LARGE DECORATIVE STONE METEORITE NWA 11584

In terms of its weight, this meteorite is in the top 2% of all stone meteorites and, with an age of circa 4.56 billion years, it is older than Earth. This pentagonal form is covered in a variegated desert patina ranging from milk chocolate to charcoal. Metal flakes course throughout the olivine matrix and accent the sheared front face of this extraterrestrial primitive form. Smooth fusion crust and regmaglypts (thumbprints), both of which form as a meteorite undergoes frictional melting while burning through Earth’s atmosphere are in evidence on the reverse.
409 x 334 x 243mm. (16 x 13 x 9½in.)

56.93 kg (125lbs.)

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Lot Essay

The large stone meteorite now offered, NWA 11584 was found approximately 18 months ago in the Sahara Desert by Berber nomads and later sold to a Moroccan meteorite dealer. It is the 11,584th meteorite to be recovered from the North West African grid of the Sahara Desert to be analyzed and classified. The analysis was conducted by former NASA researcher and current director of the Institute of Meteoritics, Dr. Carl Agee.

Originating from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it is unclear whether the cleavage on the front face of NWA 11584 occurred as a result of the pressure experienced while plunging through the atmosphere on its descent, or as a result of a rough landing on Earth. Reflective metal flakes cover the front surface and the fine filigree of impact melt courses throughout—the result of a high-impact collision at cosmic velocity in interplanetary space. Providing contrasting character, fusion crust blankets much of the reverse.

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 catalog note.