Tuesday 14 April 2015

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 172 - recently mailed offering

Blaine Reed Meteorites For Sale - List 172 - recently mailed offering

Blaine Reed
P.O. Box 1141
Delta, CO 81416
Ph/fax (970) 874-1487
…………………………………………………..LIST 172
April 14, 2015

Dear collectors,
Here is the e-mail version of my just mailed “after Tucson”, “after tax time”, spring list. Most of these things are new to me (picked up in Tucson or just got finished with research/ prep work during or shortly after Tucson). I have yet another Lunar that not only looks fantastic but it is super affordable (I kept a large slice of this one for myself). A couple old (but new pieces to me) items round out the list. Enjoy!

ALSO: I will be out of town April 23rd through the 27th for the Denver spring show.

ODESSA, Texas: Coarse octahedrite (IAB). Found 1923.
It has been a long time since I picked much of this meteorite. I managed to get 5 pieces in Tucson this year. These were natural as found when I got them. I experimented with an air-blasting tool I got awhile ago to see if I could clean some of the dirt and caliche off of them. Personally, I think it worked great. The dirt is certainly gone as is most of the caliche (each of these still has some small patches, but just enough to act as a highlight). Best yet is that the baking soda left the “metal” surfaces alone so they are still a nice original mottled orange brown to chocolate brown color and have their original texture. These are also all ex UNM pieces and each has a UNM catalog number painted on them.
1) Individuals as found but lightly cleaned:
a) 632.4 grams - 70mm x 60mm x 45mm - $525
b) 928.2 grams - 80mm x 70mm x 40mm - $750
c) 1764.1 grams - 115mm x 85mm x 50mm - $1400

CALDWELL, Kansas: L-impact melt breccia. Found 1961. Tkw = 12.9 kilograms.
Here is one Steve and I tried for years to acquire. We were never successful, but he managed to pick it up from the estate after the original owner passed away many years later. I picked up a chunk he showed me to sell as he didn’t want to cut it (not surprising, it does have some cracks). Thankfully, I was smart enough to have someone who really knew what they were doing cut it. This material is not much to look at, unfortunately (mostly a mottled gray-green matrix with some brown veins cross cutting it and only a rare chondrule) but it is a really rare type. As of March 2015, only 28 meteorites of this type have been reported. Of these, only two, this one and Muckera (007), Australia are not Antarctic or Sahara Desert finds.
1) Part slices:
a) 4.4 grams - 23mm x 21mm x 3mm - $35
b) 8.8 grams - 40mm x 20mm x 3mm - $70
c) 17.2 grams - 50mm x 40mm x 4mm - $135
d) 32.5 grams - 70mm x 45mm x 4mm - $250
e) 63.5 grams - 100mm x 65mm x 4mm - $475
2) End piece:
a) 163.4 grams - 80mm x 70mm x 20mm - $1000

NWA 1955: Ordinary chondrite. (H/L 3-4). Found 2002. Tkw = 2 kilograms.
This strange meteorite has a chemistry that does not fit either H or L type classifications, but something in between (my Haxtun from years ago was like this but a type 4). I last had/ offered some of this in October 2007. Back then my info cards said that this was the only meteorite in the world classified as an H/L 3-4. From my checking today, it seems that this is still the case! Usually when something rare/ interesting turns up, extra effort is put into finding more. Indeed usually more turns up. In this case, I merely turned up more pieces from the original reported material. I don’t have a lot of this, so don’t wait if your collection needs a piece of this.
1) Cut fragments:
a) 1.0 grams - 15mm x 10mm x 3mm - $15
b) 2.1 grams - 19mm x 15mm x 4mm - $30
c) 4.6 grams - 30mm x 12mm x 11mm - $69

NWA 7900: Ordinary chondrite. (LL6), W2. Found before February 2013. Tkw = 899.4 grams.
This was a stone that many thought was a diogenite. Much of it had an obvious green color (other areas were a light orange) and it showed obvious darker angular clasts. My XRF said it was an LL however (higher iron, nickel and sulfur). Frankly, it does still look much like a diogenite on cut surfaces. It shows medium gray angular to rounded clasts in a matrix that varies from light green in some areas to a very light orange in others. The only thing that clearly gives this away as an LL visually is the presence of quite a lot of very tiny metal grains scattered throughout the specimen.
1) Slices:
a) 7.3 grams - 30mm x 18mm x 5mm - $30
b) 13.6 grams - 35mm x 30mm x 5mm - $54
c) 25.4 grams - 55mm x 38mm x 5mm - $100
d) 50.2 grams - 75mm x 65mm x 4mm - $190 – complete slice.
2) End pieces:
a) 62.9 grams - 68mm x 38mm x 18mm - $220
b) 270.8 grams - 75mm x 70mm x 35mm - $900 – Main mass.

