Details
Wrapped in a pewter-hued patina with charcoal accents and chrome highlights. Smoothly elevated striations evidence the mechanics of how this meteorite was torn apart, one jagged line bisects the front face.
414 x 314 x 112in. (11 x 8 x 4cm.)
565g.
Special notice
Specified lots are being stored at Crozier Park Royal (details below) or will be removed from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London, SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. If the lot has been transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier 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, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm
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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Lot Essay

This meteorite originates from the largest meteorite shower of the last several thousand years. Its journey began 320 million years ago, when a giant iron mass broke off from its parent body in the asteroid belt and wandered through space until it encountered Earth on 12 February 1947. Upon slamming into the atmosphere it began to break apart and created a fireball brighter than the Sun as it sailed over Siberia’s Sikhote-Alin Mountains. The shockwaves from the low altitude explosion of the main mass collapsed chimneys, shattered windows and uprooted trees. Sonic booms were heard more than 300 kilometers away and a 33-kilometer long smoke trail persisted in the sky for several hours. Many of the resulting meteorites produced impact craters as large as 26 meters —with nearly 200 craters having been catalogued. A famous painting of the event by artist and eye-witness P. I. Medvedev was reproduced as a postage stamp issued by the Soviet government in 1957 to commemorate what many likened to what was seemingly the end of the world. There are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: the gently scalloped specimens that broke free of the main mass upon in the upper atmosphere and acquired the aerodynamic thumb prints known as “regmaglypts,” and the jagged and twisted shrapnel-like specimens which resulted from the aforementioned low-altitude explosion of the main mass. Most Sikhote-Alin shrapnel meteorites are not aesthetic. The specimen now offered is a notable exception.

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