Crystal and Mineral Display Specimen Collection

An irregular, uncut specimen. 2.72 grams, 15 mm



Found Carancas, Chucuito, Puno, Peru. Ex Aerolite Meteorites. From the private collection of a Leicestershire, UK, gentleman. Accompanied by an Aerolite Meteorites dealer card, photograph of the impact crater, and set in a Swiss membrane box.

In the afternoon of September 15 2007, at 4.45pm UTC, the small town of Carancas in Provincia Chucuito, Peru, was shaken by an enormous detonation. Eye witnesses described a smoke trail that had descended from the sky and had exploded on contact with the ground, breaking windows and the debris causing damage on the buildings. A mushroom-shaped explosion cloud was seen rising from the impact site and was visible for several minutes above the 13.8 meter crater.

A coarse octahedrite class IIB iron meteorite; cleaned and conserved. 9.76 grams, 25 mm



Acquired from the British Gemmological Institute, London, UK. Property of a Lancashire, UK, private collector. Accompanied by a British Gemmological Institute, London, UK, plastic identification card, and a Gems TV authenticity and information card/booklet.

Sikhote-Alin is an iron meteorite that fell on February, 13, 1947 on the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in eastern Siberia. Though large iron meteorite falls had been witnessed previously and fragments recovered, never before in recorded history had a fall of this magnitude been observed. An estimated 70 tonnes of material survived the fiery passage through the atmosphere and reached the Earth. The strewn field for this meteorite covered an elliptical area of about 1.3 km2 (0.50 sq mi). Some of the fragments made impact craters, the largest of which was about 26 m (85 ft) across and 6 m (20 ft) deep. Fragments of the meteorite were also driven into the surrounding trees. The Soviet Union issued a stamp for the 10th anniversary of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite shower and this reproduces a painting by P. J. Medvedev, a Soviet artist who witnessed the fall: he was sitting in his window starting a sketch when the fireball appeared, so he immediately began drawing what he saw.

On a matrix and showing parts of the distinctive bullhorn-shaped genal spines; rare. 68.9 grams, 58 mm



From Russia. From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent.