Details
Large fragment showing both the fresh black fusion crust melted during the fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere, with old collection label from the Lafayette College Mineral Collection, Pennsylvania, specimen number M242. This is a pedigreed piece of an historic American meteorite fall.

The Holbrook meteorite fell near the Aztec train station, six miles east of the town of Holbrook, Arizona. Witnesses saw a spectacular fireball traveling west to east, passing over Flagstaff and Winslow, detonating high above Holbrook around 6:10 pm. A family living at the train station reported that “stones were raining from the sky” and nearly the entire population of Holbrook rushed to the site to collect meteorites. An estimated 100,000 stones fell. Most were tiny, weighing from a few milligrams to several kilograms. Small stones are the norm, larger stones are rare. Ward’s Scientific, an American scientific supply company, bought most of the stones from this major fall and sold them to universities, museums, and collectors worldwide. Holbrook is one of the most well-distributed meteorites in history. There is hardly a collection in existence without examples of this historic meteorite.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue.
80 mm x 70 mm x 70 mm
430g.
Provenance
Lafayette College Mineral Collection, Pennsylvania
Special notice
This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.
This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.
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