Mesosiderite — B4; Luzon Island, the Philippines

The two endpieces cut and polished revealing veined silicate-rich surfaces. With Smithsonian collection number 2578 with original label from United States National Museum (Smithsonian) collection.

Found in 1956, Bondoc is the largest mesosiderite, a stony-iron meteorite known for its very large metallic nodules set in a silicate-rich matrix. Almost all resides in the Smithsonian and ASU collections. There are only four mesosiderites with the B4 designation, which reflects the abundance of minerals and the degree of recrystallization. Unlike pallasites, which formed at the boundary of the stony mantle and molten core of an asteroid that was later disrupted by a collision, the formation of mesosiderites is less well understood. One leading model is that this material formed when the semi-molten core of one asteroid collided with the solidified basalt-strewn surface of a larger asteroid.

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.
200 mm x 140 mm x 75 mm
1.66kg. & 1.597kg.

Acquired in exchange with USNM (Smithsonian) in 2009.

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