Blaine Reed Meteorites- LIST 266- 04OCT2023

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

LIST 265 - October 4, 2023

Dear Collectors

Here is my Fall/ after Denver list. Sometimes, I have a list already set to go before I head off to the Denver show. Not this time. Kind of glad I waited. I never know what I am going to pick up at a show. Sometimes I get something new or exciting. This time I got something fairly special while at the show and I am glad I did not have to wait until my New Year’s list to offer it.
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DRONINO, Russia: Iron (ungrouped), Ataxite. Found 2000. Tkw = >3000kg.
I have had pieces of this meteorite off and on for some 20 years now but I think this is the first time I have ever had enough pieces to offer on a catalog. The first piece of this (a 40kg specimen) was found in July 2000 by a guy while he was heading home from mushroom hunting (something I like to do myself when we actually get enough moisture. This year, I was only able to get a couple handfuls of Chantrelles). It was a few years later before it was recognized as a meteorite. Of course, that set off a rush (both scientific and meteorite hunters) of expeditions to the area. It is suspected that a crater (guesstimated to be around 30m diameter) is hidden/ buried in the area. These are all small polished slices that show the classic shiny metal with rounded blobs of troilite texture of this ataxite. Part slices; polished both sides: a) 5.1 grams - 23mm x 13mm x 2.5mm - $20
b) 10.1 grams - 29mm x 13mm x 3mm - $35
c) 15.5 grams - 37mm x 23mm x 2mm - $50
d) 25.5 grams - 39mm x 37mm x 2.5mm - $80
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NWA 11615: Ordinary chondrite. (LL3), S2, W2. Found 2017. Tkw = 3.11 kg.
Though I am glad to have gotten this at the show, this is not the “special” thing I brought back from Denver. A single 3114g stone was found before August of 2017 (when it was sold to a dealer who bought it in Temara, Morocco). The interior shows lots of closely packed, well-formed chondrules (mostly lighter grays, tans to almost white) set in a finer-grained matrix that has altered kamacite (giving it kind of an orange brown coloration that sets off the chondrules quite nicely). Unfortunately, as with most “3s” these days, the sub-typing was not done on this (meeting the Nomenclature Committee’s updated requirements to do this is a very expensive and time consuming process so few type 3s are getting this done these days). So, a nice, affordable representative type 3 chondrite but no idea what the subtype (3.2, 3.5, 3.7……) might be.Slices: a) 6.0 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 4mm - $21
b) 10.9 grams - 30mm x 21mm x 5mm - $37
c) 23.5 grams - 45mm x 31mm x 5mm - $75
d) 52.1 grams - 90mm x 47mm x 4mm - $160
e) 102.8 grams - 90mm x 88mm x 4mm - $310 – complete slice.
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NWA 15893: Enstatite chondrite (EH6). Found 2022. Tkw = 3.4kg.
This is the item that I am glad to have waited on for this list. It has been a loooong time since I have had a decent fresh enstatite chondrite of any type to offer (I think NWA (1910) was the last one more than a decade ago and that was priced at $50/g). These things (particularly fresh ones) are incredibly rare. This particular meteorite is only the 9th of its type known (with the total of type being not much over 8kg). To be honest, at first glance, this does not look a whole lot different that an H5 orH6 (this could blend in quite nicely with the slices of Cassilda I recently got back from cutting). However, in prepping this for sale (breaking large pieces down) this clearly showed its type. The smell of sulfur was quite obvious (E chondrites smell so bad this way they are a challenge to cut and polish without good air flow). It took several washings to get the smell off of my hands after preparing the pieces listed here. Here is an affordable chance to up-grade the enstatite chondrite in your collection (I know I already have).Slices: a) 2.2 grams - 21mm x 14mm x 3mm - $33
b) 4.4 grams - 26mm x 20mm x 3mm - $65
c) 8.5 grams - 34mm x 29mm x 3mm - $125
d) 16.1 grams - 45mm x 36mm x 3mm - $235
e) 32.1 grams - 60mm x 55mm x 3mm - $450
f) 89.2 grams - 120mm x 80mm x 3mm - $1150 - not in photo.
g) 117.9 grams - 125mm x 118mm x 3mm - $1500
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BECHAR (003), Algeria: Lunar meteorite (feldspathic breccia). Found 2022. Tkw = several kilos +
It seems quite a lot of pieces of this have been found since its discovery on March 2, 2022. However, MOST of those pieces are very small, angular (often caliche covered) fragments. I managed to acquire a batch that had, generally, slightly larger pieces and more pieces that were clearly surface-find individuals (all be it highly wind-polished). It is samples of these (after air abrasion cleaning to remove most of the dirt and caliche) that I am offering here. I don’t recall really ever offering any “natural individual” Moon rocks before. Perhaps a single specimen here or there over the years but not an assortment of such. These are all rounded/ sub-rounded specimens and not the usual obvious angular fracture (freeze-thaw?? Deserts are often warm but they often do get moisture and cold enough to have this action of destruction occur from time to time) fragments. As mentioned above, I have cleaned these quite extensively (this stuff has clearly been on the ground a loooong time) so they do have an obviously cleaned look to them. As such, many do show the brecciated internal structure. These, by far, are the cheapest (by more than half) of any Lunar material I have ever offered.Individuals: shape as found but cleaned: a) 1.50 grams - 15mm x 9mm x 6mm - $45
b) 2.28 grams - 16mm x 13mm x 10mm - $68
c) 3.24 grams - 18mm x 13mm x 10mm - $92
d) 4.51 grams - 19mm x 18mm x 10mm - $120
e) 6.60 grams - 24mm x 16mm x 10mm - $165
f) 10.44 grams - 20mm x 17mm x 16mm - sold.
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TRINITITE: Glass from first nuclear explosion.
Thanks to the (little bit) of hype concerning the movie “Oppenheimer” that came out in July there has been something of an “explosion” (pun intended) of interest and demand for pieces of Trinitite, I decided to go ahead and offer these larger pieces that I picked up some years ago now. These are pieces I lucked into during the Socorro Mineral Symposium and are bigger and nicer than pretty much any I have ever had before. I got these from old inventory from a rock shop (in El Paso Texas I think where it was) that was being cleared out from a shed full of rocks as the (long retired) owner was moving to California. As all of the pieces of this I have had, these are natural, as found, rounded blobs of glass from sand that was melted by the world’s first nuclear explosion on July 16, 1945 about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico at 5:29 in the morning. This material has gotten quite expensive lately (for a long time it could NOT be sold on E-Bay as it was “man-made radioactive”. True, but not very radioactive (My equipment shows this material to be less radioactive than many/ most brick buildings). They have changed the rules on E-Bay concerning this material causing demand (and prices) to increase a lot the past couple years. Once these “bigger” pieces are gone, I will have only the usual one or two gram pieces available.Natural pieces as found: a) 6.7 grams - 35mm x 23mm x 9mm - $65 - not piece in photo..
b) 8.2 grams - 30mm x 26mm x 12mm - $82
c) 11.5 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 15mm - $115
d) 14.1 grams - 47mm x 28mm x 15mm - $150 - only piece this size.

