Pallasites are not only rare, representing less than 0.2% of all known meteorites, they are also widely considered the most beautiful of meteorites. Like all pallasitic meteorites, Seymchan originated from the core-mantle 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 stony mantle becoming suspended in the molten metal of an asteroid’s iron-nickel core. Cut and polished, the lustrous metallic matrix features crystals of gleaming olivine and peridot (gem-quality olivine) ranging in hues from emerald to amber.

The prominent latticework referred to as a Widmanstätten pattern is indicative of a slow cooling rate that provided sufficient time — millions of years — for the two metallic alloys to orient into their crystalline structure. The pattern seen is diagnostic in the identification of an iron meteorite. It was in the 1960s that the first masses of Seymchan were found in a streambed in a part of Siberia made infamous as the remote location of Stalin’s gulags. Identified as meteorites, they were named Seymchan for a nearby town. Unlike most pallasites, the dispersion of olivine crystals in Seymchan is extremely heterogeneous. Some specimens are olivine rich and some are olivine poor; some specimens have no olivine whatsoever.

The example seen here boasts an aesthetic array of olivine and its gem-quality counterpart, peridot, the birthstone of August.