Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 33

Manuscript and Collectibles Auction

Rocks/Minerals

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 811		1¾" Gem Quality Opalized Wood. This gem-quality, small section of wood is completely surrounded by gem-quality red and green fire opal. This fully rounded piece of wood is surrounded by the fire opal. It is approximately 15 million years old from the Virgin Valley at Nevada. The fire opal is visible on all sides. A magnificent specimen. Add $10 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $500 - 675. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $518
Lot 812		11 2/3 Pound Campo del Cielo Iron-Nickel Meteorite. This 7"x3�" x 4" iron-nickel meteorite, weighing a hefty 11.67 pounds, has an aesthetically sculpted shape with a central "peak" as well as many small thumb prints called regmaglypts. It stands upright on its own with a central peak. The best specimens of Campos known as "new" Campos have been found higher up the mountain from the older ones that were found in a valley. Campo del Cielo translates as "Valley of the Sky" and fell more than 4,000 years ago in Argentina. These meteorites were written about by Spanish explorers in 1576 and a huge 60 ton meteorite was taken back to Spain and melted down for its iron. This large, highly desirable meteorite should elicit much bidding. Add $30 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,600. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,955
Lot 813		210 Million Year Old Polished Pine Cone. These detailed colorful pine cones come from the Araucaria tree (Monkey Puzzle Tree), which is the most primitive of conifers and was a favorite food of sauropod dinosaurs. This large 2¾" pine cone from Patagonia, Argentina, over 210 million years old, has been cut in half and polished to show the strikingly beautiful interior, which is tan and orange with intricate details showing the core and small seeds. Also included is a polished 4" tree section from this extinct species of Araucaria tree, found near the southern-most tip of South America. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $375 - 575. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $316
Lot 814		A Palm-Sized Meteorite From the Most Famous Meteorite Site--Meteor Crater. Iron-nickel meteorites from the meteor that struck near Winslow, Arizona are no longer available from the actual sight, but can only be obtained when collectors decide to part with their cherished specimens. These meteorites are known as Canyon Diablo meteorites, named for the closest area to the impact. This aesthetic iron-nickel meteorite is 1�" x 2" x 1�" and weighs 206 gms. It has lustrous gun-metal gray color and a sharp peak and edges. Also included with this specimen is a full color, two-sided copy of the Meteor Crater Exploration & Mining Company which was formed by Brandon Barringer in 1928 in the hopes of mining millions of tons of iron that he believed was buried beneath the mile wide crater. After not finding any iron, the mining company went bankrupt. Add $20 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $325 - 525. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $690
Lot 815		Aesthetic Crystal-filled Sectioned Ammonite From Madagascar. Ammonites are the extinct relatives of living squid and the chambered nautilus. Their fossilized shells are highly valued both for their beauty and scientific value. This large 9" in diameter ammonite, Pachydiscus, was cut in half to show the incredibly beautiful detail of its interior. As the Ammonite grew, it added additional chambers in a spiral pattern with each chamber with an aragonite wall known as a septa. These are clearly visible in this specimen ranging in color from white to gold. All of the chambers are preserved from the smallest inner chamber all the way out to the living chamber. Some of the chambers are filled with white to honey-colored calcite crystals, while other chambers are open revealing the shell structure. The last four chambers, including the living chamber, were filled with mud, which is now a brownish-green colored rock. This 90-100 million year old ammonite was found in Morondave, Madagascar and would be the perfect specimen for a collector desiring a single spectacular ammonite for his fossil collection or for the collector desiring the best quality available. Add $25 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $400 - 650. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $460
