2448

Admire Meteorite Full Slice and Faceted Extraterrestrial Gemstone

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:5,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Admire Meteorite Full Slice and Faceted Extraterrestrial Gemstone

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2020 Jul 16 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Lot of two items, which includes a pallasite meteorite, PMG. Admire, Kansas, first known 1881. Exquisite, olivine-rich laboratory-prepared complete slice weighing 420.0 grams and measuring 205 mm x 187 mm x 4 mm, and an authentic palladot extraterrestrial gem-quality faceted stone weighing 0.17 carats and measuring 3.5 mm x 2.1 mm. Like Brenham [SEE LOT 2447] the Admire pallasite is from Kansas. Also, like Brenham, the strewnfield has produced numerous impressive large masses and, again like Brenham, it was prominently featured on the television series Meteorite Men. Extraordinary discoveries were made at Admire during filming, which resulted in the location being referred to as “The Secret Alpha Site” as well as appearances in all three seasons of Meteorite Men—the only site to be so well represented [E101 “Pilot”; E201 “Alpha Gemstones”; E 307 “Homestead”].

From the above, you assume that Kansas is something of a hot spot for meteorites...and, in a sense, you’d be correct. It’s not that more meteorites have fallen in the Midwest, per se. Meteorites fall randomly across the surface of our planet and could land anywhere, but the scarcity of indigenous stones in the fertile Kansas soil, combined with the intense farming that has gone on there for generations have contributed to repeated major meteorite finds.

The Meteorite Men found several very large masses at Admire. The most impressive, weighing in at 223 pounds, has been preserved intact and is frequently exhibited at gem shows and museums around the country. Some of the other masses were cut into slices and when prepared examples were taken to the Center for Meteorite Studies at ASU, Tempe, a remarkable discovery was made: the olivine (peridot) crystals in Admire did not have the expected shock features. Crystals that are shocked have experienced a massive trauma in their past that results in fractures forming—a bit like a crack in a windshield. In the case of pallasite crystals, that trauma probably took place on the parent body, millions of years ago, and was, perhaps, the result of a very large meteorite impact or the collision of another asteroid.

Pure olivine is the gemstone peridot and pallasites are rich in peridot. In other words, gemstones from space. There has long been a dream to cut and polish extraterrestrial peridot into faceted jewelry-grade gemstones, but executing such a dream proved nearly impossible until the Meteorite Men’s discoveries. As noted above, out of nearly 64,000 officially recognized meteorites, there are only 130 pallasites. Of those 130 pallasites, it was long believed that only one, Esquel found in Argentina in 1951, had unshocked crystals. Shocked crystals do not lend themselves to faceting, in much the same way that you can’t read your smartphone messages well when the glass is cracked. Only one large mass of Esquel is known to exist. It is a very costly meteorite and Esquel’s availability has long been controlled by its owner. As such, the cost of acquiring raw material and fashioning Esquel into gemstones would be astronomical. Then came the Admire discovery.

There is considerably more Admire in total than there is Esquel, and some of the masses found by the Meteorite Men were cracked or weathered, which meant that they had only moderate value to collectors. And so a decision was made to extract some crystals for study and, possibly, faceting. This involved soaking Admire masses in acid baths for long periods of time, then draining, washing and sorting the crystals by hand. At which time another, and less exciting discovery was made: Only about 1 in 100 of the resulting crystals were suitable for faceting.

So to recap: 64,000 meteorites have produced only 130 pallasites, of which two have unshocked crystals and only one of those has sufficient availability; and, finally, out of end-product rough gems, a tiny 1% can be processed into finished gems. All of which makes Admire peridot space gems one of the rarest materials in existence. Emeralds seem commonplace in comparison. The resulting Admire peridot has been studied by meteoriticists and gemologists and officially recognized as a new gemstone, with the name palladot.

This lot consists of a beautiful and partially translucent full slice of the Admire pallasite, exactingly cut, polished, and stabilized by one of the foremost meteorite preparation experts in the world. Note the difference between Admire and Brenham [SEE LOT 2447]: while Brenham shows diminutive, bean-shaped crystals of consistent size and shape, Admire presents a cornucopia of richly-colored, angular crystals of widely differing dimensions and forms. When held up to the light, it appears almost as an otherworldly piece of stained glass art. Both the slice and the faceted gemstone were taken from masses personally found by the Meteorite Men and are accompanied by signed certificates of authenticity.