Goldberg Coins and Collectibles

Sale 92

Manuscript, Sports, Collectibles, Space and Philatelic Auction

Meteorites

Lot	Photo	Description	Realized
Lot 801		Canyon Diablo Iron-Nickle Meteorite With Hole. This large four pound 4 x 3 x 2¼" Canyon Diablo iron-nickel meteorite is a palm sized specimen of one of the most sought after iron meteorites by collectors. Most currently available Canyon Diablo meteorites are just a few grams in weight. Any sizeable specimens are hard to come by as the area around Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona has been closed for years. The nearly one mile in diameter crater was created over 50,000 years ago when a 50' in diameter meteor exploded high over the Arizona desert. This popular esthetic meteorite possesses several deep distinctive regmaglypts (thumbprints) plus many smaller ones. The most unusual regmaglypt is a one inch deep and one inch wide hole which was probably caused by a graphite nodule falling out during the fiery entry into the earth's atmosphere. Since no specimens are available from the source at Meteor Crater, the only way to acquire a specimen is when specimens are made available from collections. Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 802		Complete Carbonaceous Meteorite with Stardust. Carbonaceous meteorites are scarce stony meteorites that contain chondrites (spherical shaped minerals that formed from the cloud of dust that formed our solar system. They are friable and break up easily in the upper atmosphere and are always small in size. Carbonaceous meteorites are high in carbon and contain some water in compounds and organic compounds including amino acids which are the building blocks of life. Just recently, nucleobases which are small molecules found in DNA and RNA have been found in pristine Antarctica carbonaceous meteorites. Some of the necleobases found are very rare in Earth biology. NWA 4502 a CV3 carbonaceous meteorite was found in the Sahara desert of Morocco. It is a complete 3¾ x 2½ x 1" 326 gram black meteorite with 100 per cent fusion crust with many multi colored chondrites as well as several white Calcium Aluminum inclusions visible all over its surface. CAI's are thought to be the very first compounds that solidified out of the gases of the SuperNova that preceded the formation of our Solar System, real stardust. These CAI's are therefore older than any other materials such as the other chondrites that formed and made up the asteroids and planets in our Solar System. Estimated Value $600 - 800 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $528
Lot 803		Complete Lunar Meteorite Slice. The only legal way to own a piece of the moon is to purchase a piece of a Lunar meteorite. All Lunar meteorites are rare and small. Lunar meteorites are friable and break up very easily when they enter the earth's atmosphere resulting in only small meteorites actually landing on the ground. NWA 10415 was a 164 gram meteorite found in the Sahara desert in 2015. NWA 10415 is a Lunar feldspathic breccia with high alumina. Even though the moon appears to be very bright when viewed from the earth, the moon actually reflects very little light compared to the planets and other moons in the solar system. This lovely dark gray to black meteorite is typical of the dark breccia covering most of the moon. Breccias are a mixture of different soils that became mixed together from many meteorite impacts that occurred on the moon billions of years ago. This fairly large 38mm X 29mm 3.06 gram complete slice displays numerous light colored feldspathic clasts and numerous dark gray clasts with numerous feldspar grains and scattered olivine pyroxenes throughout the matrix. Housed in a 8 X 6 inch Ryker mount. Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,750 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $1,200
Lot 804		Gem Quality Crystals in Vesta Meteorite. Vesta is the second largest asteroid in the asteroid belt with a diameter of over 326 miles and a gigantic impact crater at its South Pole that is so deep that it exposes the asteroids interior. There are three types of Achondrites that originate from Vesta collectively known as HED's, Howardites. Eucrites and Diagenites. Diagenites are the rarest of the three types of stony meteorites and originate from deep beneath the surface of Vesta. This 3 x 2", 14.6 gram complete slice from NWA 7831 is from one of the rare Diagenites and is unique as a Diagenite because it contains translucent gem quality yellow- green crystals of orthopyroxene in its stony matrix. This is unique in stony meteorites and looks somewhat like a Pallasite, an iron-nickel meteorite with olivine crystals. This unique and desirable Diagenite is an achondrite and non-magnetic and was found in Morocco in March 2013 with only one 20 Kg meteorite that was broken into 45 specimens. In a Riker mount. Estimated Value $950 - 1,250 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 805		Martian Mini-Meteorite Complete and Uncut. Meteorites from the planet Mars are so rare that only small fragments are available for sale. These rare meteorites have been identified as being from Mars because of their chemical analysis and age. They are younger than most of the meteorites from the asteroid belt that were formed at the same time as the solar system 4.5 Billion Years Ago. It is believed that Martian meteorite NWA 7397 was blasted off the surface of Mars by a meteorite impact around 2.1 million years age. In 2012 in the Sahara desert near Smara, Morocco