ALLENDE — OLDEST MATTER KNOWN CONTAINED IN LARGE MASS

Allende is the most important and most thoroughly researched meteorite of all time. After the meteorite fell to Earth, scientists quickly found that this cosmic visitor contains minerals that formed at the earliest stage of Solar-System history. The white inclusions seen here, calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions or CAIs, are the oldest matter mankind can touch, dating back 4.567 billion years.

On 8 February 1969, just as geochemists around the world were fine-tuning their analytical equipment in preparation for the return of the first Apollo samples, a shower of meteoritic stones pelted Chihuahua, Mexico. The stones were gathered up by local residents who sold them to the hordes of scientists who had rushed in. Geochemical, petrological and isotopic analyses began almost immediately. Researchers found that the meteorites were part of one mass that had disintegrated high in the atmosphere. There are eight major groups of carbonaceous chondrites, each derived from a separate parent asteroid. The “CV” group, of which Allende is the most prominent member, possesses the largest chondrules and inclusions. Allende is the most researched meteorite material in the world and this is a superlative, fresh specimen with institutional provenance.

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 note.