A large sphere with an unusual profusion of extraterrestrial peridot (birthstone of August). The most beautiful extraterrestrial substances known are pallasites — which represent 0.2% of all known meteorites because they form in a narrow boundary between the mantle and molten core of an asteroid. At this boundary olivine from the mantle comingles with and becomes suspended in the core’s molten metal. This specimen also contains gem-quality olivine known as peridot (birthstone of August).

For this interior material to be accessible, the parent asteroid had to shatter following an impact with another asteroid — a small bit of which was bumped into an Earth crossing orbit. The first Seymchan meteorites were found in 1967 near a streambed in the Magadan district of Siberia — the location of Stalin’s infamous gulags. Decades later, enterprising meteorite hunters returned to the site; upon hearing of their successful recoveries, ever larger teams arrived. Finally, the Seymchan strewn field, which had provided so much of the pallasitic material to the marketplace over the past two decades, became depleted. A large search team recently visited the remote site and returned nearly empty-handed.

Given the amount of material lost during cutting, grinding and polishing, to render a sphere of this size requires a mass that is at least twice the mass of the final sphere. The result is the wondrous three-dimensional presentation now seen, revealing aspects of structure impossible to see in a flat two-dimensional slab. This sphere also features inclusions of chromite and schreibersite. Many researchers believe schreibersite was a significant source of the phosphorus — delivered to Earth billions of years ago via asteroid impacts — that helped facilitate the origin of life.

The crystals of this olivine- and peridot-rich specimen appear to be afloat in a metallic sea — an evocation not far afield from the actual case of its parent asteroid having been adrift in the void of interplanetary space. Older than Earth, now offered is an exceedingly large and distinguished extraterrestrial crystal ball.

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.

129mm (5 in.) in diameter and 5.031 kg (11 lbs)