Lot 541
METEORITE 7 POUND ORIENTED SIKHOTE-ALIN WITH FLOW LINES. This extremely large 7.5 x 4 x 2.5 inch 7 pound Sikhote-Alin Iron-Nickel meteorite is a very attractive and most interesting example of a shrapnel type Sikhote-Alin meteorite. It shows many features of the huge explosion that took place on Feb. 10, 1947 high above the Sikhote-Alin mountains of Siberia. The enormous explosion tore the meteorite into thousands of smaller pieces and knocked people off their feet several miles away from the blast. There were at least three different explosions of the meteorite. The first explosion was much higher up in the atmosphere and the meteorites from this initial explosion exhibit regmaglypts(thumbprints) from melting for a longer time in the earth’s atmosphere. The second and third explosions occurred much closer to the ground and these meteorites show the ripping force of the explosion resulting in sharp edges and there was not enough time to form the regmaglypts. This huge 7 pound meteorite shows many signs of the explosive shearing force with many sharp edges, distinctive attractive gun metal color, and dozens of delicate flow lines on one side that flow in several directions resulting from melting from the high temperatures created in passing through the atmosphere. Most meteorite specimens tumble as they fall and thus do not retain the flow lines of an oriented meteorite that does not tumble and melts on only one side. Only the freshest iron-nickel meteorites retain these delicate flow lines as they quickly rust away. This Sikhote-Alin meteorite is worth a premium as oriented meteorites are worth two to three times as much as the normal specimen.
Add $30 for domestic shipping.
Estimated Value $1,600 - 2,000.
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