Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale List 271 - important Denver show info, a few "new" items

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

LIST 271 - April 21, 2024

Dear Collectors,
Once again, I had kind of thought about skipping this “Spring offering” this year. I have had a LOT of travel and yet quite a bit more to go. Also, I have been busy with all kinds of general things, enough so that I am quite behind on my cutting and polishing work. However, something quite big has come up that pretty much determined that I need to send out an offering to give me a chance to let as many people as I can, know about some “news” concerning the Denver fall show this year.

That “news” is that this year’s Denver Fall show will NOT be as things have been. It seems that the city of Aurora is buying the Crowne Plaza hotel and convention center and turning it into a “Homeless shelter”. We had contracts to have our show there supposedly through the September 2026 show. Unfortunately, when a city is involved, the city can simply tear-up any and all contracts and simply toss them in the trash (Denver did this to the Clarion folks a mere month before they were to have their September show last year – the reason those folks ended up in our parking lot. Lots of neat new things to look at/ buy but did crimp parking for us quite a bit).

I have gotten a little more information on this while I visited the Denver Spring show a couple days ago. That show WILL be the last mineral show to happen at the Crowne Plaza. The new venue appears to be at a Marriott way down south in the Denver Tec Center. Nicer area, but certainly NOT convenient for reaching the other shows. The address of this new show venue is: 4900 S. Syracuse St, Denver, CO.

As I alluded to in the mailed version of this list (which was produced, stuffed and mailed before I had this new information) the show will be shorter than it has in the past. Basically, because this new venue has already been rented for what would be the last weekend of our originally scheduled show we will arrive early and close up early. Our new scheduled open days will be Sept. 5th-9th.

I have been able to get a little info on where I’ll be in this new setup. It seems that I should end up with a smallish (but bigger than what I had at Crowne Plaza) meeting room that is pretty much right in the middle of the “main” ballrooms/ show floor area. I suspect that, as such, I likely WILL NOT be able to stay open much after official closing time here (as there will be many, many tables and displays set up on the open floor areas surrounding this meeting room. Pretty sure “security” issues are not going to let me have people hanging around my room while all those displays around me are unattended and protected only by table covers). We shall see.

Regardless of all the stresses and difficulties that this change will bring about for all of us, this particular situation will be ONLY for this year. It seems that while our show promoter was negotiating, preparing to sign contracts for multiple years for this new place, someone else came in and “offered more money” for the venue for the times we needed for all future years past this year. SO, we will be playing this “find a new, functional venue” game again next year (for the spring show, that venue will now be the Western show complex (think the fall “Coliseum” show here).



SEYMCHAN, Russia. Stony-iron (Pallasite). Found 1967.
Well, these are actually all etched iron portion of this meteorite. I got these in Tucson. I got them from someone who had just gotten them in a trade. They didn’t really fit my usual “specimen” style but they were bright and pretty (and sold well while I did have them on display at the show). The best part is that I got these in such a way that I can sell them cheaper than the sources for this stuff would charge (and cheaper than what I now need to get on my usual “specimen” slices of Seymchan). These are mostly kind of slices but some are also of a bit odd shape ( kind of end pieces and some are like triangles or pyramids). Regardless, all of these are really eye-catching bright silvery metallic. These have a really interesting deep etch but have somehow been processed to leave them with a super shiny bright look to them (usually, longer dips in etching acid makes the etch kind of dark and dingy). Not really “specimens” as far as a collector might generally think but really pretty and eye catching.
1) Cut end etched (all sides) pieces of various shapes:
a) 16.8 gram slice - 35mm x 10mm x 6mm - $50
b) 33.7 gram slice - 34mm x 22mm x 8mm - $100
c) 49.5 gram slice - 38mm x 18mm x 11mm - $140
d) 79.4 gram end piece - 32mm x 32mm x 16mm - $220




GOLD BASIN, Arizona: Ordinary chondrite (L4). Found November 1995. Tkw = about 127kg.
I got a call from a “retired” metal-detector guy literally the night before I was to leave for Tucson. He had lived in Arizona some 20/25 years earlier and had spent a LOT of time metal-detecting for gold (he and his wife, actually). It turns out, they were working the Gold Basin gold site before anyone really understood that many of the “hot rocks” they were digging up were
meteorites. Obviously, once he found out he and his wife made it a point to keep all of these “hot rocks” they found after that. Boy did they find “hot rocks” (and, apparently a fair amount of gold nuggets). They worked the area until about 20 years ago and left to live in Wyoming, taking their substantial bucket of Gold Basin “hot rocks” with them. Well, about 10 years ago, his wife fell into ill health (I am sorry to say) making it important to move out of Wyoming (I love Wyoming but it is a pretty harsh place at times. Hard on even fully healthy people). His wife is still alive (thankfully) but in poor enough health that he felt the need to sell off his Gold Basin “hot rocks” to help fund her care (he had already parted with the gold they’d found. Yep, I did ask). What I am offering here are whole pieces as found (well, I cleaned the dirt off of them). Most are basically complete individuals, though many have chipped edges and secondary crust areas. This material has been on the ground for nearly 25,000 years so don’t expect super fresh looking stones here. I do plan to cut some of these things open (part of the “lapidary work” I am behind on) and offer end pieces of this meteorite in the future (even though it is a really old fall, it still looks very nice inside).
1) Individuals as found:
a) 11.2 grams - 22mm x 20mm x 13mm - $12
b) 20.5 grams - 30mm x 20mm x 12mm - $21
c) 42.0 grams - 34mm x 25mm x 20mm - $40
d) 86.8 grams - 45mm x 40mm x 20mm - $80
e) 180.8 grams - 50mm x 40mm x 30mm - $160
f) 385.6 grams - 75mm x 62mm x 40mm - $325