a 2.1 KG meteorite and a number of small individual meteorites with a total weight of less than 5 Kg were found and submitted for analysis. This Martian meteorite(named NWA 7397) was found to be a poikilitic Shergotite with two different textural regions. The poikilitic textural region consisted of olivine and chromite ovoid crystals. The non poikilitic textural region consisted of fine grains of olivine, pyroxene, and maskelynite. This uncut meteorite is 18 x 11mm weighing 2.2 grams and has more than 30 percent of its original dark brown fusion crust from burning in the Earth's atmosphere. The inside of the meteorite can be also studied showing a number of the olivine and chromite ovoid crystals. This is a rare opportunity to acquire a complete meteorite that you can hold in your hand from the planet Mars. Preserved in a 8 x 6" Riker mount. Estimated Value $700 - 900 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $660
Lot 806		Meteor From Biggest Meteor Strike Since 1907. At 9:20 A.M. on the morning of February 15, 2013 a large 8-10 ton 50 foot long meteor exploded 10-15 miles above the ancient city of Chelyabinsk, Russia with the force of over 500,000 tons of TNT 10 times the force of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. More than 1,500 people were injured from flying glass and debris from the resulting shock wave. This was the largest meteor event in the last 100 years since a large meteor exploded over a remote area of Siberia in 1907. The official name of this meteorite is Chelyabinsk where most of the injuries occurred but most of the meteorite specimens were found on the frozen surface of Chebarkul Lake which is a frozen fresh water lake that is located directly in the meteorite strewnfield about 50 miles west of the city of Chelyabinsk. Because of the immense explosion and ablation through Earth's atmosphere, most of the meteor was either burned up or blasted into a fine powder. More than 95% of the recovered meteorites are extremely small, less than 3 grams in weight. This beautiful fresh 40 x 18 x 10 mm complete stony meteorite designated as a LL5 SR4 weighs 14.1 grams LL5 SR4 means that it has a low iron content of about 10% which is low even for a stony meteorite. This meteorite fragment is very interesting in that it has two different fusion crusts. The top has a thick dark brown fusion crust that formed high in the earth's atmosphere when the meteorite first broke up and the bottom side has a much thinner black fusion crust that started to form after the final tremendous explosion and did not have enough time to become thick. The small sections that are not covered by fusion crust offera window inside of the meteorite displaying its light gray matrix mixed with specks of iron and beige dn brown chondrules It is not possible to obtain a fresher meteorite and it is very valuable for study in that there has been no contamination with Earth rocks and erosion. Housed in a 8 X 6" Riker mount with a photo of the explosion. Estimated Value $500 - 700 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 807		Meteorite 20.9 pound Campo Del Cielo. This large 9½ x 7 x 2", 20.9 pound Campo del Cielo iron-nickel meteorite fell to the earth over 4,000 years ago in mountainous region of Gran Chaco, Argentina, 500 miles north-northwest of Buenos Aries, in one of the largest and undoubtedly most dramatic falls in the last 10,000 years. Meteorites from this fall were scattered over hundreds of square miles of inaccessible terrain. This quintessential large meteorite has several medium to large regmaglypts and looks much larger than it actually is because of its large surface area. It was recovered from the mountainous new Campo sight that yields meteorites with the best shape and surface quality. Most of the large meteorites have been recovered from this field and are becoming quite difficult to locate. This large esthetic Campo del Cielo looks like what most people think of when they visualize a meteorite and is sold with a metal stand for display. Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 808		Meteorite Admire Pallasite. Pallasites are the rare type of meteorites that came from the core-mantle boundary of a very large asteroid that was destroyed by impact early in the formation of our solar system. It is a stony-iron with a iron-nickel matrix interspersed with olivine crystals. The Admire Pallasite was first discovered near Admire Kansas in 1881 even though it fell to earth some 15,000 years ago. This section is 4½ x 2½" weighing a hefty 93.2 grams and is loaded with olivine crystals with about 50 percent of the surface covered in olivine with the rest being iron-nickel. Over a half dozen of the olivine crystals are a translucent yellow- green color. The Admire is unique in pallasites in that some of the olivine crystals have a characteristic called chatoyancy. Chatoyancy is defined as the change of luster within a gemstone due to the way the crystals reflect light. The Pallasite is presented in a 8½ x 6¼ " Ryker mount. Estimated Value $500 - 700 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $300
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 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $450
