SEYMCHAN METEORITE — MASSIVE COMPLETE SLICE WITH EXTRATERRESTRIAL GEMSTONES - photo 1

SEYMCHAN METEORITE — MASSIVE COMPLETE SLICE WITH EXTRATERRESTRIAL GEMSTONES

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$ 16 380
Auction dateClassic
28.03.2023 11:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
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ID 927032
Lot 41 | SEYMCHAN METEORITE — MASSIVE COMPLETE SLICE WITH EXTRATERRESTRIAL GEMSTONES
Similar to lots 7, 34 and 41. Exceedingly rare, pallasites are the most beautiful extraterrestrial material known. The crystals seen are the result of small chunks of the stony mantle of an asteroid having become suspended in the molten metal of its iron-nickel core. The prominent metal latticework seen is referred to as a Widmanstätten pattern. It is evidence of a cooling curve of millions of years for the two metallic alloys to orient into their crystalline structure. As such slow cooling only occurs deep within asteroids — and theoretically within the solid planets like Earth — this pattern is diagnostic in the identification of a meteorite.

It was in the 1960s that the first masses of Seymchan were found in a streambed in a remote part of Siberia which became infamous as the locality of Stalin’s gulags. Identified as meteorites, they were named Seymchan for a nearby town. Unlike most pallasites, the dispersion of olivine crystals in Seymchan is extremely heterogeneous. Some specimens are olivine rich, some olivine poor and some have no olivine whatsoever. Such transitional pallasites provide insight into the mingling of materials at the mantle/core boundary — and the specimen now offered provides a spectacular perspective of this process. A band of translucent crystals arc across the top of this specimen while the rest is metal. It’s as if the mantle/core boundary is itself realized in this large format complete slice.

Apart from the crystalline crown of olivine and peridot, dominating the cut and polished surface is a robust Widmanstätten pattern, accented by the presence of schreibersite. The specimen is circumscribed by the natural exterior rim of the meteorite. Originating at the interface of the molten iron core and stony mantle of an asteroid that shattered, this is a visually arresting large format transitional pallasite which originated within a differentiated asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Modern cutting.

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

432 x 321 x 2mm (17 x 12.66 x 0.1 in.) and 2061.7 grams (4.5 lbs)
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
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28.03.2023
27.03.2023
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