DARWIN GLASS, Impact glass from 700ky old Mt Darwin, Tasmania crater.
Here are some really interesting pieces of this crater glass that usually only comes in clunky dark angular chunks. I traded for a pretty good bag of this material in Tucson. Yep, most of it was the usual blocky chunks. However, I found some really interesting obviously stretched, ropy pieces. You can almost see the action of this stuff forming while flying and twisting through the air in these pieces. ALL of these have that obvious stretching, taffy pull look to them and, better yet, each and every one of these has a natural hole or bridge (often several in a single piece). I didn’t find much of this type material in my lot so I don’t have a lot of these pieces (why I am putting them on this list – these spring offerings tend to be a bit less responded to and I would most likely run out of these things quickly on a Fall or January offering).
1) Natural, taffy-pull look pieces as found:
a) 1.7 grams - 20mm x 11mm x 8mm - $8
b) 3.5 grams - 17mm x 15mm x 13mm - $15
c) 6.8 grams - 35mm x 18mm x 12mm - $25
d) 9.7 grams - 33mm x 20mm x 15mm - $33 - not piece in group photo.



MOON / MARS NECKLACES:
Steve Arnold (of ‘Meteorite Men” not Chicago) left some of these with me in Tucson right before he left town for home. I immediately sold one but I still have enough to offer them here. Each of these is a metal disk (coin, basically) that is actually a “Map” (front and back) of each respective body (are textured and toned to match, somewhat, the actual textures and tones of the real parent body. Each piece has a couple mm or so slice of the actual parent body material epoxied to it. The Moon coins are 25mm diameter and are struck in .999 fine silver. The Mars ones are just over 30mm in diameter and are struck in copper (so their natural color matches the natural color of Mars quite nicely). Each of these comes with an 18” silver plate chain and are in a plastic gemstone display container. Each, of course, comes with a signed Steve Arnold C.O.A.
1) Moon rock slice on 25mm .999 silver coin - $90
2) Mars rock slice on 30mm copper coin - $90
3) One of each - $160

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).

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- List 270 - January 8, 2024

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

LIST 270 - January 8, 2024

Dear Collectors
  Happy New Year!

As usual, I’ll be in Tucson this year and at my usual spot (assuming no further plagues, disasters or such). I’ll be leaving home around January 22nd or 23rd . Timing of this is weather dependent (bad weather may force me to leave early). I likely won’t be back home until February 13th or 14th (again, weather dependent).

I’ll be in my usual room: Days Inn (665 N. Freeway, room 134). This is basically St. Mary’s and the interstate. I used to say “next door to Denney’s”. However, it seems that that restaurant burned to the ground this past summer so this “landmark”, is just a burnt hole in the ground. I may have my door open sometime late Thursday afternoon (Jan 25th) if things go smoothly. I certainly want to be open by Friday afternoon the 26th at the latest. I plan to stay to the end (February 10th is the last scheduled show day) though last year got so slow the last few days that I began to question my sanity for staying (for some reason, I didn’t have the coming to Tucson for the “Main Show” people I have had in other years).



SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Iron. Coarsest octahedrite (IIB). Fell February 12, 1947.
Here (like many of the other things on this list) are some pieces I put aside decades ago. When this material first came out, it was all “natural” as found (and it was $10/gram!). Not long later, they all started getting wire-brushed. I have not seen a natural piece of this in a long time. I got these at some point not all that long after Sikhote first came available. I remember that I got these from Alan Lang but cannot remember exactly what the deal was (a trade of some sort I believe) that landed these in my hands. I kind of thought about holding these for yet more time as no more of this material is being found and sources are running low on material they had set back (price has been going up on these). Well, I like having some sort of iron on these offerings and I simply did not have anything else (nor could I scrounge up anything affordable from my various sources) I could put on this New Year offering. Again, these are in the as found, uncleaned (mostly light to medium brown color) condition. I do have some highly wire-brushed pieces available (around 50g to 130g) if that is what you prefer (and they are a little bit cheaper, actually).
1) Shrapnel fragments. Natural as found:
a) 36.1 grams - 40mm x 21mm x 13mm - $55
b) 72.6 grams - 38mm x 30mm x 17mm - $110
c) 132.0 grams - 60mm x 40mm x 25mm - $200
d) 271.1 grams - 70mm x 57mm x 25mm - $400
e) 373.8 grams - 98mm x 48mm x 23mm - $550 – only one this big.