“WRONG BUTTON” copper coin.
I picked these up in Denver and thought they were kind of neat. I put some out with the (much smaller than above) Trinitite pieces I had at the show and sold a few. These are pure copper 1 oz (28.35g ounce/ 16 to a pound NOT troy ounce, 31.1035g used in precious metals) coin that has an American eagle (with olive branches in one claw and arrows in the other) on one side. The other side is why I got them. It is a couple aliens sitting in lawn chairs watching fire-works (much like many of us do on the 4th of July). However, the main fire work is clearly nuclear mushroom cloud with the words “Wrong Button” above it. Kind of works with a piece of trinitite as a display.
a) coin on its own - $7 each
b) coin with purchase of any trinitite piece (including my smaller ones not listed) - $5 each

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Shipping:
Shipping costs are something of a confused mess since the post office changed rates a few months ago. I can still send small US orders for right around $6. However, this is by way of “Ground (advantage)”. “First-class” (air mail) no longer exists. So far, I have not noticed much in the way of delays using this “Ground Advantage” (or packages going missing but, to be honest, I have not sent a lot of packages out the past couple months). IF you want true “air-mail” the only option is “Priority” now: What little I have done with that lately shows that the cheapest this can be done is the “small flat-rate box” for a little over $10. I have found that for items that are just a little too big for those kind of boxes prices get expensive very quickly (often making the medium flat-rate box (aside from the ridiculous amounts of extra packing materials often needed) at $17 the next best option.
For overseas (or Canada for that matter) I will have to custom quote shipping on each order. IF no alternative to “Priority” remains (first class (which used to be around $15) can’t really do “ground” on overseas) it may mean that the only remaining option is (once again) a Priority small flat-rate box (which is around $48 to most places these days!!!!).

Blaine Reed Meteorites- LIST 265- 24AUG2023

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

LIST 265 - August 24, 2023

Dear Collectors

Here is a modest offering of some things that I have had here for some time but have not had a lot of time to catalog/ sort out. This will be my only offering until sometime after the Denver show (coming waaaayy to soon) – notes on that below).

Denver Show: I will be at my normal spot – Crowne Plaza (15500 E. 40th Ave – I-70 and Chambers Rd) in the “Frisco” meeting room (on the WEST side of the actual Convention center building – near the actual Hotel building). I will (or should) be open from Friday morning the 8th until Saturday afternoon (the 16th). I am scheduled to be open at 10am but will try to be open a bit earlier than that most days. My official closing time is 6pm but I do hang around and keep the door open however late (within reason) people are visiting (PLEASE NOTE, if you are wanting to visit “after hours” you will likely have to got through the hotel lobby doors as they often turn off and lock the doors that are right next to my show space). I will be “on the road” for this trip from around the 5th until the 18th. I’ll be VERY swamped once I get back home as it looks like I may have to unload and then turn right around an head back over the mountains to Wichita, Kansas (the guy I get my watch repair parts from is looking to retire and is getting pretty insistent that I go out to their NAWCC watch/ clock convention (starting on the 20th!!!) to buy whatever parts I think I might need or risk, in the future, going without). Basically, this whole next month is going to be a big, difficult mess for me.



ABADLA (002), Algeria: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Found 2021, Tkw = 800 grams.
Here is about the only “affordable” CM2 that I am aware of. I have only a few crumbs of Murchison, sold all of my Aguas Zarcas. I’d love to sit on these pieces and wait to see what the asteroid return missions (one back already, one back soon) shows what those asteroids are made of. IF it is basically this kind of stuff, expect a pretty good run on all things CM2 (or CI1??). These are all the “usual” small fragments/ individuals as found.
1) Natural fragment:
a) .54 grams – 11mm x 7mm x 5mm - $35
b) .84 grams – 12mm x 9mm x 7mm - $50
c) 1.07 grams – 14mm x 8mm x 6mm - $65
d) 1.20 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 6mm - $70

ADMIRE, Kansas: Stony-iron (Pallasite).
I don’t remember exactly where I got this, just know it has been quite a long time now. This looks to be a “cleaned” (tumble polished?) individual of this meteorite. I didn’t know that many small individuals were actually found. This is actually quite pretty (I just don’t need it collecting dust at the back of a shelf here any more as it has for the last decade or so). It has obvious large somewhat gemmy olivine crystals in a blue-gray looking (on the exterior anyway) metal matrix. A nice piece that I wish I had bought a bunch of IF it was available affordably back when I got it. I have not had trouble with this rusting BUT I would recommend keeping it in a sealed desiccant container if you live in a humid area.
24.7 gram cleaned individual – 40mm x 28mm x 17mm - $150

DAR AL GANI (400), Lunar meteorite (anorthositic breccia). Found 1998,Ttkw = 1425 grams.
Boy oh boy do I remember when this discovery was reported. I think it happened right AFTER I paid $87k for a piece of the DaG (262) that was about the size of a nickel (and not much thicker). I think it might have been right before I got that piece in my hands and prepared it for selling. Nervous time indeed (were many kilos about to found, flooding the market making my little 262 nickel worth a fraction of what I paid?????). Anyway, the DaG 400 did come out but there was never a lot of it available. This piece IS the piece I picked up for myself at the time (much larger surface area than the small DaG 262 piece I kept for myself (and still have). Not super exciting these days, given the volume of Lunars available now but still a historic and interesting little piece.
.243gram slice – 20mm x 7mm x 1mm - $250

NAGJIR (001), Western Sahara. Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2012, Tkw 4.8kg.
Here are a few slices of a nice, really classic looking CV3. These are this, show lots of chondrules and even a few of the CAI inclusions fluoresce a bit (pink/ purple).
1) Slices:
a) 7.5 grams – 48mm x 40mm x 1.5mm - $110
b) 12.2 grams – 90mm x 38mm x 1.5mm - $170
c) 15.9 grams – 110mm x 45mm x 1.5mm - $200




NWA (10401): Lunar meteorite (anorthositic troctolite). Found 2015. Tkw 354 grams.
This is kind of different from other lunars I have seen. It kind of looks like a plae green/ tan version of an Aubrite. It has distinct shock veins, many of which are large/ wide enough to have gas bubbles. I remember when this first came out. Being “something new and different” it was NOT particularly cheap (and me, being a cheap ------- ahh skate, I didn’t pick any up at the time). A bit (but only a little) more expensive than some of the other Lunars available BUT definitely interesting and worth the little extra (I’ll be keeping a piece myself). I can break a piece up into smaller pieces if anyone out there wants a smaller piece of this. I just didn’t want to start breaking apart these rather pretty pieces until I had a distinct need to.
1) Slices:
a) 4.3 grams – 30mm x 23mm x 2.5mm - $525
b) 7.3 grams – 35mm x 30mm x 2.5mm - $900 - complete slice
c) 11.3 grams – 47mm x 28mm x 3mm - $1200

SEYMCHAN, Russia: Stony-iron (Pallasite).
Now (unlike the similar Admire above) I do remember where I got this (if not exactly when). I got this as a trade in from a local Tucson collector towards something a bit bigger/ better I had that he wanted (he shows up each year with a small bag of “trade stuff”. He never buys, just trades). This, like the above Admire, does not look like a fragment of a much larger mass (though this one might be ½ of a slightly larger natural piece). Like the Admire above, I am not aware of many small seymchan pieces having been found. This shows a fair amount of visible olivine in the (in this case, mostly brown) metal matrix. This does have some fracturing. I don’t think that this is from it rusting after recovery as much as it is probably freeze-thaw fracturing. These things are found in the far north in an ancient glacial moraine. Being near the surface (where such a small piece would be findable with metal detector equipment) in such an environment would make it highly likely to suffer this fate.
60.7 gram natural fragment – 50mm x 25mm x 20mm - $280

