Lot Description:
Wrapped in a charcoal-hued patina with chrome highlights the natural surface texture in evidence is the result of the cataclysmic low-altitude explosion in which this meteorite was shorn apart from a along crystalline planes clearly in evidence. Composed of approximately 93% iron and 6% nickel and a variety of trace elements, this angular specimen originated from the core of an asteroid. Smooth striations embellish the irregular crystalline grains which provide an abstract surface texture. Aerodynamic features on one face of this meteorite indicate that it was at the surface of the parent body as it penetrated Earth’s atmosphere. A prominent gash penetrates the center of the mass providing animation to the form and is testament to the massive force of the explosion from which it originates. Evoking the surface character of a de Kooning sculpture, this otherworldly conversation piece is a select meteorite from the largest meteorite shower to occur since the dawn of civilization.
152 x 252 x 129mm (6 x 10 x 5 in.)
8.119kg (17.75 lbs)

Provenance: Macovich Collection of Meteorites, New York City

After breaking off its parent asteroid between Mars and Jupiter 320 million years ago, a massive iron mass wandered through interplanetary space until Earth was encountered on February 12, 1947. An enormous fireball streaked across the Sikhote Alin Mountains in eastern Siberia. The main mass exploded at an altitude of just 6 km above Earth’s surface. Sonic booms were heard at distances up to 300 km from the point of impact. Chimneys collapsed, windows shattered and trees were uprooted. A 33-km-long smoke trail persisted for several hours. Iron fragments were scattered over a broad elliptical area. Many of the meteorites penetrated the soil, producing impact craters up to 26 meters across and approximately 200 such depressions have been catalogued. A famous painting of the event by artist and eye-witness P. I. Medvedev was reproduced as a postage stamp issued by the Soviet government in 1957 to commemorate what many witnesses thought was the end of the world. There are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: jagged and twisted specimens that resulted from the aforementioned low-altitude explosion of the main mass, and smooth gently scalloped specimens that broke free of the main mass at a much higher altitude which provided the opportunity to experience sculptural frictional heating in the atmosphere resulting in the formation of the aerodynamic thumbprints known as “regmaglypts” (see lot 11). This is a massive, superlative example of the jagged variety — an extraordinary artifact that is 4.5 billions years old and from the largest meteorite shower of the modern era.


Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue.