GIBEON METEORITE — EXTRATERRESTRIAL TABLETOP SCULPTURE - photo 1

GIBEON METEORITE — EXTRATERRESTRIAL TABLETOP SCULPTURE

Lot 17
25.08.2020 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 40 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 389960
Lot 17 | GIBEON METEORITE — EXTRATERRESTRIAL TABLETOP SCULPTURE
Estimate value
$ 50 000 – 80 000
Lot Description:
Draped in a variegated gun metal-hued patina with ochre accents, this highly sculptural form — which evokes a human ear when reoriented — is delimited by deep scoops at its heavier left margin. As its sickle-like shape animatedly twists, this meteorite attenuates as it curves upward. The smoothly textured scoops seen throughout are divided by rhythmically flowing ridges, and the resulting crests and valleys delimit this compelling form. Originating from the asteroid belt and shaped by forces both extraterrestrial and terrestrial, meteorites almost never look like this sculptural form. Accompanied by a custom armature.
309 x 274 x 93 mm (12.25 x 10.75 x 3.66 in.)
5.721kg (12.66 lbs)

Provenance: Macovich Collection of Meteorites, New York City

A 4.5 billion-year-old abstract form, shaped by forces both extraterrestrial and terrestrial, and originating from the asteroid belt. Like most iron meteorites, Gibeon meteorites formed in the early stages of the Solar System within the molten core of an asteroid that was shattered by a tremendously powerful collision with another asteroid. Unlike most iron meteorites, however, this Gibeon specimen is among the most aesthetic iron meteorites known.

Gibeon meteorites landed on Earth thousands of years ago when the wandering iron mass from which this meteorite originated slammed into the atmosphere before exploding and raining down in what is now the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. In previous generations, indigenous tribesmen recovered small meteorite fragments at or near the surface and fashioned them into spear points and other tools. Its final shape is the product of its composition, the soil chemistry where it landed, its orientation in the ground, the amount of groundwater to which it was exposed and the amount of time which elapsed before being unearthed. All these factors slowly reshaped this mass as it sat near the Earth’s surface as the seasons turned for thousands of years.

In effect, this meteorite was hewn by monumental forces encountered in space, frictional heating as it plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and the effects of Earth’s hydrological cycle. While the vast majority of iron meteorites are prosaically shaped, that is not the case as it regards this unique natural sculpture from outer space.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue.

Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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12.08.2020 – 25.08.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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