TIGLIT, Morocco: Enstatite achondrite (Aubrite). Fell Dec 9, 2021. Tkw 2.22kg.
I remember the big hoopla when this fell. I had a lot of people telling me to “buy it now” (right after it fell). Well, the price was really high at that point (these days, even a common chondrite fall is many $hundreds/ gram until it is seen if there will be enough to satisfy the “will loose sleep if I don’t own a piece of the new one – will pay (almost” any price to get it” collectors. This one had more going for it. It had (has) a classic Lunar breccia look to it. That is what it was believed to be initially. As such, I seem to recall its price was around $1000/g. IF I were in the area (and had my XRF, I could have sorted this out in about a minute. I would have known it was NOT the world’s first Lunar witnessed fall but a (still quite interesting” Aubrite fall. These are all natural fragments as found. DON’T mix them in with any of your lunar meteorites or you’ll need my help sorting them back out.
1) Natural fragments as found: $175/g
Sizes available: .31g, .75g, 1.33g, 1.69g

Shipping:
Once again, the post office had turned everything upside down as far as shipping costs go (changes were made back in early July). I still can ship small US orders for around $5 BUT that is by way of something they are now calling "Ground Advantage". They have COMPLETELY eliminated "First Class" (which used to be "air-mail"). I have used this a number of times in the last month or so and it does not seem like it is taking all that much longer to get where it needs to be. I am a bit concerned though that being now "Ground" shipping that I may start to see more damaged and lost packages as these will now be mixed in with ALL the large, heavy things that are still going by the old "Parcel post". The problem here is that now, thanks to these changes, the cheapest I can send anything by air is in a small or medium Priority flat-rate box (using my own boxes for anything is drastically more expensive I have found. It seems the Post Office is doing everything they can to "standardize" shipping containers and is forcing us into flat-rate boxes only). So, sending things by air will be a minimum of $10 ($17 for larger things).

As for "Overseas" (any out of US orders) I am not quite certain yet how this effects things, I just know it will. As such, I will have to custom quote shipping on any out of US orders. I suspect though that this will force me to use Priority for these sales with "First Class" no longer existing and no possible "Ground" option available. I suspect I'll be forced into the flat-rate boxes here as well (and those START at nearly $50 for a small!!).

BLAINE REED METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 264 11JUL2023

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

LIST 264 - July 11, 2023


Dear Collectors,

   Here is another assortment of odds and ends from the big pile of small specimens collection I bought a couple years ago. In fact, these are the last of the specimens from that collection (I sold most of the material to one buyer for resale in their large and popular retail store).

  I will be gone from August 3rd through the 7th for this event. The show itself runs the 4th, 5th and 6th. I believe the show times are 10am to 5pm each day. IF you think you might go (loooong drive from many places in Colorado but nice (for me anyway) to get out of the heat for a few days) let me know if there is something you want me to bring as many of the more collector oriented things tend to get left behind as this is pretty much a “retail” (generally more common, more affordable items) show.

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DAR AL GANI (082), Libya: Carbonaceous chondrite (CO3). Found 1995. Tkw = 860 grams.
The Meteoritical bulleting says one piece was found. I actually remember when pieces of this (well, likely pairings anyway) first started to come out. Up until then, I think Colony, Oklahoma (and maybe a small piece of Kainsaz) were all I had for CO3 meteorites (and neither was cheap). I ended up buying several of these things, more than doubling my suite of CO3 meteorites in my collection. There were a fair number of these that came out (and it IS likely that many are paired) but I have not seen any of these for a while. This is a natural fragment that has two cut faces roughly perpendicular to each other (so, kind of a “book end” cut). This comes with a Hupe Collection label.
7.3 gram cut fragment – 17mm x 11mm x 15mm - $65

DAR AL GANI (437), Libya: Ordinary chondrite. (L6). Found 1998. Tkw 239 grams.
Two pieces were recovered. The cut face on this end piece matches the structure/ appearance of the photo of a piece of this meteorite that is posted in its Meteoritical Bulletin listing. The cut face is roughly 27mm x 13mm in size. The remainder of the specimen is all natural – no fresh broken surfaces. This comes with a “The Meteorite Shop” (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) CoA/ label.
16.3 gram end piece – 27mm x 13mm x 23mm - $50

GIBEON, Namibia: Iron. Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
This is a small rectangular etched (on both sides) slice. I remember the days when I had LOTS of these. Right now, I think this my ONLY piece (aside from a small batch of similar pieces I have in deep, deep storage. I brought those back from Munich on the Concorde. I suspect that those are the only Gibeon pieces that have been back to supersonic speeds (a tiny tad over Mach 2) since their fall). I have this piece only because I had consigned it to a store in Ouray years ago. Unfortunately, health issues required the store’s owner to sell out and retire. The new owners did NOT want ANY consignment items. So, I “rediscovered” this piece while going through all the display cases looking for material of mine before the new owners got handed the keys (anything I left behind would become the new owner’s property in full). Years ago, this would have been a $20 piece maybe. Lately, I have heard things about etched Gibeon pieces selling for closer to $6 to $10/g lately!
16.1gram rectangular part slice – 34mm x 18mm x 3mm - $70

IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1822.
Not sure how I missed this one. If I had seen it earlier, I would have simply put it on the last offering with the nice single olivine crystal I offered (and still have, I believe) on the last list. Oh well, here it is on this one. This is a much more typical pallasite piece. It has both metal and olivine (though it does lean heavy on the olivine side). This is in a gem-stone holder and comes with a Moritz Karl label.
1.38 gram slice – 17mm x 11mm x 3mm - $55





NWA (1459): HED achondrite (olivine Diogenite). Found April 2002. Tkw = 49 grams.
I certainly remember when this first came out. It was the very first of its kind. No one had seen a diogenite with a fair amount of olivine in it before. As such, and with so very little of it known at the time, it was certainly very expensive. I cannot recall the price on this stuff back then (many hundreds$ to some thousands$/ gram I think), just that it was high enough that I chose not to add a piece to my collection at the time. As happens often, more similar material was found not long after. Some of that material, held by other people, was “self paired” to this first one and fights (verbal and legal) soon developed. Ultimately, a sizable amount of “olivine diogenite” was found (not really all that much, but plenty to more than satisfy anyone who felt the need to have a piece of this type material at high prices). I think I ended up getting pieces for closer to $20/g or so before I added some to my collection. Not super long after this “discovery” was made, I managed to come into the first known Vesta Dunite (a rock this is pretty much all olivine. Actually, Chassigny is the Martian version of a Dunite). However, just as I was starting to bring this “new and exciting” material to market, the folks with the Meteoritical Bulletin decided to lump ALL Diogenites (regular, olivine diogenites and dunites) together under the simple “Diogenite” classification. You now have to dig into the research reports a bit to see if any particular “Diogenite” is what was considered and olivine diogenite or a dunite (that last one is highly unlikely though. I think only a couple Vesta dunites are known even today). Regardless, this is a small piece of the real deal (NOT a later, other party “self pairing”). It is a fragment from the very first recovery. This comes with its original Hupe Collection label. This may not be particularly rare/ pricy type material these days BUT this little piece is kind of historic.
.08 gram fragment – 6mm x 3mm x 2mm - $40