Lot 816		Complete Three-Piece Typeset of Meteorites. There are three different types of meteorites and this lot contains a small specimen of each -- stone, iron, and rarer stony iron. Iron nickel meteorites originate in the core of the asteroid, stony irons from the mantle, and stony meteorites from the crust. (1) �"x½" near-complete stony meteorite from Juancheng, China that fell on Feb. 15, 1997. This excellent specimen has fusion crust on all but one side, which is open to view the iron-rich interior. (2) 1�"x1¼" Sikhote-Alin iron and nickel meteorite from Siberia that fell on Feb. 12, 1947. (3) The rare and desirable Pallasite (stony-iron) that consists of olivine and nickel iron. One face is polished to show the crystals of the olivine. This Pallasite is from Imilac, Chile. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $500 - 750. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $575
Lot 817		Large Hand-axe From the Homo heidelbergensis Culture. This classic-shaped stone hand-axe is from the Acheulean and between 150,000 to 300,000 years old. It is larger than most at 6¾x3½" and has a lovely brown patina as found on the best of the hand-axes from the Western Sahara Desert. The lustrous brown color is known as "desert varnish" from many thousands of years of being sand blasted. Homo heidelbergensis was an archaic Homo species that may have been one of our ancestors. Hand-axes were used to cut meat as well as for defense. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $275 - 450. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $633
Lot 818		Own A Piece of the Moon and Mars. The rarest of all meteorites are those that originate from the Moon and Mars. Only when extremely large asteroids explode into their surfaces are rocks from the Moon and Mars ejected into space, and only a very few ever make their way to Earth. Most meteorites that fall to Earth are as old as the solar system itself, 4.55 billion years old. Meteorites from the Moon and Mars are much younger. Besides their age, various isotopes can determine which meteorites emanated from the Moon and which from Mars. These 2x2mm sections were cut, polished and placed in a custom frame measuring 13"x7" with a description of each piece, along with details of their certification. The entire Moon meteorite from which this specimen was sliced, weighed only 1 oz. and was found on April 22, 2001 in the Sahara Desert of Oman. The Mars specimen came from a meteorite that weighed just over 2 pounds and was also found in thwe Sahara Desert of Oman. The Mon meteorite was certified by the Institute of Planetary Physics at UCLA, while the Mars meteorite was certified Vernadsky Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This remarkable display item is ready to hang. Add $20 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $400 - 700. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $546
Lot 819		Polished and Etched Campo del Cielo Sphere. Etched iron-nickel meteorite spheres are highly sought after by both meteorite and mineral sphere collectors. This 908 gm Campo del Cielo sphere measures 7½" in circumference and looks like a strange planet with its light and dark patterns. The difference in the pattern results from two different alloys of nickel that separated as the asteroid core cooled slowly over millions of years. Campo del Cielo meteorites fell 3000 to 5000 years ago in Chaco, Argentina. They are very difficult to cut because of the many silicate and graphite inclusions that break the cutting lathes. This wonderful specimen comes with a small wooden display stand. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $1,400 - 2,200. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,150
Lot 820		Rare 638g Shrapnel Type Meteorites From Siberia. The most sought after iron and nickel meteorites are from the Sikhote-Alin Mountains from the fall that occurred on February 12, 1947 in the Maritime Territories of Siberia, Russia. Unfortunately for collectors, this meteorite field has been extensively explored, resulting in few larger meteorites being found. Most new finds are very small specimens weighing less than 50g. This wonderful meteorite is 3"x2½"x1¼", weighing 638g. There are two types of Sikote-Alin meteorites, the shrapnel type and the type covered with regmaglypts. The shrapnel type occurs when there was a second explosion of the large iron nickel mass just a few miles up in the atmosphere with not enough time for the meteorites to ablate (melt) to form the regmaglypts. This shrapnel type meteorite has a lovely brown fusion crust and some sharp ragged edges, as well as some flow lines from the partial melting, looling somewhat like wax on a candle. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $300 - 475. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $546
