Similar to lots 2 and 47. At 10:30 A.M. on February 12, 1947 the largest meteorite shower since the dawn of civilization occurred. A fireball streaked over the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in eastern Siberia as it broke apart in the upper atmosphere. The main mass violently exploded at an altitude of only six kilometers. The shock wave, which was felt 300 kilometers away, collapsed chimneys, shattered windows and uprooted trees. The 33-kilometer-long swirling funnel-shaped smoke train left in the object’s wake lingered in the sky for hours. The snowy terrain was showered with more than 60 tons of material, many of the resulting meteorites produced impact craters as large as 26 meters—with nearly 200 craters having been catalogued in what was, fortunately, a largely uninhabited area. There are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: twisted shrapnel-like fragments (the result of the low altitude explosion) and the more highly desired smooth, gently scalloped specimens that resulted from a long solitary descent to Earth. This is an end piece of the latter variety.

Its signature coarse octahedral crystalline pattern is revealed to great effect. Bands of schreibersite are seen at both the top and lower margin — where a spherical nodule of troilite is also evident. (See lot 10 as it regards the importance of schreibersite.) The meteorite’s natural exterior surface is seen on the reverse. Like the other Sikhote-Alin meteorites in this offering, it too is covered with regmaglypts — the aerodynamic feature that resulted from surficial melting from frictional heating as the meteoroid punched through Earth’s upper atmosphere. Fusion crust is also evident as are large patches of the meteorite’s platinum-hued matrix. This is an impressive relic from one of the most historic meteorite events of all time: one of the largest meteorite showers since the dawn of civilization. Accompanied by a custom armature.

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.

119 x 107 x 54mm (4.66 x 4.25 x 2 in.) and 1401.2 grams (3 lbs)