Like the vast majority of iron meteorites, Gibeon meteorites formed 4.5 billion years ago and were part of the molten core of an asteroid that resided between Jupiter and Mars. A second asteroid slammed into the Gibeon parent body and shattered it. Gibeon’s journey through interplanetary space ended thousands of years ago when one of the large fragments slammed into Earth’s atmosphere, exploded and rained down onto what is now the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. Long ago indigenous tribesmen recovered small, metallic shards of the meteorite and fashioned them into spear points and other tools. The specimen now offered was recovered with the aid of a metal detector in 1991.

This meteorite’s shape is the result of terrestrial and extraterrestrial forces. Variables include its shape upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, its angle of entry into the atmosphere, its chemical composition, its interaction with the chemistry of the soil in which it landed, its orientation in the ground, the amount of groundwater to which it was exposed and the amount of time it remained in the ground before its recovery.

Much of the surficial scalloping occurred during the meteorite’s fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere. The clean angular edges are the result of this meteorite having naturally cleaved along its crystalline planes. The scoop-like hollowing at the specimen’s center is also due to terrestrialization i.e., the result of a meteorite’s exposure to Earth’s elements from the time of its arrival to its recovery — in this instance about 10,000 years. Draped in a platinum-hued patina and originating from the core of an asteroid, this uniquely engaging sculptural form evokes an ancient, broken millstone.

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.
141 x 211 x 53mm (5.5 x 8.33 x 2 in.) and 4.33 kilograms (9.5 lbs)

The Macovich Collection of Meteorites, New York City