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Extraterrestrial Iron Sphere from the Aletai Meteorite
$12,870.25
£9,500
€11,104.62
CA$17,762.88
A$19,898.35
CHF 10,349.61
MX$242,718.80
NOK 131,764.35
SEK 124,244.40
DKK 82,881.85
About the Item
A magnificent meteorite sphere, cut from the famous Aletai meteorite and polished to reveal the shimmering iron-nickel matrix and the beautiful crystalline Widmanstätten pattern — a striking, criss-cross structure unique to extraterrestrial iron.
This exceptional sphere, fashioned from the famous Aletai meteorite, offers a rare three-dimensional view of its interior crystalline matrix — composed
chiefly of interweaving bands of two iron-nickel alloys: taenite and kamacite. Kamacite is unique to meteorites and does not naturally occur on Earth.
The Aletai meteorite is of particular scientific interest because of its unique chemical profile. Indeed, it belongs to the rarest category of iron meteorites known - IIIE - of which there are only 16 members on record. Of these, it is one of only two which have notably anomalous make-ups, containing the largest amount of gold of any specimen in the group, as well as considerable quantities of schreibersite - a rare phosphate mineral, which gives Aletai samples their distinctive lustrous surface. First brought to our planet by meteorites billions of years ago, this phosphate mineral is also thought to be the source of the reactive phosphorus that created the necessary conditions for the very beginnings of life on Earth.
The impact of the Aletai meteorite was among the most dramatic of all known meteorite falls, with its skipping-stone-like trajectory producing the largest recorded strewn field in history. Fragments of the original parent body blasted apart by thermal shock as it entered the atmosphere, and scattered across an expanse that reached some 267 miles. One of these masses, lodged in the foothills of Inner Mongolia’s Altai Mountains, appears to have been known to the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), who had visited Mongolia in the 1920s and 30s. The mass seems to have inspired the ʻsacred stone’ that features in his early designs for the staging of the 1948 performance of Stravinsky’s, ʻThe Rite of Spring’.
ALETAI METEORITE SPHERE
IRON - IIIE
Circa 4.5 billion y/o
Weight: 676 g
Diameter: 5.4 cm
PROVENANCE
Discovered in Xinjiang Province, China.
- Dimensions:Height: 2.13 in (5.4 cm)Diameter: 2.13 in (5.4 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:4.55 billion years before present
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1052244470442
About the Seller
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LAPADA - The Association of Arts & Antiques DealersInternational Confederation of Art and Antique Dealers' AssociationsThe British Antique Dealers' Association
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