Lot 810		Meteorite Gem Quality Stony. There are basic three types of meteorites, stony, stony-iron (Pallasites) and Iron-Nickel. All three types of these meteorites come from the asteroid belt (except for the Mars, Moon and Vesta meteorites) and formed when our solar system formed some 4.57 billion years ago making them far older than any rocks found on earth. Most stony meteorites are sectioned for collectors and acquiring a fresh gem quality stony meteorite is rare. This gem quality 4 x 2½ x 2" 810 grams (nearly two pounds) was found in the Sahara desert and is designated as a non characterized NWA meteorite. It is magnetic like all stony meteorites that do not come from a planet and is probably an ordinary chondrite meteorite with chondrules. Chondrules are mostly round bits of material that cooled and joined together to form the asteroids and planets when the solar system was formed. What makes this stony meteorite special is its esthetic shape with regmaglypt types impressions and being more than 90% covered in its original fusion crust with a bit of desert sand in the areas not covered. It looks as fresh as if it fell yesterday being in the top 5% of all meteorites found in the Sahara desert. Estimated Value $800 - 1,000 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 811		Meteorite Seymchan Pallasite. Two meteorites weighing 323 Kg were found in 1967 in Seymchan, a Magadan district in far eastern Russia. Originally, Seymchan was believed to be just an iron-nickel meteorite but recently olivine crystals were found in parts of some of the Seymchan meteorites which makes it a far rarer Pallasite. Pallasites are literally gemstones from outer space containing olivine crystals mixed in with the iron-nickel matrix. This large 4.5X4.1 inch 170.2 gram slice has more than 50% olivine crystals and silicate inclusions in its iron-nickel matrix and has been polished to reveal this interesting interior including many translucent olivine crystals. The silicate inclusions are found in a type of stony iron meteorite known as a Mesosiderite. Therefore, this Seymchan section is a mix between a Pallasite and a Mesosiderite. The olivine cryatals in Seymchan are smaller in diameter than in most Pallasites. Seymchan slices are remarkably stable. Presented in a 8 X 6" Riker Mount. Estimated Value $2,000 - 3,000 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 812		Meteorite Sikhote-Alin with Regmaglypts. This good size, 2½ x 2½ x 1" inch, 258.2 gram Sikhote-Alin iron nickel meteorite is the rarer of the two types possessing regmaglypts, small crater-like impressions that formed by ablation of Troilite when the meteorite was streaking through the sky at high temperature. The large meteorite body broke up twice during its fall to earth with only the higher breakup creating the meteorites with the regmaglypts, the lower breakup creating the shrapnel type meteorites. The shape of this meteorite is special with various sized regmaglypts and a sharp central peak on top as well as an interesting fissure down the center of the meteorite as a result of the explosive breakup. There are even some delicate flow lines remaining from the melting that took place during the meteorite passing through the earth's atmosphere. Having fallen on Feb. 12, 1947 in Siberia, Sikhote-Alin iron-nickel meteorites are the best preserved of all known iron-nickel meteorites. It is now quite rare to find such a large esthetic specimen as the meteorite field has been well searched and only small specimens are still being found. Display stand included. Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,300 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $600
Lot 813		Meteorites from the Moon and Mars. The two most desirable meteorites come from the Moon and Mars. The only way to own a piece of the Moon and Mars is to acquire a part of one of the rare meteorites that originated when a very large meteorite impacted their surface ejecting small rocks out into space that eventually made their way to Earth as a meteorite. As you might expect these lunar and Martian meteorites are quite rare. This 12¾ x 6¾" frame contains two approximately 6mmX4mm meteorite sections from a Lunar meteorite Dhofar 461 and a Martian meteorite DAG46. The Lunar meteorite Dhofar 461 was found in the Sahara desert in Oman on April 22, 2001 and the Martian meteorite DAG 476 was found in the Libyan desert in May 1998. Both meteorite sections come with certificates of authenticity with pictures of the entire meteorite. The custom frame is ready for hanging if desired. Estimated Value $350 - 500 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $360
Lot 814		Meterorite Campo del Cielo Etched Section. The famous iron-nickel meteorite Campo del Cielo fell to the earth over 4,000 years ago in mountainous region of Gran Chaco, Argentina, 500 miles north-northwest of Buenos Aries, in one of the largest and undoubtedly most dramatic falls in the last 10,000 years. Meteorites from this fall were scattered over hundreds of square miles of inaccessible terrain. This heavy 3.25X3.5 inch section weighs over 3.5 pounds and has been polished and etched to show its Widmanstatten pattern which results from two alloys of Nickel in the meteorite etching at different rates. There are no iron-nickel rocks on Earth that exibit a Widmanstatten pattern because the parent asteroid where these iron-nickel meteorites originate was destroyed by impact with another large asteroid and the new melted iron-nickel core had to cool at the very slow rate of a couple of degrees per million years to allow enough time for the nickel alloys Kamacite (the light bands which are low in nickel) and Taenite (the dark bands which are high in nickel) to separate. This spectacular section has fusion crust and regmaglypts on three sides and has been beautifully etched on three sides showing the coarse octahedrite pattern of this Type 1A iron-nickel meteorite with also interesting troilite inclusions. Estimated Value $700 - 900 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $432
