Of robust form with a rich mango patina draping the surface, highlighted accents to the ridges; the shape seen here is the product of a combination of variables including its composition, its shape upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, 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 sat in the Kalahari Desert.
19 x 11¹⁄₂ x 7in. (48.5 x 30 x 17.5cm.)
61kg. (135.7 lbs)

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Lot Essay

Like most iron meteorites, Gibeon meteorites formed 4.5 billion years ago within the molten core of an asteroid whose shattered remains are part of the asteroid belt. An impact event ejected what was to become the Gibeon mass into interplanetary space. Gibeon meteorites are the bounty bestowed to Earth thousands of years ago when the wandering iron mass slammed into the atmosphere before exploding and raining down in what is now the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. In previous generations, indigenous tribesmen recovered small meteorite fragments at or near the surface and fashioned them into spear points and other tools.

Originating from the core of an asteroid and shaped by forces both terrestrial and extraterrestrial, this deceptively massive piece from interplanetary space is the quintessence of an iron meteorite.