DALGETY DOWNS, Australia: Ordinary chondrite (L4). Found 1941. Tkw = 473kg.
Here is a meteorite I have had for decades. This was on my 6 page “catalog” I’d mail out to people that would request one from a magazine ad (or two) I used to run. I have dropped those ads as they were somewhat expensive, brought me very few new “customers” (anyone who ended up buying a meteorite), fewer longer term collectors (very few) and LOTS of hand-holding (people that were really not at all certain that they really wanted a meteorite, trusted that what they got WAS really a meteorite and such). So, I decided to stick more with “advertising” methods that keep me (for the most part) dealing with people that already know and understand meteorites (I dropped the “catalog” thing) The info card for this meteorite is one I made pre word processor days (hand done on a typewriter). For the most part, this is a pretty meteorite. It has a good amount of fresh metal in a mottled light tan, brown to almost bluish in spots matrix. I don’t really see much in the way of Australian stone meteorites these days.
1) Slices:
a) 8.0 grams - 25mm x 23mm x 5mm - $28
b) 14.6 grams - 30mm x 28mm x 5mm - $50
c) 24.4 grams - 40mm x 32mm x 5mm - $80
d) 37.7 grams - 58mm x 42mm x 5mm - $120
2) End pieces/ cut fragments:
a) 25.7 grams - 38mm x 24mm x 16mm - $80
b) 47.2 grams - 55mm x 40mm x 11mm - $140
c) 87.8 grams - 40mm x 32mm x 32mm - $250




SHISR (033), Oman: Carbonaceous chondrite (CR). Found October 2002. Tkw = 1097.7 grams.
This is another item I had planned on holding for longer (and another item that I have had for around 20 years now). This has a couple interesting things going for it. First, it is one of only 14 meteorites worldwide classified as “CR” (not CR2, CR3….). All of those add up to only about 2244 grams. So, there is only a little more than 2.2kg of this meteorite type in the entire world! The other thing really special about this is that it has small clasts of C1 material scattered all through it. I was kind of thinking
that maybe I should hold onto it until research work is done on the Astreoid Bennau samples that returned a few months ago. IF some of that material matches up to these kind of inclusions, I suspect that there will be a substantial increase in people wanting that kind of material. Well, I guess I have Orguiel crumbs to satisfy that demand IF it comes to be. This material has the classic chondrule-rich texture and the yellow brown coloration of most of the CR2 meteorites I have been able to offer. It does have some fresh metal grains in it (but not a lot) and lacks the metal surrounding many chondrules in the CR2 type. Interesting and really rare material.
1) Slices:
a) .67 grams - 15mm x 7mm x 3mm - $35
b) 1.5 grams - 17mm x 13mm x 3mm - $75
c) 3.2 grams - 28mm x 14mm x 3mm - $160
d) 6.6 grams - 30mm x 27mm x 3mm - $325
e) 13.8 grams - 60mm x 40mm x 2mm - $650
f) 23.8 grams - 75mm x 48mm x 3mm - $1000




NWA (14188): Lunar meteorite. Baslatic breccia. Found 2021. Tkw = 260 grams.
Well, a good portion of the side of the moon that faces us is basalt rocks (the MARE, dark gray areas) but very few of those rocks seem to make it into our collections. I have had only a couple basaltic type lunar meteorites over the years: the really special (and expensive) NWA (032) and some gabbro (sub-surface crystalized basalt) that was a lot cheaper but pretty unimpressive visually (I think I still have a piece or two of that material around here somewhere). I did something of an internet search on this and found that A) there ain’t much of it available and B) what is available is quite pricey – like around $1800/g pricy! (and these were multi-gram sized pieces like 5g to 9g). In all fairness though, some of these past light through some of their areas (not a common thing for any meteorites except pallasites). Anyway, here is a chance for you to get a piece of actual lunar basalt. I don’t argue that this is expensive in comparison to some lunars (anorthositic) these days but still less than ½ the price of the pieces of this material I found in my search a few days ago. These will all be in a labeled plastic display box (not in the photo) when they are sent to you.
1) Slices:
a) .152 grams - 7mm x 6mm x 2mm - $135
b) .305 grams - 9mm x 6mm x 2mm - $265
c) .543 grams - 14mm x 10mm x 2mm - $465
d) .852 grams - 17mm x 9mm x 2mm - $700
e) 1.50 grams - 23mm x 16mm x 2mm - $1200



DARWIN GLASS: Tazmania, Australia.
These are another item that I have had set aside for a long time. Like the Sikhote-Alin above, I also got these pieces from Alan Lang. I was going to hold onto these for longer but, also like the Sikhote above, I simply did not have something Tektite or other different but meteorite related item to offer. These are the usual odd shaped, generally foggy light to dark green glass fragments available from this site over the years (though not so often seen these days). It is believed that this glass was formed when the nearby 1km diameter Mt. Darwin crater was formed around 700,000 years ago. Initially, it was believed to be a tektite and was listed as such at one time. I don’t have a whole lot of this material remaining, unfortunately. A year or so ago, I had someone tell me they would sell me a “bunch” of this at a “great price” Turned out, they didn’t really have much (couple hundred grams maybe) and their “great price” was only great for them (they wanted something like $3/g from me for it).
1) Natural fragments as found:
a) 1.8 grams - 13mm x 11mm x 10mm - $7
b) 3.5 grams - 25mm x 14mm x 8mm - $12
c) 6.2 grams - 37mm x 13mm x 9mm - $20
d) 8.8 grams - 25mm x 20mm x 18mm - $28
e) 11.2 grams - 30mm x 18mm x 15mm - $35

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Shipping:
US Shipping: It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still. This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things (things that need a medium flat-rate box).

