SEYMCHAN PALLISITIC IRON METEORITE CUBES — CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE DRAMATIZED IN THREE DIMENSIONS - photo 1
SEYMCHAN PALLISITIC IRON METEORITE CUBES — CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE DRAMATIZED IN THREE DIMENSIONS - photo 2

SEYMCHAN PALLISITIC IRON METEORITE CUBES — CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE DRAMATIZED IN THREE DIMENSIONS

Sold
$ 9 375
Auction dateClassic
25.08.2020 10:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 389987
Lot 43 | SEYMCHAN PALLISITIC IRON METEORITE CUBES — CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE DRAMATIZED IN THREE DIMENSIONS
Lot Description:
These two specimens were cut from a larger meteorite and then machined into cubes to reveal Seymchan’s robust crystalline fingerprint, an attribute which can only derive from unearthly origins. The meteorite from which these cubes were hewn was once part of the iron core of an asteroid that experienced an impact and shattered. Portions of the core were propelled into an Earth-crossing orbit. Modern fashioning.
32 x 32 x 32mm & 30 x 30 x 30mm
250.4g & 219.4g

An iron meteorite’s shimmering crystalline fingerprint is rendered in three dimensions when fashioned as cubes. Found in a part of Siberia made infamous as the remote location of Stalin’s gulags, the first masses of Seymchan were found in a streambed in the 1960s. Identified as meteorites, they were named Seymchan for a nearby town. The dispersion of olivine in Seymchan is extremely heterogeneous. Some specimens are olivine rich (see lot 14) and some are olivine poor; some specimens have no olivine whatsoever. The examples now offered are of the latter variety. Seymchan meteorites are unusually resistant to oxidation due to their extremely high iridium content. Most Seymchan meteorites are prosaically shaped; it’s all about the splendor within. When cut and fashioned into slices, spheres and cubes, Seymchan showcases a resplendent internal crystalline structure. This latticework, known as a Widmanstätten pattern, is indicative of a slow cooling rate which provided sufficient time — millions of years — for the two metallic alloys to orient into the crystalline matrix now seen. As this structure does not appear naturally on Earth, the presence of a Widmanstätten pattern is diagnostic for the identification of an iron meteorite.

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
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