstone dealer that only needs a card table and a single brief case of inventory to have a successful show. Thankfully, my somewhat early warning has allowed me to reserve a private meeting room at this new show. It is a bit of a ways from the main ball rooms but it will allow me to stay open as late as I want (and there will be a number of other dealers filling other similar rooms in the area so I won’t be completely alone). Anyway, I will certainly try to fully notify everyone once I know fully what this change brings.
ONE LAST NOTE: I do need to be gone part of this afternoon so please understand if there is a delay in my response to any questions/ order requests.
ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
Here are a couple more really fresh/ early recovery pieces. One is an angular fragment and the other is a fairly thick (and somewhat wedged) slice. Unfortunately, neither has any fusion crust but they are nice pieces none the less. The slice is nothing special really but it does show lots of chondrules, small to medium sized CAIs and some obvious gold colored troilite inclusions. The fragment though has a couple interesting features: a nice irregular CAI (around 5mm x 7mm) and a weird round (5mm) inclusion that is mostly clear crystals of some kind inside and surrounded by troilite around its outside.
a) 35.0 grams fresh fragment – 55mm x 40mm x 10mm - $350
b) 35.7 gram slice – 60mm x 37mm x 7mm - $360
NWA (978): Rumaruttite (R3.8), S3, W2. Purchased August 1, 2001. Tkw = 722 grams.
For awhile, R chondrites were fairly easy to come by. Not so these days. Now they are quite expensive even fresh out of the field (unstudied) if they are recognized by the sellers (which is not particularly hard given their chondrule rich texture and complete lack of magnetic attraction). Most R chondrites are some shade of brown inside. This particular one is distinctly different. It does have the numerous chondrules and sulfides (not fresh metal) visible, but these are set in a medium to dark gray matrix. I have only two different specimens here. The smallest is actually two natural fragments. The largest is a natural fragment that has a roughly 25mm x 10mm polished face. These specimens are Lang Collection pieces and are in Riker boxes so shipping will be a bit higher for people that want to keep the boxes they are in.
a) 3.0 grams; 2 natural fragments (.7g, 2.3 g) - $60
b) 14.6 gram natural fragment with polished face – 30mm x 18mm x 15mm - $250
NWA (1208): Ordinary chondrite (H5), S2, W3. Found 1999. Tkw = 368 grams.
I can’t be certain, but there is a pretty good change that this could be the “main mass”. A single 368gram stone was found and 63 grams were given for classification. This leaves a total of just over 300 grams of remaining material. This particular specimen represents 36% of the remaining material. So, unless the other remaining material was left as a large cut fragment (no or few slices removed) then this should be the main mass. This piece is a cut fragment. The Bulletin description merely mentions “well defined chondrules” for features and this does indeed show a good number of nice round chondrules set in a medium to dark brown matrix. The backside is mostly old natural fracture surface bit there is a roughly 50mm x 15mm or so patch of fairly nice crust along one edge. This is yet another Lang collection piece in a Riker so shipping will be a bit more for those that want to keep it in the riker box it is in (you will get the label regardless)
110 gram cut fragment – 60mmx 40mm x 15mm - $80
TISSINT, Morocco: Martian (Shergottite). Fell July 18, 2011. Tkw = over 7 kilograms.
This is a meteorite that I thought we might be seeing lots of pieces of for many years. Nope, the stuff got pretty much picked out and distributed in a big hurry. Not much of it is available these days (and pretty much none is from the Moroccan sources I have). I got these pieces from a collector that, wisely, bought them when this material was readily available. These are all nice pieces and each has its own special features that I will try to briefly describe below.
1) Slices:
a) .15 grams part slice – 9mm x 5mm x 1.5mm - $105
b) 1.04 gram part slice – 22mm x 12mm x 1.5mm - $700 – some crust along edge, many small (1 to 2mm) melt zones.
c) 2.39 gram full slice – 30mmx 20mm x 1.5 mm - $1600 – 2/3 of edge crusted. Interior shows a couple large black melt zones containing gas bubbles.
d) 3.37 gram part slice – 35mm x 18mm x 2mm - $2200 – has many nice melt areas and veins. Some gas bubbles, one of which goes completely through the slice.
2) End pieces:
a) 1.99 grams – 20mm x 18mm x 4mm - $1300 – back is around 60% plus fusion crusted.
b) 3.82 grams – 28mm x 27mm x 3mm - $2500 – back mostly late natural fracture but edges have some crust.
3) Individual: This piece was listed as a “fragment” on the hand-written label that came with it. This is clearly more of a nice individual. There are a few minor chipped edges/ points that are clearly breaks. The largest obvious “break” is about 15mm x 5mm. Careful inspection though reveals the presence of very light (and spotty) fusion crust covering most of this area. So, it is a break but might be better classified as a zone of (very) light secondary fusion crust. The remainder of the stone is covered in nice shiny black fusion crust.
3.71 gram individual – 15mm x 12mm x 12mm - $2500
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