Large Complete Slice of Imilac Meteorite with Extraterrestrial Peridot

Pallasites are widely considered the most beautiful meteorites, and Imilac is among the most coveted. Like all pallasitic meteorites, Imilac originated from the mantle-core boundary of an asteroid that broke apart during the early history of our solar system. The crystals seen here are the result of small chunks of the lower regions of the stony mantle becoming suspended in molten metal near the top of the asteroid’s iron-nickel core. Cut and polished to a mirror finish, the lustrous metallic matrix features crystals of gleaming olivine and peridot (gem-quality olivine crystals) ranging in hues from emerald to amber. A few pallasites contain peridot and such is the case with the current offering. The pallasite designation for this meteorite class is in honor of the German scientist, Peter Simon Pallas, who while travelling through Siberia, examined the first pallasitic mass in the early 1770s; it had been discovered more than two decades earlier (in 1749) by a local blacksmith who had moved it to his workshop. This is an honor Pallas is most fortunate to have received, for he fervently believed that the unusual specimen he found could not possibly have come from outer space.

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.