TISHOMINGO — COMPLETE SLICE OF A SINGULAR METEORITE - photo 1

TISHOMINGO — COMPLETE SLICE OF A SINGULAR METEORITE

Lot 45
25.08.2020 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
$ 8 750
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
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ID 389989
Lot 45 | TISHOMINGO — COMPLETE SLICE OF A SINGULAR METEORITE
Estimate value
$ 8 000 – 12 000
Lot Description:
The undulating rim of the meteorite’s exterior surface encompasses the cut surface of this complete slice. One side is etched to reveal its crystalline martensitic structure. Scattered blebs of troilite embellish the mass. There is no other meteorite like Tishomingo. While samples of the Moon, Mars and other meteorites are far more valuable and costly, worth becomes a different matter when viewed through the lens of “melt values”. As a result of Tishomingo’s high nickel content this is among the most valuable meteorites known, and this is an exemplary specimen of this distinguished meteorite.
229 x 219 x 3mm (9 x 8.66 x 0.1 in.)
1.255kg (2.75 lbs)

Tishomingo is a singularly exotic meteorite chemically and visually. While novelist Elmore Leonard may have put Tishomingo on the map for most with the publishing of Tishomingo Blues, the Tishomingo meteorite had long been one of the more-remarkable iron meteorites in the scientific record. Tishomingo is unlike any other meteorite and is intrinsically among the most valuable of meteorites with a nickel content of approximately 32.5%. (The nickel content of most iron meteorites is less than 10%) As a result of its high nickel content, it exhibits a unique coarse martensitic structure. In the words of Dr. Vagn Buchwald in his legendary three volume standard source The Handbook of Iron Meteorites, “A similar structure is unknown in any other meteorite…Tishomingo is a very pure iron-nickel alloy. No carbides, phosphides or silicates were identified at all…Tishomingo is a unique meteorite, unrelated to any other meteorite.” Tishomingo was found by a 14-year old boy while bird hunting in 1965 — and this is an uncommon complete slice of an eminent and rare 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
Preview
12.08.2020 – 25.08.2020
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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