Lot 815		Rare Meteorite, Ataxite. Ataxites are a rare type of iron-nickel meteorite that do not exhibit a Widmanstatten pattern when they are etched due to their high nickel content. Ataxites are known as ungrouped irons as they do not match the chemistry of any of the other iron-nickel groups and most certainly come from a different planetary body than the other irons. Dronino is an ataxite that was found by a Russian mushroom hunter in July of 2002 near the Russian village of Dronino. Over 600 meteorites were found totally about 3000Kg with the largest meteorite being 250Kg. All of the meteorites were heavily weathered and rusted from being buried underground from 1-6 feet. The weathered and rusted crust has been removed from this specimen leaving a solid iron-nickel core. It is not known when this meteorite fell to earth but it was certainly more than one thousand years ago since the area was inhabited then and no mention of such a spectacular cosmic event is recorded. This end piece is 6¼ X 2¾ X 2 inchs and weighs 1383 grams (over three pounds). The cut side has been polished and etched exhibiting sulfide and chromite inclusions. The natural uncut end has a bright gun metal color with the usual ragged surface and some small regmaglpts that are typical of an esthetic Dronino ataxite meteorite. Estimated Value $1,500 - 2,000 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 816		Seymchan Pallasite Meteorite Etched Block. The Seymchan meteorite first discovered in eastern Russia in 1967 is one of the most unusual scarce Palasites known. The first two large meteorites found were cut and polished showing only an iron-nickel matrix. Finally, after most of one of the meteorites was cut, there appeared olivine crystals which makes this meteorite a rarer Pallasite. It is an unusual Pallasite because the olivine crystals are only found in a small portion of the meteorite and not evenly difivided throughout. This sizeable block of Seymchan is 65 x 60 x 11mm weighing 289.4 grams and is etched on both sides to show it Widmanstatten pattern as well as two concentrated sections with olivine crystals measuring 42 x 20 mm on one side and 35 mm long on the opposite side. The Widmanstatten pattern is also quite unusual in that it is not uniform and is distorted from intense heat and shock when it was formed from a massive collision of two large asteroids in the asteroid belt many millions of years ago. Sold with a magnetic plastic stand for display. Estimated Value $700 - 900 View details and enlarged photo	Unsold
Lot 817		Three Different Pallasite Meteorites. Pallasites are one of the rarer types of iron-nickel meteorites that contain olivine crystals mixed in with the iron-nickel matrix. Pallasites are known as being gemstones from space because gem quality olivine is known as peridot. These three different Pallasites are from three different countries. 1. Brenham was found in Kiowa County, Kansas in 1882. This polished and etched section is 53 x 28mm weighing 16.9 grams with six or more translucent crystals. 2. Fukang from China has the largest olivine crystals found in any Pallasite and is 35 x 20mm weighing 22.5 grams with one giant 32mm x 12mm olivine crystal. 3. Brahin from Belorussia was found in 1810. This section is 36 x 40 mm weighing 20¼ grams polished and etched on both sides showing an irregular Widmanstatten pattern along with the yellow-green olivine crystals. Housed in a 8 x 6" Ryker mount. Estimated Value $300 - 425 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $240
Lot 818		Three Different Types of Vesta Meteorites. The moon, Mars and Vesta are the only planetary bodies in our solar system where we can positively identify meteorites that originated from their surface. Vesta is a very large asteroid with a diameter of over 326 miles and has a gigantic impact crater at its South Pole that is so deep that it exposes the asteroid's interior. With the photos that have come from Vesta, this huge crater is now confirmed and has been identified, using a spectograph,as the source for the three types of meteorites from Vesta. NWA 1646 is a brecciated cumulate Eucrite that formed from the impact of a large asteroid that hit Vesta. This large 2.25X1 inch full slice weighs 8 grams and shows a mixture of the surface rocks from Vesta with white and dark gray inclusions in a dark gray matrix. The second meteorite type is called Howardite and comes from a deeper part of the impact crater. NWA 2696 is a complete 1.5X1 inch fragment weighing 17.3 grams being a uniform dark gray color with a fresh dark brown fusion crust layer on its top side. The third type of meteorite is called an Olivine Diogenite which comes from very deep inside the huge impact crater. NWA 5480 was found in 2008 is a 1X.75 inch end cut polished on one side and its naturals surface on the other. This lovely green meteorite has a high olivine content and flecks of iron indicating that it is virtually a virgin rock from Vesta that has not been distorted by high temperature. These three important meteorite specimens tell a story about an event that happened billions of years ago at the south pole of Vesta in the asteroid belt. Presented in a 8 X 6 inch Riker mount. Estimated Value $600 - 850 View details and enlarged photo	Realized $840