This is an aesthetic and unusual shape for a large slice of this famous meteorite, with an interesting natural form and shape that gives it an almost organic feel. One can imagine this original metoerite section deformign in the heat and pressure of entering atmosphere. The Muonionalusta meteorite is a fine octahedrite iron meteorite whose debris field was discovered in northern Sweden in 1906. It is amongst the older meteorite "landings" found on Earth, estimated to have impacted around 1,000,000 BCE. The meteorite is known for its distinctive Widmanstätten pattern, a crystalline structure formed by the intergrowth of kamacite and taenite, two iron-nickel minerals. This pattern is on full and gorgeous display here, with the symmetry of the internal patterning contrasting sharply to the more organic and curved outer periphery rind. This slice is complete. It is one of 3 similar slices that were successfully cut without breaking: one kept by the dealer who sliced this chunk (Robert Sielecki of Melbourne); another now in the Earth Memory Meteorite Wonder Museum in Guilin, China; and the present piece. Easily mounted on a wall given its shape.
19 x 18 x ¹⁄₃ in. (48.5 x 46.0 x 1.0 cm.)
5.9 kg.