Resembling an asteroid in miniature, this meteorite has a surface covered with the tell-tale thumbprints that result from atmospheric frictional heating. Deceptively dense, this meteorite is pocketed with a russet patina with platinum highlights to the ridges. The meteorite specimen freestanding on its side.
15¹⁄₂ x 11 x 10¹⁄₂in. (39 x 28 x 26.5cm.)
66kg.

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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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Descriptif du lot

Thousands of years after landing on Earth, Campo del Cielo (“Valley of the Sky”) meteorites were first written about in 1576 by Spanish explorers in Argentina when their unearthly origins were not yet understood. It was a “Campo” that was the first large meteorite ever displayed in a major museum — the British Museum of Natural History — and several large Campo del Cielo masses can be found today in the finest museums in the world. Few, if any, possess as finely articulated regmaglypts (the flight markings acquired from burning through Earth’s atmosphere) as seen on the example now offered.

Campo del Cielo meteorites formed as the result of two asteroids colliding at cosmic velocity in interplanetary space. When a large fragment from one of these asteroids hit Earth’s upper atmosphere more than 4,000 years ago, the immense pressure exerted on the mass caused it to explode into thousands of pieces. The larger meteorites struck the ground at such a high velocity that an array of at least 26 impact craters formed, the largest a football field in diameter.

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Sculpted by Nature: Fossils, Minerals and Meteorites

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