Allende is the most studied meteorite in the world. Thousands of scientific papers have been written about Allende and its components. Allende’s age is considered to be the age of our solar system as it contains the most primitive and oldest matter in our possession. This meteorite contains tiny pre-solar grains that formed in the gaseous envelopes around dying stars before our solar system was born 4.56 billion years ago. Also present in Allende are prominent white clasts, known as calcium-aluminum inclusions (CAIs), that are among the oldest known solids to have formed in the solar system — about 200 million years older than the oldest rock known on Earth.

Allende entered Earth’s atmosphere on February 8, 1969 at 1:05 AM near Chihuahua, Mexico. A brilliant fireball traveling to the northeast was visible for hundreds of miles. Several new minerals have been discovered in Allende including a titanium oxide named panguite after the ancient Chinese god Pan Gu, the creator of the world who separated yin from yang, the earth from the sky.

Allende fortuitously arrived on Earth just months before the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. Labs throughout the world were ready for analyzing Moon rocks — and Allende’s slightly earlier arrival resulted in it receiving the royal treatment in these same labs. Covered with broad patches of fusion crust, chondrules and CAI’s — the oldest matter mankind can touch — this is a choice specimen of Allende.

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.
69 x 73 x 52mm (2.75 x 3 x 2 in.) and 379 grams (0.75 lbs)

Collection of Dr. Elbert King (An architect and first curator of NASA’s Apollo Lunar Receiving Laboratory, Dr. King was responsible for curating the Moon rocks returned by Apollo astronauts.)
Philip C. Mani Collection of Meteorites, Fort Worth, TX