Less than 0.2% of all meteorites are pallasites, the most beautiful extraterrestrial substance known. Pallasites are formed at the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid that underwent a mixing of the core’s molten metal with stony olivine from the mantle. The result of olivine crystals suspended in an iron-nickel matrix is enchanting. As seen in this sphere, Seymchan also contains gem-quality olivine otherwise known as peridot (the birthstone of August). Recovered in Siberia, this wondrous three-dimensional presentation reveals aspects that are impossible to see on a flat surface. It appears the olivine is suspended or floating in a metallic sea—an image not far afield from the actual case of its parent asteroid adrift in the void of interplanetary space. Originating from a larger Seymchan mass, this machined sphere underwent a number of stages of grinding and polishing in a sphere-making apparatus in what is truly an alluring extraterrestrial crystal ball.

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.