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale- LIST 269 06DEC2023

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

LIST 269 - December 6, 2023

Dear Collectors,

This will likely be my last offering of the year. I got done doing the tedious job of “Inventory” – where I open every box/ bag on every shelf and corner and weigh and catalog all the stuff I have around here. As usual, I found a few things that I forgot I had and a few things where I only had one piece left. IF I can sell those, then I don’t have to have an extra line in my inventory records (no inventory of a particular meteorite present = no need to have that name in my records any more). I did find a couple items I picked up in Denver as well that I kind of forgot I had. Overall, I am pricing all of these well below what I was normally asking on them (and below what I thought I might ask on the “new” things). Again, sell them now then I don’t have to record them and keep them on the inventory list at the end of the year.

NOTE: It seems that every day I get a problem dropped in my lap from out of nowhere. One I did nothing to create (other than existing I suppose) but I still need to deal with it. Yesterday’s was a small 4” by 5” post card. I almost tossed it out as junk mail. Glad I didn’t. It was my internet provider with a ‘Reminder” that I needed to IMMEDIATELY contact them and find a different way to have internet service. Odd that it was a “further reminder” as I had, up until that moment, received NO notification that there was a problem what so ever (including on or with the bill I received not that long ago). It seems that much of the equipment they use to provide internet service to lots of people is no longer being supported by the manufacturer of said equipment. As such, once anything breaks in that system, it cannot be fixed. I WILL lose my internet. I tried to play their game and see “what are your options” but could not get them on the phone (it seems that they have already. Somehow, disabled the web account we had set up just for such things). So, onto looking for new service. Thankfully, an internet service associated with our electric service had brought fiber optic onto my property back in April. I am now in the process of changing over to that. However, I have been informed that many hundreds pf people in my area are signing up (for the same reasons I presume) and it might a considerable amount of time before I can get hooked up on the new service. I am making this all public as IF a part breaks in part of the old service before I am connected to the new service, I will be “off line” pretty much completely (aside from the occasional sit in a restaurant parking lot WIFI connection or such but I REALLY hate doing ANYTHING even remotely private (like signing into my e-mail account) on such systems. So, IF you e-mail me with something important (an order/ question, etc. Sending a link to an interesting video sometimes don’t get responded to anyway) and don’t get any response from me – CONSIDER CALLING, my e-mail might be completely gone (the phone though, for the time being anyway, is a land line and should continue working regardless of my internet situation).



CALDWELL, Kansas: Ordinary chondrite (L impact melt breccia). Found 1961. Tkw = 12.9kg.
L-impact melts used to be one of the most desired meteorites. I think the first was the strange slag looking Cat Mountain, Tucson AZ meteorite that Robert Haag had. That stuff sold for well over $100/g. Then there was (some pieces, much of the stone was truly “ordinary” chondrite) of Chico, New Mexico. Steve Arnold (of Meteorite Men, not Chicago) worked for years trying to get a piece of this stone from the person that had it. Years of “No” eventually turned into “yes” and we bought (finally) some of it. Unfortunately is was not particularly cheap and (more unfortunately for us) plenty of really nice impact melt meteorites had come out of NWA (I still have pieces of a number of really nice different ones of those). This is my VERY LAST piece of this named L impact melt. Frankly, this is not a particularly pretty meteorite BUT this is your last chance to get a piece of this from me (and I don’t think there is a lot of this material floating around out there either). I priced it at (or even slightly below) what one of my NWA impact melts normally sell for.
41.2 gram part slice – 80mm x 60mm x3mm - $150 SOLD

GUADALUPE y CALVO, Mexico: Iron. Hexahedrite (IIAB). Found 1971. Tkw = 58.63kg.
I had a fair amount of this stuff pass through my hands the past few years. It has proven to be popular material. This is the meteorite that was used for years as a dog-food bowl on a ranch in Mexico before it found its way to Tucson and then onto a group of collectors and dealers. I sold all of the pieces I got back when we bought it together years (decades?) ago. I got these pieces from the collector that ended up with the biggest piece of this meteorite once we cut it up. I am now down to my last piece. Jim has no more to sell either (whatever he has remaining of this meteorite, he is keeping). I originally had this piece priced at $1100 (and have come close to selling it at a show once or twice). Now I am pricing it (temporarily) as a “year-end special”. If I don’t sell it from this offering and do end up having to carry it over into next year’s inventory records, then I’ll probably put it back up in the $1100 range. This does come with a(more recent copy) card I made up when I sold my pieces years ago as well as a Jim Schwade collection label.
349.1 gram part slice – 120mm x 70mm x 5mm - $750  SOLD