NWA (2126): HED achondrite (Eucrite, polymict). Found 2003. Tkw 227 grams.
The Hupe Collection label that comes with this has the TKW as “2227 grams”. The Meteoritical Bulletin has it as 227 grams. I suspect that a “fat finger” accident happened (adding and extra “2”) when this card was being made (I have plenty of these events myself). The “polymict”part does not show up at the top of the classification report. This just means that this is all eucritic material BUT there are fragments of eucrites of differing composition and or structures in this breccia.
3.6 gram part slice – 17mm x 16mm x 5mm - $40

NWA (4293): Ordinary chondrite. (L6). Found 2005. Tkw 25 kilograms.
The Meteoritical Bulletin lists one piece as being found. Personally, I think it was more like “one bucket full” of pieces. This is a completely natural on all surface fragment (no fresh breaks). This has an interesting deep “Y” shaped crack on one face that has a number of largish sand grains stuck down in it. Nothing rare or special, just interesting and affordable. This comes with a “Gary LaDuke” (???? – don’t know who that is, to be honest) that says that this specimen was “originally from the world famous Hupe Collection”.
33.0 gram natural fragment – 30mm x 26mm x 20mm - $35

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: HED achondrite (diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931. Tkw = 13.5kg.
These are both lots of the typical weird generally angular (with some rounded edges) green crystals. The smaller lot has fewer (but generally larger) pieces and comes with a P.A. Swartz Collection label. The heavier lot has many more specimens but they range from a couple mm or so to around 5mm in size. Those come with a “Meteor Center Collection” label. Either of these batches would be great for someone that wants to break them apart and have small pieces of a weird diogenite fall to sell to new collectors.
a) 3.28 gram (5 pcs) lot of natural pieces - $35
b) 10 gram lot - $100

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Shipping: For small US orders $10 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $10. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still losing a little even at $10. Larger orders are now $9 to $16 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it).

Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

I do have a fax machine that seems to work (but I have to answer it and manually turn it on), so overseas people can contact me that way if they must. However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail when possible.

BLAINE REED METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 263 25JUN2023

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

LIST 26 - June 26, 2023

Dear Collectors,

Here is an assortment of things I picked up as part of a large collection (like 9 beer flats full) I bought several years ago. Most of the pieces in that collection were very small/ cheap items (like .1 or .2g $5 or $10 kind of items). I sold most of it off as one large lot to someone wanting the pieces for a retail store. These pieces represent some of the pieces I decided to hang onto for sale at my shows or E-mail offerings like this. I did not offer any of these things earlier as I had quite simply misplaced them. I had looked for them off and on over the past few months (but not real intensely), while nice, these aren’t really “new” items. They are all things I have offered at some point in the past (the shatter cone being the only exception). While looking for something else (a Lunar Gabbro slice) that turned out to quite elusive in my inventory, I discovered the bag that had these (and other) specimens in it in the completely wrong box (with “consignment” items). Not sure how/why it ended up there (likely “cleaning up” in too big a hurry at some point) but, thankfully, I have them out and ready for sale now.

Now this is going to seem a bit strange but, for this offering, I am going to reduce the price of items 5% for folks that are willing to pay with a credit card. Nope, this is certainly NOT normal for me. I usually prefer a simply mailed check (slower but no fees), The reason for this is I am setting up a new credit card processing system (one that has chip reader, tap pay – things that will really only be useful at shows) and I really need to test it a bit before I completely shut down and destroy my old (like 25 years old) machine and processing system. I am hoping to get this new machine/ system tested a bit in the next few days and (assuming it works well for me) shut down and cancel the old system before those folks hit me with a stupid high amount of fees for July (they DRASTICALLY increased their fee structure for me back in January. Now something like $130 a month in fees BEFORE I run a charge (more fees added as soon as I do). I wanted to dump them (and the old machine) ASAP then BUT I didn’t dare risk it as I needed something I could fully trust for the Tucson show (I got this new one in a “slow” sales period so I can play with and test it plenty to iron out any problems before the next show). So, if you want something off of this offering please do consider using a card (5% discount) for this. This will not be repeated unless I find further issues that need to be ironed out (with any “upgrades” needing further testing).

A further note: I have a couple things that I forgot I need to do today. Each will have me "out of the house" for half an hour to an hour maybe. I will honor reservation requests (should there be any) made while i am gone (by phone or E-Mail in the order I receive them (yep, both the e-mail and phone message system have time stamps on them).



IMILAC, Chile: Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1822.
This is actually kind of a cool specimen. It is one quite large olivine crystal that obviously popped out of a slice at some point. This crystal is quite gemmy and probably could have a couple nice (but not large) gemstones cut from it. This is (appropriately) in a gemstone holder and comes with a Moritz Karl label.
.33gram olivine crystal – 12mm x 9mm x 1.5mm - $25

JUANCHENGE, China: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell Feb. 15, 1997. Tkw = 100kg.
Like the Murchison below, if I knew had this, I could have sold this several times over by now. I remember when this first came out (Denver show 1997). It was not particularly cheap ($10/g or so I seem to recall). However, it was not long before far more material showed up than buyers who were willing to pay those kinds of prices. Of course, the prices dropped (to around $1/g or so at one point!). However, another “issue” turned up as well. Pieces of this “new” meteorite were showing up looking far more rusty/ weathered than they should have been for something that had just fallen a month or three earlier. It turns out that someone had offered to buy these things from the finders “By Weight” (as we pretty much all do in this biz/ hobby). Well, the folks in China realized that these things are quite porous. As such, they can absorb a surprising amount of water. Water adds weight. So, soak your rocks in a bucket of water for a day or two and you get more money for the same rocks! Maybe good for the finder/ seller but not so much for the specimen. This piece is basically a complete individual. It has something around 80% or so thick primary crust and the remainder being late atmospheric breaks with thin secondary crust. Though this piece is not terribly rusted, I do think it was a piece that was one of the “enhanced weight” pieces. Nice pieces of this meteorite bring some pretty good money these days (Chinese collectors want them back) – equal to or more than what the original first available pieces brought. I am offering this piece for around half of that. Not a bad piece, just not as nice and fresh as some (but has a story to tell).
40.7 gram complete individual – 30mm x 25mm x 20mm - $200

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS:
I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with this specimen. I had thought about simply tossing it in with my other Libyan glass pieces but this one is not the same style. Most of my usual pieces are kind of mid to higher grade – more clarity (but substantially higher price). This one is quite “foggy” - has lots of internal air bubbles, many filled with milky white cristobalite (high temp/ high pressure form of quartz). This is a complete natural fragment. Nothing real exciting, just a nice sample in a style (somewhat milky) that is, generally, the easiest (and cheapest) to find. This comes with a Michael Farmer Meteorites label.
25.2 gram natural fragment – 45mm x 30mm x 20mm - $20


MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell Sept. 28, 1969.
If I had remembered I had this (and could have found it) I would have sold this particular piece several times over by now. This is a single solid piece (the Murchison I offered on my last “mailed” catalog were fragments in a capsule). It is really a small slice but it looks more like a cut fragment (one “cut” side is quite small). This is in a gemstone holder and comes with a “Mr. Meteorite” label.
.13gram slice – 8mm x 3mm x 3mm - $80



NWA (8160): Carbonaceous chondrite. (CV3). Found 2013. Tkw = 5.3kg.
The biggest specimen here was probably the most valuable item in the entire 9 beer flat lot. This is the same material that I have been putting out at shows the past few years as my “CV3” material. I got a fair amount of moderate sized pieces of this some years ago. I have cut what pieces I could and have been offering end pieces of this since. This is somewhat weathered material, but not bad. If anything, the weathering has enhanced the appearance of the material. It was turned some of the (very obvious) chondrules shades of orange/ brown, making them really stand out. These all show a really classic CV3 texture (chondrules, CAIs.in a medium to dark gray matrix) and are priced below what I have on them when I put them out at shows (these pieces cost me less). If these don’t sell from this offering, they will be out for sale in Denver this fall.
a) 7.1 gram slice – 25mm x 14mm x 10mm - $35
b) 11.0 gram slice – 40mm x 32mm x 6mm - $55
c) 116.2 gram end piece – 70mm x 30mm x 35mm - $550

RICHFIELD, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (LL3.7). Found 1983. Tkw = 41kg.
I once had the entire mass of this meteorite. I have long since cut it up and sold it off. I think, right now, I only have a few tens of grams of it remaining in inventory. This sample came from me originally but has had more work done on it. When I had this meteorite cut up, I did not have the classification work finished on it. The part I had cut off myself (for research/ classification work) did not look like this was anything important. This was because, it turned out, this meteorite has a lot of solar-wind implanted gasses (this was sitting on the surface of its parent body for a considerable amount of time). These implanted gasses have darkened some areas of the meteorites to the point that it hides the chondrules, making those areas look like a type 5 at best. As such, thinking I had a big L5 on my hands, I had it cut as I would any common stone meteorite at the time (around 5 or 6mm thick). Now I have cut some of those thicker pieces in two, making them closer to 2.5mm thick. This piece looks like it was probably cut using a wire saw (which, with the right operator, could probably cut one of my original thick slices into three or four thinner ones). This piece is sub 1mm in thickness. As such, it does not have a lot of weight but does have a really good surface area. Better yet, though this piece does show some solar wind gas darkening in spots, it shows lots of chondrules (including one really light tan one that is 5mm or so in diameter) – looking more like the type 3 it is.
2.7 gram slice – 36mm x 35mm x 1mm - $45

Keurusselka, Finland, SHATTER CONE  Can’t saw that I have ever had (or even seen) a shatter cone from this locality. The ancient impact is, apparently, the large of 12 known in Finland. It is also, at 1.15 billion years old, one of the very oldest known. It is not known how big the original crater was as much of it has long since eroded away (not surprising, given its age) but it is guessed to have been somewhere between 14km and 36km in diameter (NOT something you would to have been in the area to see forming). This is a dark “granitoid” rock (looks like a typical granite but with a lot more dark minerals). It is fairly coarse-grained but yet still shows the shattercone structure quite well. This rock is also quite ancient – forming around 1.88 billion years ago. It doesn’t have a label with it but is easily identifiable as it has “KEURAUSSE/LKA” written in black paint (on a white paint background) on one end.
254.0 grams – 160mm x 75mm x 20mm - $40

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Shipping: For small US orders $5 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $5. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still loosing a little even at $5. Larger orders are now $9 to $16 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it).

Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

I do have a fax machine that seems to work (but I have to answer it and manually turn it on), so overseas people can contact me that way if they must. However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail when possible.

BLAINE REED METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 262 Argentina/ Brazil Things 13JUN2023

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

LIST 262 - June 13, 2023

Dear Collectors,

Here is a list of items I had out in Tucson but few seemed to notice the bin (it was sitting on the bed). These are all items from either Argentina or Brazil. I got them from a friend who got them from an auction I believe. All of these have some kind of labels with them. Some are just stickers on the membrane box with the important info and others have collection labels (sometimes 2) with them. Most of these are in a display of some sort (only the 2 biggest pieces listed here are not). When I set up the group photos for this offering, I took the specimens out of their packaging so they would show a bit better just on their own (the first photo attempt with leaving the pieces in their display set-ups didn’t work out well).
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BALCARCE, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H4). Found June 2, 2000. Tkw = around 2.5kg.
This is one of the two pieces that is not set up in a display of some sort. It is a natural fragment and is a bit too thick to fit in a Riker box (at least any of the ones I have on hand). It does camo with a Southern Minerals label though.
48.1 gram natural fragment – 50mm x 35mm x 20mm -  SOLD

CAMPINORTE, Brazil: Iron, ungrouped. Found 1992. Tkw = about 2 tons.
This was found by a couple miners/ prospectors. One had made the comment to the other that he had found a “steel stone” some years earlier. They went to the area he had remembered seeing it and they located it with metal detectors. As it was on private land, they asked permission to break off a piece and get it checked out. The Museo National confirmed that it was a meteorite. The person who owned the land kept the rest of the meteorite himself. This is an oxide fragment (as was, likely, the piece the prospectors were able to “break off”). It is in a labeled membrane box.
1.6 gram oxide fragment – 15mm x 11mm x 4mm -  SOLD

CASILDA, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1937, Tkw = 18.35kg.
I strongly suspect that these two pieces are ones that came from the piece I had partly cut up some years ago. They then went wandering through other people’s hands before falling back into mine. The smaller piece is in a labeled membrane box and the larger is in a larger plastic box with a Mile High Meteorites label. IF someone wants a big full slice of this I did have a few slices taken off of the main mass end piece I had sitting in a corner for years recently (however, I still have not even opened the box they came back from being cut in).
a) 2.7 gram slice – 18mm x 7mm x 5mm - SOLD
b) 9.4 gram slice – 28mm x 18mm x 5mm - SOLD

GARABATO, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1995. Tkw = 160kg.
A single stone was found while ploughing. Not much else of the story is offered. This piece is in a labeled membrane box. Actually, I have a couple of these (basically equal in size/ weight) but decided to put only one in the photo.
1.5 gram slice – 15mm x 9mm x 3mm - SOLD

NAHEUL NIYEU, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 2005. Tkw = 10.54kg.
Pretty much nothing listed as for the find story on this one. This is the second piece in this offering that is not in display packaging of some sort. However, this comes with TWO labels: one a Southern Minerals label and one a Meteorites USA (John Sinclair) label. This is the largest item on this offering.
148.7g complete slice – 95mm x 90mm x 6mm - SOLD



PATOS DE MINAS II, Brazil: Iron, (IAB). Found 1925. Tkw = 200kg.
Originally, a small rusted piece of this was found in a museum collection, unstudied in 1925. Two pieces were found there, actually. One was a Hexahedrite (now called Patos de Minas I) and this one, an octahedrite. In 2002 a roughly 200kg piece of the octahedrite one was found by a farmer while ploughing a field (and that piece is the source of this particular specimen). This is pretty much a small block, etched on one face. It is set up in a Riker type box with a COA (with IMCA on it) but IO cannot seem to make out the finer details of just who’s label this is.
14.0g slice/block – 15mm x 15mm x 9mm -  SOLD

