Meteorite Var. Sikhote-Alin

I just picked up this Sikhote in Munich, from a Russian dealer/miner. I was struck by this piece imediately. It is beautifully oriented, with "fly lines," (ripple-like lines in the fusion crust that flow from the impact "lip,") which formed as this individual Meteorite fell through the atmosphere and became superheated, thus melting the outermost layer and creating the "fusion crust." It has extensive regmaglypts (indentations in the fusion crust) through out. It has an area underneath where it's speculated it sat in water (or landed in water) and the underlying surface is exposed. The deep lines and texture look like the landscape of the moon. It adds a whole new texture and "part fo the story," to tell people.

This nickel iron meteorite fell on Feb. 12, 1947 in the Sikhote-alin Mountains of Eastern Siberia, Russia. It is the largest observed meteorite fall in history, with over 23000 kg raining down on the earth in the form of iron shrapnel and the more rare individual fallen meteorites such as this one. A couple years ago, the Russian government has made it difficult to export, and diggers I knew said there was almost nothing left to find. Remarkably, a friend of the Russian dealer found this spectacular example just recently, and succesfully got it to Germany. It's one of the finest I've seen, with everything one would want in a nickel-iron meteorite. It's larger than a man's fist, and is a "proper," size and an impressive weight of 847 grams or (1 pound 13.9 ounces), as you can see by all the pics, it can be displayed many different ways and is attractive each way.