HAJMAH (C), Oman: Ordinary chondrite (L5/6). Found 1958. Tkw = 1132 grams.
Can’t say that I have ever seen a piece of this meteorite before. We have LOTS of meteorites from Oman but the Meteorites A to Z book shows that there are (were anyway) only 6 actual named meteorites back before 2008 (when the book was published). The British Museum “Catalog of Meteorites” says that 2 pieces were found (one 1065g and the other 67 grams) during oil prospecting in the area in 1958. This (like the Libyan Glass below) is from a collector who bought it at an auction long ago. It looks like he may have paid $583 for the piece. That is $10/g! These days it is easy to find fairly nice stone meteorite slices for a dollar or two a gram (I still have nice slices of Ghubara available for around $2/g). However, back 20 plus years ago, this was not the case. As, at the time, there few to no Oman meteorites on the market, I can see someone paying pretty good money to add this country to their collection. That along with the fact that so little of this was found certainly could explain a $10/g valuation. This looks to be a piece that likely came from the British Museum (they had all but 55g of it according to the Catalog). It certainly has the old-style museum cut - really thick. It seems that most museums prefere(d?) to have thick slices. We collectors came along and decided we want thin. Thin gives you more surface area texture for less weight (and cost). As such, if one were inclined, this piece could easily be split into 3 (or even 4) thinner equal sized slices (you’d have to use a wire saw to get 4 though). The auction tag has this at 58.3 grams and that is indeed spot on for the whole specimen. However, it looks like someone was starting another cut on one corner of this piece (looks like they tries a couple times to get a cut started there. One of the cuts did get around 1cm into the piece. The resulting thinner piece (1cm x 15mm, 1.0g) has broken off, but still remains with the specimen.
57.3 gram slice – 42mm x 37mm x 12mm - $200  SOLD

LIBYAN DESERT GLASS:
This is a piece that I picked up in Denver. It came to me as part of a collection from a collector that picked it up at an auction decades ago. It looks like he may have paid $330 for the piece (this comes with the auction ID slip). However, that has the weight of this wrong. The dimensions match just fine but they had the weight as 55grams. It is really 28.8 grams. So, it looks like this might have cost the buyer a bit over $10/g. Actually, at the time (this was bought not long after the first pieces of this stuff in recent history started coming out – sometime around 1988 maybe) this would have been a fair price. This is a nice higher quality piece that is really quite clean and clear. It does have a “fresh” (but still possibly hundreds of years old) chip (about 15mm x 6mm) on the bottom but is, otherwise all natural wind sculpted surfaces. The auction tag indicates that this is from the Walter Zitschell collection. That makes perfect sense as, I seem to recall, he was the one who first obtained marketable quantities of Libyan Glass (most of the pieces were really big. Hundreds of grams plus. Big enough such that I could not afford one as the starting price was $10/g. I probably would have gotten a piece this size myself when it first came out, had one been offered to me).
28.8 gram natural fragment – 65mm x 25mm x 15mm - $70  SOLD




NWA (4502): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2008. Tkw about 35kg.
This is actually not a piece that I’d normally put on a “get off of inventory” list at the end of the year. Actually, I pulled this out from some pretty deep storage as I had a museum ask me for “pass around” specimens. One of the things they wanted was a carbonaceous chondrite. Well, I don’t really have too many of those big (or solid) enough for that purpose. Deep digging back then brought this end piece to light. After months and months of waiting for their decisions on what specimens they wanted (I had multiple options of some of the other type meteorites they were looking for) they finally (like a few weeks ago) admitted that the deal was NOT going to happen. Rather than go through the effort of putting this back in deep storage (which I could have done had I remembered I had it pulled out and set aside elsewhere when doing inventory) I decided, since its been a long time since I have offered any of this meteorite, to offer it here and now (if it sells, I won’t have to pull things apart to put it where it belongs). This is a nice solid end piece. The back, natural side, has a 6mm x 4mm CAI that fluoresces pinkish purple under the right UV light.
63.1 gram end piece – 65mm x 42mm x 10mm - $250  SOLD

SALAICES, Mexico: Ordinary chondrite (H4). Found 1971. Tkw = 24.5kg.
I kind of picked this one up because I have a customer who runs a store in Mexico. He, generally, has an eye out for any Mexican meteorites that have not been easily available recently (and isn’t stupidly priced). This one certainly meets that criteria. I usually see him at the major shows (Tucson and Denver). I thought I’d see him in Denver this year (where he would probably buy this piece) but he did not show (but, to be honest, a lot of people I thought I’d see didn’t come this year). Not wanting to carry this over in inventory until Tucson (the next chance I have to see him) I decided to offer it here. This is set up in a Riker and has a Michael Casper Meteorites label with it.
21.5 gram part slice – 36mm x 23mm x 6mm - $90  SOLD

THUATHE, Lesotho: Ordinary chondrite (H4/5). Fell July 21, 2002. Tkw = about 30kg.
It has been awhile since I have any of this one. This came to me in Denver. It belonged to Fred Olsen and was put into a COMETS auction during one of the Denver shows years ago. It is a nice piece. Nicer than many of the pieces I have had of this fall. It has really good crust coverage (only one 5mm x 5mm chip). The crust is really fresh and shows evidence of several breakage and crusting levels (as well as some minor “roll over rims”). A superior specimen of this meteorite fall! This comes with the COMETS auction tag (green paper), one of Fred’s Mineral & Fossil Supply business cards (that has auction notes for this piece on the back) as well as one of the cards I made up for this meteorite when I had pieces of it.
39.9 gram complete individual – 31mm x 30mm x 20mm - $250  SOLD

Shipping:
USA- It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things.

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).

