Beschreibung:

Details
Pallasites, named for the 18th Century geologist Peter Pallas, are widely considered the most beautiful extraterrestrial substance known. Pallasites from the Admire event are readily identified by large polycrystalline areas that cleaved into highly angular shards — the result of a collision on its parent asteroid. (For other crystal presentations see lots 4, 35 and 58). While meteorites are among the rarest substances on Earth — all the world’s meteorites weigh less than the world’s annual output of gold — pallasites represent only 0.2% of all known meteorites. Pallasites formed at the mantle/core boundary of an asteroid when the mantle’s stony olivine crystallized and drifted downward, mingling at the boundary with its molten metallic core. As a result of the parent asteroid having shattered following a collision with another asteroid, its interior was liberated and a small bit found its way to Earth. Gem-quality olivine or peridot (the August birthstone) is found in some pallasites including the current offering.
The first two masses of Admire were discovered while plowing a field in Lyon County, Kansas in 1881. More than a century later, enterprising meteorite hunters returned to the site, and after more plowing (with the use of a metal detector), additional samples of Admire were recovered.
This complete slice of an Admire meteorite is delimited by the meteorite’s external surface. Suspended in the polished metallic matrix of the parent asteroid’s iron core, angular, extraterrestrial crystals of olivine and peridot of all sizes provide a superior example of Admire’s olivine signature. 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.
311 x 172 x 3mm (12.25 x 6.75 x 0.1 in) and 522.9 grams (1 lb)