Lot 821		Rare Over 1½-Pound Oriented Sikhote-Alin, Iron-Nickel Meteorite. This 3"x2 ½"x2 ½" iron-nickel meteorite from the Sikhote-Alin mountains of Siberia has everything that you would look for in a Sikhote-Alin meteorite. First of all is its fairly large size. Sikhote's over one pound have gotten very difficult to locate as the February 12, 1947 fall has been extensively searched and only small fragments remain. Secondly, this remarkable meteorite is oriented, meaning that, rather than rotating as it entered the earth's atmosphere, it melted only in one direction, with fine flow lines still visible from the melting metal. These delicate flow lines are never visible in older iron-nickel meteorites since they weather away. And lastly, there are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites -- one with regmaglypts (thumbprints) and a sharp shrapnel type. This remarkable meteorite has regmaglypts on two sides and rough shrapnel surfaces on the other two sides. Add $20 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $850 - 1,350. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,035
Lot 822		Rare Slice of A Meteorite From the Planet Mars. The United States is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to go to Mars and return with that piece of Mars. You can own a real piece of Mars for billions less. This .75"x.65" meteorite section weighs .656 g and has original fusion crust on two of its four sides. This highly sought after Martian basalt meteorite is known as a Shergotite and this piece has been registered and designated Sayh al Uhaymir 130 for the region of the Sahara Desert of Oman where it was found on January 11, 2004. This valuable specimen has been polished and carefully etched to show the inner structure of the Martian basalt rocks that were blasted into space by an impact on Mars millions of years ago. The light gray matrix has dark gray inclusions in it attesting to its having formed from an ancient Martian wool lava flow. Many millions of years ago, an asteroid slammed into the planet Mars, ejecting Martian rocks into space. Fortunately for us, a view of these valuable rocks made their way to Earth as meteorites. These meteorites were originally found to be from Mars when analysis of gas trapped in their interior matched the atmospheric composition of Mars as determined by the Viking Lander in 1976. This very valuable meteorite section is housed in a 4"x3 �" Ryker mount. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $450 - 750. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $690
Lot 823		Sectioned Slice of A Sikhote-Alin Iron and Nickel Meteorite. Because of their high value and scarcity in larger sizes, sectioned and polished slices of Sikhote-Alin meteorites are very difficult to obtain. This complete section is 3"x2½" and weighs 87gms and contains its complete fusion crust around its periphery. Unlike some other iron-nickel meteorites, the Widmanstaten pattern on Sikhote-Alin meteorites just show wide bands of the two different nicket alloys instead of fine lines. Also included with this meteorite is a new 1957 Russian commemorative stamp showing the famous painting of what the Sikhote-Alin meteorite looked on the morning of Feb. 12, 1947 over Siberia. Housed in a 5½" x 4 ½" Ryker mount. Add $10 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $200 - 300. View details and enlarged photo	Realized $316
Lot 824		Three Different Typed of Polished and Colorful Fossilized Wood. This interesting lot contains three completely different types of wood from three different epochs, the Pennsylvanian, the Triassic, and the Jurassic: (1) The oldest fossil, Psaronius, was from the Triassic, more than 300 million years ago, and comes from Tracy City, Tennessee. Pcaronius was a type of fern. this large specimen, 8½"x5", is a dark brown in color with a white calcified pattern of various shapes showing what the interior of the tree looked like (2) Araucauria mirabilis (Monkey Puzzle Tree) of the Jurassic (150 million years old) is from Patagonia. This 4" round section is dark brown, clearly showing growth rings and petal-like shapes (3) A 4½" section of the famous "petrified" wood from Arizona. It is 210 million years old and the most colorful of all the specimens. There are multi hues of reds, yellows and browns. Add $20 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $250 - 375. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 825		Two Opalized Belemnites From Australia. The best quality of fire opal comes from the famous Cooper Pedy region of Australia. As rare as fire opals are, it is much rarer to find a fossil that has been opalized. This lot contains two rare .8" long opalized belemnites that have been polished to reveal the fine fire opal of reds, greens and blues. Belemnites are an extinct group of cephalopods that are related to squid and the chambered nautilus. The only part of the extinct belemnite that fossilized is the torpedo-shape shell that is contained inside its body and makes it rigid for swimming. These opalized belemnites have been polished and placed back in their natural matrix, measuring 4"x2". This is a rare opportunity to purchase gemstones contained in a fossil. Add $15 for domestic shipping. Estimated Value $500 - 800. View details and enlarged photo	Unsold