Lot 809
Meteorite Campo Del Cielo 7 Pounds. Most iron-nickel meteorites are just hunks of metal without an interesting shape.
This 5½ x 4 x 2" 7 pound new Campo del Cielo iron-nickel meteorite is the exception having an esthetic shape with several distinct regmaglypts. Regmaglypts (thumbprints) formed when the meteor passed through Earth's atmosphere, explosed and the troilite (iron sulfide) in the meteorite melted before the meteorite struck the earth. First recorded by the Spanish in 1576, the huge fall of Campo del Cielo (Valley of the Sky) iron-nickel meteorites occurred thousands of years earlier in Argentina but was probably witnessed by the humans living there then. It is interesting to note that Iron-Nickel meteorites were the strongest metal objects know to mankind before the discovery of steel. Swords forged from meteorite iron were much stronger and less brittle than swords made from cast iron because of the high nickel content of the meteorites. Estimated Value $700 - 900
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| Realized $450 |