PUTINGA, Brazil; Ordinary chondite (L6). Fell August 16,1937. Tkw 300kg.
This is in labeled membrane box. However, that label says “found 1937”. This is just a small rectangular slice that does have one edge (one of the longer edges) showing fusion crust.
1.0 gram slice – 11mm x 8mm x 4mm -  SOLD


SANTA VITORIA DO PALMAR, Brazil: ordinary chondrite (L3). Found 2003. Tkw = 50.4kg.
I seem to recall this one had me completely stumped when I first saw it. I seem to remember that they were trying to claim that this was a fall. I thought “no way” – it was far to weathered to be a fall I thought (this has very little visible inside). It was then claimed that it fell in a “salt bog” kind of area. Nope, I thought, the weathering was way to uniform throughout the inside of this meteorite (plus it does NOT absorb moisture and keep developing rust spots as meteorites that have been in slat water like to do). To me, it looked like an NWA stone, frankly. It had that classic Sahara Desert wind-polish look to it. However, it seems that a couple different people have found pieces of this in different years so, in this case, I seem to be quite wrong in my initial thoughts on this meteorite (Pobody is Nerfect!). The first three pieces were found in 2003 by a person looking for ancient arrowheads. In 2004, another (the last?) piece was found in the area. This small slice is in a labeled membrane box.
1.2 gram slice – 9mm x 9mm x 5mm - SOLD

SAO JOAO NEPOOCENO, Brazil: Iron (IVA) anomalous. Found 1956. Tkw = 15.3kg.
This is an interesting specimen. This meteorite is listed as having “silicate inclusions” but this small piece almost pretends to be a pallasite. About ½ of the face that is up in its larger sized gemstone holder is silicate. Some of these silicates look to be olivine crystals. A quick search on this meteorite shows that there is not a lot of it out there, what is is NOT cheap and one thing that seems to indicate that this is similar to Steinbach (a hugely desired meteorite but rarely available). This piece comes with a Big Kahuna Meteorites label.
1.9 gram slice – 15mm x 10mm x 3mm -  SOLD

VIEDMA, Argentina: Ordinary chondrite (L5). Found 2003. Tkw = 6.9kg.
Not much is reported on this meteorite other than Matt Morgan has the main mass (well, he did, I think all of this has long since been sold). I seem to recall buying this thing with him when it did become available (well, at least I bought a pretty good sized hunk of the stuff from him when it came available). All of my pieces have been looooong gone as well. This is a little slice/ block of a piece. It is in a labeled membrane box. Not big and exciting BUT it may be the only chance to add this name to your collection for a considerable time.
1.2 gram slice/ block – 8mm x 8mm x 5mm -  SOLD

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Shipping: For small US orders $5 is needed now. Rates have gone up yet more this year and now the cheapest I can send anything is right at $5. Add $ for the padded envelope or box, jewelry boxes, etc and, in most cases, I am still loosing a little even at $5. Larger orders are now $9 to $16 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it).

Overseas prices have gone up A LOT the past couple years. Now small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $14). I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders (both local and overseas). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $16.

I do have a fax machine that seems to work (but I have to answer it and manually turn it on), so overseas people can contact me that way if they must. However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail when possible.

Blaine Reed Meteorites -LIST 261 03MAY2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com
LIST 261 - May 3, 2023

Dear Collectors
Here is the e-mail version of my much delayed “Spring/ after Tucson” list. I have been so busy with various things that I came close to not doing this offering. However, I have had a number of people asking me “when is your new list coming out”. The answer is “Now”.
One important note: I have to be out of town May 9th and 10th. So, if you try to reach me either of those days, you will likely not be able to and will have to wait until Thursday the 11th (assuming no disasters that end up getting me stuck on the wrong side of the mountains an extra day or two anyway).

A note concerning the photos in this offering:
I want everyone receiving this post with imbedded group photos of the items on this list that the item pictured MAY NOT be the identical item you receive (except for cases where I have clearly labeled an item as “the only one this size” or similar). I usually have (and sell) multiple pieces of each size of the items listed (sometimes MANY of them – far to many to put all in a photograph for people to pick from). What I normally do is send the first person that asks for a particular item the largest piece available in whatever size range it is that the specimen they are buying belongs to (when I send a piece that is not in the photo, you generally get a very similar but slightly larger piece). This came about as MOST of my sales from these periodic (three times a year) catalogs come from the paper mailed version of this offering where no photos exist so customers don’t know exactly what the piece they ordered looks like (and are usually quite happy to receive a slightly larger specimen instead). So, you can certainly request the exact item in the group photo and I am happy to send it if someone else hasn’t already requested it. Please let me know if you would likely ONLY be happy with receiving that actual pictured piece(s) and I will NOT do any substitution(s) in your order.




GEBEL KAMIL, Egypt: Iron. Ni-rich ataxite (ungrouped). Found 2008.
Yes, I know I have offered plenty of this in the past. However, these pieces are special. It has been said that “meteorites do not hit the ground hot”. Yes, that IS true for something like 99.99% of them. However, these pieces are clearly an exception to that “rule”. These pieces each have a substantial patch (or several) of black bubbly glass adhering to them. This is from them hitting the local sand after the impact still hot enough to turn some of that sand into glass that ended up sticking to the meteorite. I suppose this should not be too surprising, given that Gebel was a crater forming impact, We have all (well, most of us anyway) seen impactites and impact glasses from some of the larger impact crater meteorites. However, I think that this is the first meteorite that I have ever seen showing melted stuff attached to it (aside from a very special and very expensive Portales Valley, NM piece I had years ago that had just the right wide metal vein trapped in the center of a mostly stone meteorite that melted a small patch of blue tarp to it when it landed). I went through a pretty good pile of this material and found few pieces that had any glass on them and much fewer still that showed relatively large (easily visible) amounts of it. Not cheap for “Gebel” in general, I realize, but these are special pieces!
1) Individuals as found
a) 2.8 grams - 5mm x 10mm x 4mm - $15 - not in the photo
b) 5.1 grams - 18mm x 15mm x 5mm - $25
c) 8.0 grams - 22mm x 18mm x 6mm - $38
d) 12.3 grams - 22mm x 21mm x 6mm - $57
e) 20.0 grams - 37mm x 17mm x 11mm - $90
f) 24.9 grams - 27mm x 24mm x 11mm - $110



ABA PANU, Nigeria: Ordinary chondrite (L3), S4, W0. Fell April 19, 2018. Tkw = 160kg.
Here are some slices of a really nice and really fresh type 3 chondrite. The fireball from the fall of this meteorite was recorded by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Objects Studies. The meteor arrived traveling at 20.9 km/ second and detonated at 30km high, releasing .23 kilotons of energy. Cutting reveals a beautiful light to medium gray interior filled with lots of chondrules, chondrule fragments and some angular to sub-rounded clasts (both light and dark). This meteorite has suffered very strong shock. This shock hardened this meteorite to the point of making it the currently hardest known meteorite (I know I had trouble even breaking these thing slices down into smaller pieces). Most of these pieces have not really been polished. They were cut with a wire saw, so saw marks remaining are not very visible (you have to really look for them to see them). I choose not to try and “fix” this as any polishing attempt at all would likely only result in making the chondrules harder to see (mushy) and just darken the overall appearance of this beautiful as is meteorite.
1) Slices:
a) 2.9 grams - 25mm x 12mm x 2mm - $35
b) 4.9 grams - 33mm x 19mm x 2.5mm - $56
c) 10.0 grams - 45mm x 26mm x 2.5mm - $110
d) 19.5 grams - 50mm x 45mm x 2mm - $210
e) 36.4 grams - 65mm x 53mm x 3mm - $370
f) 71.0 grams - 120mm x 62mm x 3mm - $700
g) 150.9 grams - 140mm x 120mm x 3mm - $1450 – beautiful full slice.