NWA 6136: Carbonaceous chondrite (CO3.3). Found 2008. Tkw = 2670 grams.
Matt and I got this years ago. We got two individuals; one 406 grams that I have already sold and one 2264 grams that we cut up (much of which is already gone). I re-discovered my slices (less than 400 grams worth) and decided to finally offer them on a list as I hadn’t ever offered any this way and figured now would be a good time before I sell it all privately. This, not surprisingly, is a pretty typical CO3. It shows lots of really small chondrules (averaging only .15mm in diameter I think the research results said) in a medium to dark brown matrix.
1) Slices: all have “natural” edges.
a) 2.3 grams - 19mm x 18mm x 3mm - $21
b) 4.8 grams - 29mm x 22mm x 3mm - $43
c) 8.9 grams - 35mm x 25mm x 3mm - $80
d) 14.5 grams - 65mm x 17mm x 4mm - $130
e) 33.0 grams - 50mm x 45mm x 4mm - $290

NWA 8277: Lunar meteorite. Mingled breccia. Found 2013. Tkw = 773 grams.
A got (and sold) quite a bit of this during the Tucson show. I really thought it was “just” another anorthositic breccia. It sure looks like one! It has clasts of white feldspars and green-brown pyroxenes and olivines in a dark gray matrix. However, my XRF seemed to indicate that this was closer to a Lunar basalt (higher Fe, Cr, Ti) than an anorthositic breccia. The detailed research work indeed supports that suspicion. It turns out that this meteorite has several different lithologies in it (including anorthositic) but Mare basalt is a major component. Classic moon-rock look but unusual composition. Better yet, this is priced as cheap as the Lunar gabbro I had on the last list!!
1) Part slices:
a) .16 grams - 11mm x 5mm x 1mm - $80
b) .25 grams - 12mm x 8mm x 1mm - $125
c) .44 grams - 14mm x 12mm x 1mm - $220
d) .84 grams - 18mm x 12mm x 1.5mm - $380
e) 2.14 grams - 23mm x 22mm x 2mm - $900 – has 4mm gabbro clast.
f) 4.09 grams - 45mm x 25mm x 2mm - $1600

MASLYANINO, Russia: Fine octahedrite with silicates (IAB). Found May 25, 1992. Tkw = 26kg.
I know, this is an iron but I am putting it where I would normally put a stony-iron. Part of this is because I already have an iron for this list and part of it is because that is what I was told this was (a mesosiderite) when it was dropped off with me in Tucson. I didn’t open the package until after I left the show to discover the truth. Actually, this thing has enough silicates in it that it does look quite a bit like a mesosiderite at first glance. Cut surfaces show a lot of silicate and troilite clasts. Each of these pieces has been polished on one side and etched on the other. I have only the one large complete slice but 6 or so of the small part slices.
1) Slices: Polished on one side, etched on the other.
a) 11.5 grams - 25mm x 24mm x 3mm - $160
b) 246.7 grams - 190mm x 110mm x 2.5mm - $2800 beautiful and complete

JACK HILLS ZIRCON: Oldest crystals found on Earth (so far).
These are the last in my “ancient rocks” series offerings I have had on a few past lists. This material comes from the Jack Hills region of Western Australia. The rock in this case is not all that old (I say that a bit tongue in cheek) at around 3 billion years old. It is the zircons that this ancient sedimentary rock contains that are special. These zircons have been dated to have formed around 4.4billion (!) years ago. They weathered out of an earlier granite type rock that formed 4.4 billion years ago but then weathered away leaving the zircons it contained (zircon is very weather resistant) to get trapped in these “young” now metamorphosed sedimentary rocks.
Roughly 30mm x 20mm x 15mm fragment in plastic display (perky) box - $25

Please note:
The post office keeps increasing shipping rates (despite the government’s official claim is that there is no inflation). For small US orders $3 should still be fine for now. Larger orders are now $12 (insurance is extra if desired – I’ll look it up if you want it). The real increases came in overseas (or even Canada) shipping. These prices pretty much doubled from what they were a couple years ago. Now small overseas orders are around $9 (I’ll have to custom quote any larger items/ orders). Thankfully, it seems that the rate for registration (recommended on more valuable overseas orders) is still around $12.
I do have a new fax machine that seems to work (but I have to answer it and manually turn it on), so overseas people can contact me that way if they must However, for overseas orders, it probably is best to go ahead and use my brmeteorites@yahoo.com e-mail.