Blaine Reed Meteorites for Sale- List 268 6NOV2023

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

LIST 268 - November 6, 2023


Dear Collectors,
  Here is another assortment of things that (mostly) came home with me from the Denver show. There are a couple “expensive” items here but most of these are more in the realm of normal collectors as opposed to high end collection or museum kind of priced things.



ALLENDE, Mexico: Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3.2). Fell February 8, 1969.
I sure remember when this stuff was common. I had several multi-kilo bags of pieces. Granted, most of those were just broken (but fresh) fragments I got in a museum trade. I have long since sold all of those. This is a piece that is a typical “individual” from this fall. This has the usual edge chipping, broken areas (these things obviously came in through the atmosphere tightly packed as almost all pieces of this meteorite show evidence of banging into each other and late in the fall breaking). This is a quite fresh piece. It has a couple spots of minor adhering dirt but is otherwise very fresh (I remember some of the stones I got late in the recovery process. They were being brought to the shows by a guy straight from the area and were “recent” finds. These things were very weathered and some even had lichen growing on them!). This has around 40-50% primary fusion crust with the remainder being chipped/ broken or (very) thin secondary crust. A nice example of a typical stone from this high demand but kind of hard to come by these days fall.
28.3 gram individual – 24mm x 24mm x 23mm - $565

LAAYOUNE(002), Western Sahara: Lunar (feldspathic breccia).Found Jan 2022. Tkw = 5.15kg.
I like these because they may be fragments but they look entirely like complete, natural individuals. They have (likely wind) rounded shapes, smooth somewhat shiny surfaces. No recent fresh breaks. These may not be whole individuals as they fell (but, then again, they might be) but sure loom the part regardless. These are clean and nice – no caliche or dirt stuck to these.
1) Natural individuals as found:
a) .68 grams – 15mm x 7mm x 4mm - $28
b) 1.22 grams – 13mm x 11mm x 4mm - $49
c) 2.60 grams – 20mm x 11mm x 8mm - $100
d) 5.30 grams – 22mm x 13mm x 13mm - $200

LIBYAN GLASS SCARAB:
Here is a piece of Libyan Desert Glass that has been carved into a scarab. Not high end art work on this (it also has an (eye of Horace???) carved on the bottom flat side) but it is still kind of neat. One of these was found in king Tut’s burial mask. Every so often that info gets out in a TV program of one sort or another. I often know when this happens as my phone starts ringing with lots of people asking for Libyan Glass whenever one of these programs goes on the air. IF I knew when one was going to run, I’d probably be better hanging onto this particular piece and offering it 9at a substantially higher price) then. This piece was part of the 2014 COMETS (Colorado Meteorite club) auction during the Denver show that year (it was September 14th to be exact). This comes with the Comet Shop label that came with the piece from that auction.
6.9 gram carved scarab – 29mm x 21mm x 9mm - $65

MOLDAVITE:
This is the largest piece of moldavite I have had in a long time. I would have sold this if I just had it a day or two earlier at the show (I had a customer that was looking specifically for a large, rounded moldavite specimen. All I had was a fairly large (18g) flatish piece). Anyway, this is an entirely complete (no recent chips or dings) that is almost egg shaped. It has really nice texture/ etching that radiates out from the center (giving this an oriented look). The only “problem” I see with this is that it still has some of the conglomerate matrix they find these things in (when they find them at the source instead of as rounded, water tumbled specimens found down- stream after they have naturally weathered out of the matrix) I suspect that this piece was found very close to where it was locked in the conglomerate gravels. This allowed it to keep its really fine etching but did not have the chance to weather out the last of the matrix pieces still stuck to it. This is really, really pretty when a light is put behind it.
. 25.8 gram intact individual – 45mm x 30mm x 15mm - $700





NWA (989): Carbonaceous chondrite (CV3). Found 2001. Tkw = 146grams.
This is another piece that the collector I got it from picked up at the Comets auction. It turns out that it was the same auction (September 14, 2012) that the Libyan glass scarab above came from. This is a nice ½ slice (one cut edge, rest are natural) and is an excellent representative of this type of meteorite. Not a lot of known weight on this piece, but I have no idea how many/ how much (if any) pairings turned up on this. As such, I am pricing this at (or slightly below – I didn’t have to pay a huge amount to get this) what a common NWA CV3 of this freshness would normally cost these days. This comes with the “Wondering Wonders” (Andrew Abraham – a friend I have not seen in a couple years now, unfortunately) info card that came with it at the auction.
11.99 gram ½ slice – 30mm x 27mm x 5mm - $95

NWA (14041): Lunar (feldspathic breccia). Found Jan. 2021, Tkw 11.7kg.
I didn’t get this at the show. I actually had it sent to me as I had (for a while after Tucson) a customer that was trying to get moderate samples of every Lunar meteorite that they did not have (and they did not have this one so…..). I did sell them a piece (but then have not heard back from them since) and had these nice pieces left over. These are all part slices. They have a really glassy look to them (this material obviously suffered some high shock levels). It has a nice overall color/ texture look to it. It has mostly rounded clasts (light tan, gray, some kind of pinkish) in a greenish gray matrix.
1) Part slices:
a) .48 grams – 11mm x 10mm x 1mm - $45
b) .93 grams – 15mm x 10mm x 2mm - $85
c) 1.54 grams – 20mm x 18mm x 1.5mm - $135
d) 2.95 grams – 39mm x 19mm x 1mm - $255 - best surface for the $.
e) 4.67 grams – 32mm x 25mm x 2mm - $395
f) 7.10 grams – 45mm x 19mm x 3mm - $550