NWA (11026): Ordinary chondrite. (LL4), S4, W2. Found 2016. Tkw = 385 grams.
A single stone was found and later classified at UCLA. The research work showed this to be a member of the relatively rare LL4 group. Thin sections showed well-defined chondrules and some twinned pyroxenes but these are hard to see in a hand specimen as they are in a somewhat shock darkened matrix. Reflecting light off of a polished surface shows a lot of chondrules (some armored) and lots of fresh metal and sulfides. Not visually striking at first glance but nice and interesting when looked at closer. I have very little of this material (I got well under half of the stone that was found) so contact me quickly if you want a piece of this one.Slices: a) 4.1 grams - 19mm x 18mm x 4mm - $20
b) 8.0 grams - 35mm x 19mm x 4mm - $38
c) 12.4 grams - 43mm x 34mm x 3mm - $60 – not in photo..

2) End piece:
a) 57.9 grams - 40mm x 34mm x 20mm - $200




MURCHISON, Australia: Carbonaceous chondrite (CM2). Fell September 28, 1969.
I really, really thought I was completely out of this stuff. I had a person call and ask for a “small” piece of Murchison around the time I was doing inventory work. I told them I was completely out. I later remembered that, at one time, I had small fragments I had put in a capsule and then put that in a magnifier box. I knew I had sold out of all of those that I had in inventory but thought that, maybe, I might still have the “reference” (original) capsule I had made up and used to compare ones I made to sell (I tried to have a roughly equal amount in the ones I sold. The reference one came from my own personal piece of Murchison I had from years earlier). Well, I DID find that as well as another gram or so of “personal collection” fragments and crumbs with it! Still having the capsules and some of the magnifier boxes, I decided to make up more of the same kind of specimens I had offered years earlier (fragments/ crumbs in a capsule in a magnifier box). These all are made up of fragments that are from around 1mm to 3mm or so in size. I did a rough weight calculation (starting material weight divided by the number of capsules I made) and came up with these averaging around .05g (actually, closer to .06g). I wasn’t able to make a lot of these but decided to offer them here anyway as I have had A LOT of people asking for Murchison lately.
1) Around .05g+ of fragments and crumbs in capsule in magnifier box - $40







NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2020. Tkw = 29.4kg.
This is a meteorite I picked up in Tucson. I really liked its Moon rock like look and its really cheap (for any sliced achondrite) price. This meteorite shows angular to rounded eucrite clasts (that range from nearly white to brownish gray) in a “sparse” melted matrix. Some pieces of this show wider melt veins (around a cm or two wide) that show flow structure and often have some vesicles. As with most HED meteorites, this one does not have strange/ unusual isotopic contents or mineralogy and, as such, is a rock from the surface of the asteroid Vesta. This is a great meteorite for people that want a larger specimen with the moon rock look but for a small fraction of the price.Slices: a) 7.5 grams - 25mm x 22mm x 4mm - $30
b) 15.2 grams - 32mm x 32mm x 4mm - $60
c) 24.4 grams - 50mm x 35mm x 4mm - $92
d) 49.2 grams - 70mm x 55mm x 5mm - $180
e) 100.8 grams - 95mm x 95mm x 3mm - sold.
f) 259.8 grams - 180mm x 125mm x 5mm - $850 – complete slice.

2) End piece:
a) 1293.7 grams - 200mm x 130mm x 33mm - $3500




METEOR CRATER POST CARD:
I offered some of these a few years ago. Those ones were based on a slightly different picture of the crater. The ones I offered last time had the entire crater in the picture, on these cards, the left side of the crater falls off the edge. These cards, like the ones I offered earlier, are likely from the 1930’s and 1940’s, and are from a colorized (painted) black and white picture. MOST of these have an added secondary crater North of Meteor Crater. There IS such a thing in reality, but it is very indistinct (I have actually been in it). These cards make it look like a real moon type crater. I have quite a number of varieties of these cards, if you consider various things like “distributed by” the two different (real and modified) picture versions and such. Most of these “varieties” I am gong to offer in sets, as these “different” ones I only had one, two or three of in total (each set will have each picture style in them). I have ONLY ONE SET of each set size available. As I did before, shipping costs are included in the price (to US, overseas may be an extra $1 or so depending upon how many are ordered). For the most part, I’ll be sending these in a regular envelope on their own.
a) “Real” Crater picture: $5
b) Picture with secondary crater added: $5
c) Set of 3 different - $15
d) Set of 4 different - $20

Shipping info:
For small US orders $6 is now needed Larger orders are now $17 (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 $15 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is $20.

IMPORTANT FAX NOTE: My fax machine seems to have blown itself apart a few weeks ago. Someone tried to send me a fax and I hit “start” and sat back waiting for it to do its thing. Nope. The machine pretty much came apart internally.(some plastic gears have broken from age). I have looked into fixing it and have been looking to find a cheap replacement (though I do question doing that as I think I have only used the machine maybe a couple times in each of the past 5 years or so). So far, not much luck (unless I spend real $ and buy new). So, for the time being, I do not have a fax machine.

Blaine Reed Meteorites -LIST 260 21MAR2023

Blaine Reed Meteorites
P.O. Box 1141, Delta, CO 81416
Phone: (970) 874-1487
brmeteorites@yahoo.com

LIST 260 - March 21, 2023


Dear Collectors

Here is yet another “After Tucson” list. I will probably need a couple more of these to clear out the things that came to me in Tucson (or were shipped to me right before).

