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Samuel Coccius: Ufos afflicting Basel on August 7th, 1566 Brahin
Formerly almost impossible to come by, Brahin has increased its presence on the market recently, and, alongside Brenham maybe, is currently the cheapest way of securing for yourself one of those coveted pallasite slices. This thick, non-translucent partslice has been sealed against oxidation, which you can tell only if you hold it against the light under an oblique angle. Well, squeamish purists will whine about that, but word has come to my ears on more than one occasion that Brahin tends to rust quickly, so that such a kind of protection might be an advantage after all. This "napoleonic" pallasite is coarser in texture than Esquel and Imilac and it has greenish to amber-colour olivine crystals. It looks as though the price for Brahin is levelling out at 8-10$. My price is 6$/g. Thick Partslice ca. 9.2cm x 4.2cm x 0.9cm 153g $918Huckitta
The main mass was found in 1937 - with its 1411.5kg the largest single specimen of a pallasite, surrounded by 900kg of iron shale. Huckitta is very ancient, so that its iron and olivine have weathered into magnetite and haematite. This one here is a stone half with a polished cut surface, on which one can discern the former pallasitic structure very clearly. I charge the usual price for Huckitta: 2$/g. Half individual, polished ca. 8cm x 3.5cm x 3.7cm 144g $288Imilac
After Brenham and Huckitta, Imilac is the third-largest
representative of pallasites; its exact total weight is unknown, but likely to
have been over 1t. Imilac is offered everywhere, at prices ranging from 2.50$ up
to 20$/g, depending on quality. So if you are simply interested in material from
these meteorites for your collection, I'd recommend purchasing untreated pieces,
for which, in my opinion, you should pay a maximum of 3-4$/g, depending on the
degree of weathering.
The partslice I'm offering here is of top quality and a real showpiece. Due to the thickness of ca. 4mm, the greenish olivine crystals are translucent. This item stems from the collection of Walter Zeitschel, one of the most renowned private collectors worldwide (with original label). The slice has been in my possession for more than 15 years now, and over all that time hasn't developed the slightest trace of rust. 12$/g. Partslice
Vaca Muerta
This Mesosiderite also comes from the Atacama desert, 170km to the South-East of Taltal. In 1861, it was discovered by prospectors, who at first believed to have found silver ore and took about 1t of this material to the mining town of Copiapo. Only some 45kg of this find have been preserved to this day. Later on, this meteorite fell into oblivion, and it wasn't until 1985 that the find site was rediscovered by the geology student Edmundo Martinez, thanks to the examination of old reports. The subsequently initiated search actions, between 1987 and 1991, brought to light 77 fragments at a total weight of more than 3.4t, within a scattering ellipse of 11x2 km2. (Its terrestrial age was determined as 3500(+/-1300) years, using the C-14 method). Accordingly, Vaca Muerta can be bought everywhere, and as it's by far the cheapest mesosiderite around, it'll be your first choice if you'd like to acquire a representative of this class. The two specimens offered are rough pieces, just the way they were found. I personally consider them quite handsome, with their wondrously crumpled looks, and in some places garish green olivine inclusions will sparkle at you. There are certainly better specimens, but at this price one can't complain: 2$/g. VC1 Rough fragment
ca. 5.7cm x 5cm x 3cm
101g
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