A MATCHLESS CANYON DIABLO METEORITE - photo 1
A MATCHLESS CANYON DIABLO METEORITE - photo 2

A MATCHLESS CANYON DIABLO METEORITE

Lot 2
10.09.2024 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 214 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1279144
Lot 2 | A MATCHLESS CANYON DIABLO METEORITE
Estimate value
$ 100 000 – 150 000
A MATCHLESS CANYON DIABLO METEORITE
Iron — Coarse octahedrite IAB-MG Meteor Crater, Coconino County, Arizona (35°3' N, 111°2' W)
A smooth metallic surface delimits the ellipsoidal metallic abstract form. Numerous sockets and perforations abound, the reverse side showing a face of cleavage along the natural crystalline plane of the meteorite. Wrapped in a gunmetal patina with both ochre and platinum-hued accents.

One of the most aesthetic iron meteorites known -- natural sculpture from outer space.

Like all iron meteorites, the current lot is more than four billion years old and originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Evocative of a Henry Moore, this sculptural form was once part of the molten iron core of an asteroid that broke apart, a portion of which was deflected into an Earth-intersecting orbit. Approximately 49,000 years ago it crashed into the Arizona desert with the force of more than 100 atomic bombs. Fragments were ejected more than 11 miles away from the point of impact and the main mass vaporized, creating the most famous and best-preserved meteorite crater in the world—the renowned Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona nearly one mile across and 600 feet deep. The fragments of iron that survived the impact are referred to as Canyon Diablos (“Canyon of the Devil”), and they are the quintessential American meteorite prized by museums and private collectors.

The Canyon of the Devil became precisely that for one Daniel M. Barringer (1860-1929). At the turn of the 20th Century, Barringer reasoned that the crater had to be created by an enormous extraterrestrial mass weighing millions of tons. He believed this mass, worth a fortune in nickel and iron, lay under the crater’s base. In 1903 Barringer filed a mining claim and commenced a drilling operation that went on for years. Unfortunately for Barringer, scientists later determined that a mass much smaller than that which Barringer believed existed would have possessed sufficient energy to blow the huge hole in the desert floor—and would also have generated enough heat to vaporize much of itself. In effect, what Barringer spent the last decades of his life looking for didn’t exist. The Barringer Family maintains the crater and adjacent museum today in what is a major international tourist attraction.

Canyon Diablos are noted for containing nodules of graphite and carbonados (minute black diamonds). In the present specimen, it was the ejection of the graphite inclusions that resulted in the sculpting of sockets or hollows in close proximity on the mass. In a process referred to as terrestrialization, these sockets expanded in size when exposed to Earth’s elements as the seasons turned over the millenia. Some of these hollows expanded sufficiently to entirely penetrate the mass resulting in the sought-after rarity of a naturally formed hole. This meteorite has seven such complete holes, perhaps the most of any single iron meteorite.
31.2kg. (68 ¾lbs)
13 ½ x 8 x 7 ¼ in. (34.4 x 20.3 x 18.4 cm.)




Provenance

Robert Ward Meteorites, Prescott, Arizona.
Macovich Collection of Meteorites, New York City.
Christie's New York, 7-14 February 2018, lot 41.
Category:Meteorite
Auction house category:Fossils & Minerals
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.09.2024 – 10.09.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.