A note that will not mean a lot to most of you: I have had a fax machine since close to when they first came available. It was really handy for those overseas, don’t speak the language orders (this was well before e-mail). I (and the other folks) found it easier to write things like a letter but have it on the other end as fast as a phone call. Others preferred to send credit card info this way. In fact, I have had this done as recently as my last mailed offering! However, I had someone try to send a fax to me a week or so ago and my fax seems to have completely come apart internally (some important old plastic gear or such obviously broke). I tried to receive the incoming fax but could not. The top of the machine just kept jumping up (trying to open the cover on its own) while making terrible snapping and popping sounds. I looked into it and, nope, this is something I can’t fix. So, at this point I have to let those few of you that liked contacting me this way, I cannot be reached that way right now. I will likely look into seeing if I can find an old thermal paper fax I can use (my tearing into this – a plain paper fax – showed me a HUGE security risk inside that I had not considered before), but that may take time. In the meantime, I will be completely destroying the carbon paper inside of this old one (burning it I suppose) and will NOT be able to receive fax messages until further notice, unfortunately.
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CANYON DIABLO, Arizona: Coarse octahedrite. Found 1891.
I have had a really hard time getting ANY Canyon Diablos lately. My main supplier told me in December of 2021 that he would NOT be selling me anymore of his. And, so far, he has lived up to his words. I have not gotten a single gram from him. This isn’t him trying to be mean or anything, it is just things have changed (for the better) for him. His main business is doing a lot of the small retail weekend shows all over the place. In 2020 and most of 2021 those were not happening. He had no place to sell his stuff (the bulk of which is various raw lapidary rocks/ dino bone, hand- made cabochons and jewelry (quite well done). For a couple years he simply NEEDED someone like me to buy in bulk to survive. Now that his large list of shows are back (I’ll be seeing him in Creede early August) he can sell all the Canyon Diablo he wants/ needs to at full retail now. Anyway, I was offered these end pieces from a “secondary” source. He had just got done cutting and etching what was a pretty ugly (rounded lump) of a Canyon Diablo the he had gotten some years earlier from the guy I used to get mine from. Well, this thing etched up beautifully! It has one of the best etches I have seen from Canyon Diablo (not sure if the photo will really show this though). Oddly, the fact that this was just a rounded, not pretty piece is part of the reason it did etch. You see, the Canyon Diablos that have retained their nice sculpted character (aside from usually being too pretty to cut up) have often gotten “heat treated” during the impact. They were “close to the fire” of the crater forming event. This hardened them so they are far more likely to retain a neat shape but also far, far more likely to NOT show much of an etch pattern, if any (and it was such a piece that I tried to use for a geochemistry glass talk once. After nearly blowing up the geology department’s saw (the guy overseeing its use could not/ would not believe me when I said it absolutely CANNOT be run using the saw’s powered screw feed) the end pieces then embarrassed me in front of the whole class when neither of them would etch (I did not have time to try it before the actual lecture day and would not have had time to try cutting open another piece, IF that would have been allowed, anyway). So, these two separate pieces are actually just halves of the same meteorite that was properly cut and etched. I have also priced these below what I have to ask for Canyon Diablo in general these days. Really nice paperweights!
a) 774.9gram etched end piece – 95mm x 65mm x 30mm - $900
b) 1114.9 gram etched end piece – 100mm x 80mm x 30mm - $1300
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JIKHARRA (001), Libya: HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2022. Tkw = 3 tons.
Yep, the total known weight is in the tons. Estimated at about 3 when this was reported but I have heard it might really be closer to 4 or even 5!! THAT is a LOT OF VESTA! However this huge discovery has now made it possible to own an achondrite (plus one that actually has a known body of origin!) for the price of most average common chondrites! I myself picked up a nice bowling ball sized piece of this for my collection. I have these two nice, clearly natural individuals and a couple ugly longish fragment pieces that I plan to run through the saw sometime before too long and offer slices of. Really crappy weather so far this entire year (I put a new solar hot air panel on my house the day before Christmas and we’ve had pretty much an endless string of clouds, wind, rain, snow since). So, no slices for a while, but I can offer these nice individuals (I’ll probably just buy more if these sell. I am a fan of Vesta stuff – particularly at these kinds of prices).
a) 792.3 gram individual – 90mm x 80mm x 50mm - $590
b) 2327.4 gram individual – 130mm x 110mm x 80mm - $1600
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NWA (11615): Ordinary chondrite (LL3). Found 2017. Tkw = 3114 grams.
A single stone was found and purchased in Temara, Morocco by a meteorite dealer in August of 2017. This is a nice meteorite, showing LOTS of closely packed, well-formed chondrules. This is quite fresh. There are very few blebs of fresh metal in this (and most of them are very small. This shows almost no attraction to a magnet. I suspect that someone might have thought that they had found an achondrite (the chondrules don’t really seem to show on the natural edge) when they found this one. Still, an unequlibrated (type 3) stone isn’t bad! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any info on approximate “subtype” (3.3, 3.6, 3.7….). There was a note of the chrome content of the olivines (apparently, it is possible to get a sub-type from that info) but I have no clue how to interpret that right now, unfortunately.
99.4 gram complete slice – 95mm x 85mm x 4mm - $300

NWA (14016): HED achondrite (Eucrite, melt breccia). Found 2020. Tkw = 29.4kg.
Nope, this IS a eucrite melt breccia like the Jikharra above but it is a completely different animal. I have seen cut pieces of the Jikharra and, to be honest, it is kind of a mushy mess inside (it is almost all melted). This does not have a whole lot of melt in it, just dark veins and zones between the angular still eucritic looking (for the most part) clasts. This has much more the look of a Lunar anorthositic breccia. In fact, some people that saw pieces of this I had in Tucson thought that it was. Nope, just a nice complete slice of a lunar looking eucrite and the second cheapest eucrite that I am aware of (the Jikharra above is number one in that respect).
259.8 gram complete slice – 180mm x 125mm x 5mm - $850
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PHILIPPINITE: Tektite from the Philippines.
This is, at the moment, my largest tektite of any sort (I know, I recently had a customer wanting to know what are the largest tektites I have. My next largest is a somewhat chipped 100g Chinese tektite spherical piece). I got this along with some nice NWA chondrite pieces as part of a “collection”. This is at least 3 times larger than any of my other Philippinites. This also has a lot better grooving to it. This does not have a lot of the classic big deep grooves all over it (those kinds are like $3/g now) but it has some. A nice, natural, unchipped grooved individual.
167.9 gram natural individual – 65mm x 45mm x 30mm - $165

SPRINGWATER, Canada: Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1931.
Well, actually this piece was found in the fall of 2008. This is one of the samples that turned up when a group of US meteorite hunters researched the area, put in a little (a lot?) effort and hit pay dirt. I don’t recall how much they ended up finding. It was a substantial amount. However, almost all of it stayed in Canada. You can’t just find a take home a Canadian meteorite. You have to get export papers for it and you can only get that once everyone in Canada (museums, research institutes, etc) has what they want of it first. In this case, there was some left over to be exported, but not a lot. I believe that this is the LAST piece the person I got this from (one of the partners in the re-discovery of the strewn filed has (the last he is willing to sell now anyway). This is a really nice, solid piece (that looks like it might even show some fusion crust remnants).
296.4 gram natural individual – 70mm x 45mm x 40mm - $5500

TIRHERT, Morocco: HED achondrite (Eucrite). Fell July 9, 2014. Tkw = about 8kg.
This isn’t cheap but it sure has the “Wow!” factor. This is clearly an early after the fall recovery piece. It has the best, shiny fusion crust I have seen on a eucrite in many, many years. I think the Early Camel Dongas might have given this a run for its money but those started looking pretty ratty in a matter of months after the strewn field was discovered (Camel Donga is not recorded as a fall but it must have fallen VERY soon before it was discovered as the pieces did weather quite quickly). This does have a number of small corner and edge chips, but, in a way, those make this more interesting as they show a wonderfully contrasting almost white unbrecciated eucrite interior.
121.9 gram beautifully crusted individual – 50mm x 35mm x 35mm - $9800

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Shipping: Shipping rates, right now, have gone up yet again. They seem to have added a "holiday time surcharge". Now it seems that the cheapest I can send a small padded envelope order for is close to $6 at the moment. Regardless, I'll keep the shipping on these (they are small and light weight) at a simple $5 for now for US shipping.

Small overseas orders are around $16 (Canada seems to be right around $15).