NUEVO MERCURIO, Mexico: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Fell December 15, 1978. Tkw = 9+kg.
I think a similar piece to this was my very first chondrite witnessed fall. It also came from the same place – Robert Haag. I am quite certain though that this was a piece that was picked up after I got mine as it has some browning to the crust. However, this DOES still have the original Robert Haag label/ info card that came with it! I don’t see to many pieces of this meteorite floating around these days but I am pretty certain that the label is far, far rarer than the meteorite these days. This is an absolutely complete specimen (no chips or dings) and is set up in a small Riker box.
2.64 gram individual – 16mm x 11mm x 8mm - $75 – has Robert Haag label.
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Shipping:
It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things.

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).

Blaine Reed Meteorites METEORITES FOR SALE- LIST 267 23OCT2023

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

LIST 267 - October 23, 2023

Dear Collectors
Here is an offering of some of the more interesting (and often expensive) items I either had out on display or brought home from the Denver show last month.
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ALETAI, China. Iron. IIIE anomalous. Found 1898, Tkw = over 50 tonnes.
The find date is for the “Armanty” iron meteorite which had been listed as a single piece recovery and the 4th largest meteorite known. I suspect that this “fall” (old fall, fairly new find) will be, possibly, the largest known meteorite in total recovered (I think Gibeon may still be ahead in this department but maybe not for long if they keep finding multi-ton pieces of this thing). It appears that the strewn field for this might be 425km long! That is a lot of area to search and find things. The piece I have here is an interesting “bookend” (an end piece that has been cut in half such that it stands up nicely on its own). Back in the summer, I had a museum approach me asking to have a “pass around” set of basic meteorites (stone, iron, stony-iron…..). I didn’t really have anything for a pass around iron that was etched. I did/ do have some several hundred gram or so whole Canyon Diablos that would be great pieces for this “pass-around” purpose but only (and still have pretty much only) small etched pieces. I managed to come up with this piece for them. I had a nice assortment of affordable things for them set aside for considerable time. They finally (recently) admitted that this project was “not going to happen”. So this piece is now available. It is a very deeply etched specimen that is quite interesting to look at. If this does not sell, I am happy to hang on to it and maybe make it part of my “pass-around” collection (however, whatever I have for that just sits in boxes on a vault shelf these days).
579.2 gram deep etched book end – 100mm x 75mm x 23mm - $600

GUFFEY, Colorado: Iron, ungrouped. Ataxite. Found 1907. Tkw = 309kg.
I remember having a few pieces of this some years ago. I seem to recall it was NOT cheap back then (possibly why I didn’t have one set aside except for, possibly, in my extensive “micro” collection I sold years ago). I looked up the nickel content on this (I suppose I could have booted up the XRF and gotten the data that way) and it is around 10.5% That does not seem quite high enough for a nickel-rich ataxite (heck, the Aletai above runs close to 9.8% and it has a medium octahedrite structure) but yet, here it is. One side of this has been etched and, as an ataxite should, it shows pretty much nothing. Just a uniform gray with a couple small (really small) darker inclusions. I tough name to get these days. I do have quite a number of people that specifically look for any and all “ungrouped” irons as they each likely represent a new/ different parent body.
30.4 gram part slice – 34mm x 24mm x 4mm - $600

HOWE, Texas: Ordinary chondrite (H5). Found 1938. Tkw = 8.63kg.
This is a piece I picked up from a collector at the Denver show (so I have not had it long). He got it from an auction, I believe he said. This does have a number sticker on it (M 131) that does match a little strip of paper that (briefly) describes the item and seems to indicate a realized price of $1010. I probably have had a small piece or two of this meteorite float through my hands over the years, but I cannot distinctly remember any. This is an almost cube/ block that has one face the natural exterior of the original meteorite and all the rest are cut with 3 faces polished and 2 not. IF this meteorite is fairly scarce on the market (I suspect it is) someone might do well to cut this thing up into smaller slices (wouldn’t be hard to chock up in a saw vise) and sell those off to waiting collectors (Texas meteorites are a pretty high demand thing these days).
200.4 gram block – 45mm x 39mm x 36mm - $600

