Lot 474
MARTIAN METEORITE END CUT. 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 now believed that most if not all the Martian meteorites originated from one gigantic meteorite impact that left the more recent Zumba crater in the Daedalia Planum on Mars.
In November of 2005 a number of small complete meteorites (a total weight of only about a Kilogram) from Mars were found in the Sahara desert. The reason there were only small individual meteorites is that the original larger meteorite broke up high in the Earth’s atmosphere and the small pieces continued to burn as they hit the Earth. These meteorites are rare Basaltic Martian Shergotites from an ancient lava flow on Mars with vesicular glass pockets visible as flecks of glass in this specimen and trapped melt inclusions from the large impact that occurred on Mars millions of years ago. This 10mmX8mm .8gram end cut designated as NWA 2987 is actually half of a complete 2.01 gram meteorite(about .4 grams lost in cutting) and is one of the freshest Shergotite Martian meteorites ever found. It is a light gray in color with dark grey crystallized igneous melt inclusions within iron-titanium oxide grains along with shiny patches of shock-produced vesicular glass. A somewhat larger 4 gram meteorite from this fall (NWA 2987, NWA 2986, NWA 4766,NWA 4783, NWA 4857 and NWA 4880 are all meteorites from this one fall) recently realized over $17,000 at auction in New York.
Add $15 for domestic shipping.
Estimated Value $900 - 1,200.
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| Realized $823 |
