Beschreibung:

Iron, fine octahedrite Gibeon, Great Nama Land, Namibia All iron meteorites, including this singular example, are part of the core of a planet that briefly existed between Mars and Jupiter whose remains comprise the asteroid belt. Several thousand years ago an errant iron mass slammed into Earth's upper atmosphere, exploding above the Kalahari Desert before raining down on what is now Namibia. The specimen offered here was located by local tribesmen with the aid of a metal detector, and is widely considered among the finest aesthetic iron meteorites known to exist. Providing a dramatic kinetic illusion, regmaglypts (the thumbprints created during the fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere) radiate in every direction away from a central vertical ridge. Large spherical scoops provide further animation asymmetric balance. Moreover, this specimen is a member of a rare class of meteorites—it is oriented—which is to say that unlike the vast majority of meteorites, it experienced a minimal amount of tumbling and inverting while descending through the atmosphere. Given its stable descent, one would expect the reverse to reveal a profoundly different surface character than the face burning through the atmosphere—and it does: it is largely flat with no aerodynamic markings whatsoever. There is a singular socket, the result of water collecting over a period of thousands of years into what was certainly a more a modest depression. Accompanied by a custom armature and pedestal, this matchless natural sculpture from outer space comes from the Macovich Collection—the finest collection of aesthetic iron meteorites in the world. 498 x 359 x 219mm (19.5 x 14.5 x 8.75 in) and 116 kilos (255 pounds).