KELLY, Colorado: Ordinary chondrite (LL4). Found 1927. Tkw = 44kg.
I sure remember this thing! Back in earlier days, getting an LL4 for your type collection was pretty much impossible (now, thanks to NWA you have a fairly nice selection of them to choose from. But they are still quite a bit rarer than LL3s). I, for the life of me, cannot remember where I got the piece, but I managed to get ahold of a rather large/thick slice of Kelly. It didn’t have a Nininger number on it or I would not have committed the sin I did to this – I split that thick piece into two thinner pieces using my 10” lapidary saw. David New ended up with one side and I broke the other down into nice collector sized pieces. I think this was the FIRST TIME an LL4 became available to collectors in the “recent” (early 1980’s and on) era. A LOT of people were excited at this and I sold out rapidly (at around $25/g I think). Kinda made me wish I didn’t sell off the other half of the slice so fast. Well, that “other half” is back in my hands right now! It turns out, David sold the piece intact to Jim Schwade way back in March of 1987. This is a 210g ¼ slice that is around ½ as thick as it was to start with (back in the “older” days, museums generally liked to have thick slices. Great if you ever need to re-polish them. Some seemed so thick they’d practically stand up on their own). Of course, free-hand splitting this with a 10” saw means it turned out a bit wedged, but surprisingly little (I do worse on some of these jobs even today- with 30 plus years more experience under my (expanded) belt). Even so, this could be wire-sawed into yet thinner slices if one so desired. This is a really rare bird! I think the only Kelly that has been floating around the collector’s world since 1987 has been my pieces from that slice I got (maybe I need to dig out really old tax records and see where I got this. Now I am really curious). NOT cheap as an overall specimen (a good number of grams here) but cheaper oer gram than it was 36 years ago! This comes wit one of my old labels (well, a reprinting of the original labels I sent out with this stuff back then) and Jim Schwade Collection label.
210.0 gram part slice – 125mm x 88mm x 5mm - $4500

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NWA (8043): HED achondrite (diogenite). Found 2013.
I didn’t put a TKW on this as this is certainly a pairing but I KNOW I can use the 8043 number because it is mine. A fair amount of, mostly small crumbly fragments of this stuff (I still have a handful or two of those) came out all at once. Regardless, I don’t think there was a whole lot (10-15kg maybe) and VERY few pieces were big enough (or solid enough) to cut. That is a shame as this is one of the neatest/ prettiest diogenites. The hypersthene crystals in this are quite gemmy and many pass light (like the olivines in a nice pallasite). What I have here is a LARGE thin cut slice that I have framed up between glass so you can see the light transmittance of the crystals. I realize that this is a big piece (I sold a similarly framed 60g piece in a flash in Denver) but IF you want a really big piece of one of the (very) few meteorites that pass light nocely, this is your chance! I CAN offer an alternative for those wanting something a bit smaller. I do have another similar slice (loose/ unframed) that I can cut in half or even ¼. So, let me know if you might like a roughly 60g (1/2 slice) done up this way (around $1700) or a roughly 30g one (around $950) and I’ll make one up (you’d have to give me some time on that part. I have to hand cut the frames, the intricate mats, etc. These take a good solid day to put together).
144.7gram complete slice in custom frame – 190mm x 135mm x 1mm - $3700





THIEL MOUNTAINS, Antarctica. Stony-iron (pallasite). Found 1962. Tkw = 31.7kg.
There once was a time when we collectors/ dealers COULD get an Antarctic meteorite from time to time. Generally, it was something common and abundant in the collections (I am thinking Alan Hills 76001 here) or something that researchers didn’t (generally) find all that interesting (sorry to say, pallasites ARE really pretty but they are not super interesting from a research stand point). I think it was Robert Haag that managed to spring this stuff loose (some kind of museum trade). He originally had really nice thin slices but, back then before we learned about Opticon) the crystals liked to fall out of them (the crystals are quite rounded in this meteorite. That combined with a thin slice that has very little crystal/ metal boundary gripping surface presented a problem. This is a (slightly) later piece that was cut thicker and has, consequently, held onto its crystals. This piece is wedged but it could still be split into thinner slices if one wanted to (and with the advancement of Opticon, they would very likely hold up just fine). This is an old piece that was bought be the current owner (it is in consignment with me from the Denver show). He seems to recall that he got it directly from Robert many (like 30-35) years ago. I have a LOT of people asking for any Antarctic meteorites. This is the first I’ve had in many, many years.
11.61 gram part slice – 47mm x 15mm x 5mm - $4000

VIKING LANDER COIN:
This is something I found at a local store fairly recently. I did not know that such a thing existed. It is 29mm diameter aluminum coin that has a “picture” of the Viking lander (and “Viking 76 Landing/ Martin Marietta”) on one side and “This Medallion contains material from Viking which landed on Mars July 20, 1976” on the other. As near as I can tell, these are quite scarce. Somewhere I saw something that seems to indicate that these were not a “any Martin Marietta visitor can get one” kind of thing but more given to special people that worked on the project (if anyone out there knows more about these things, I’d love to hear it. However, that runs the risk of making me want to keep it, perhaps).
39mm diameter Viking coin in Riker - $100

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Shipping:
I have, over recent weeks, gotten a better handle on the new shipping costs and methods.

US Shipping: It does seem that I can, generally, send small orders (jewelry box in a padded envelope kind) for around $5 still This is by what they are now calling “Ground Advantage”. Though it is claimed to be going by trucks (and supposedly a couple days longer) I have found that things are getting to where they need to be pretty much the same time as the old “first class” used to. For things people prefer to send “Priority”, the costs are $10 for fairly small things (whatever can fit in a small flat-rate box) and around $17 for large things.

For overseas shipping, it does look like the “First Class” option still exists (thankfully, because most overseas small flat-rate costs are bumping up against $50 these days). Though I have not sent much this way, what research I have done seems to indicate that those small orders (jewelry box in padded envelope) are still around $15 or $16 to send. Obviously, I’ll have to custom quote shipping on larger items (as usual).

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!!).