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Details
LOT 2305
Natural History - Nantan Iron Meteorite
FELL 1516 A.D., DISCOVERED 1958 A.D.
1 7/8 in. (36 grams, 48 mm).
A nickel iron meteorite (111CD) with a composition of 92.35% iron and 6.96% nickel. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired from Steve Arnold, co-star of 'Meteorite Men'.
Ian Wilkinson collection, Nottinghamshire, U.K.
Accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity card from Steve Arnold and a copy of the sales listing.
Footnotes
The Nantan meteorite fell in 1516, as recorded in ancient Chinese texts; the fall exploded during descent which resulted in a shower of many individual iron meteorites over an area some 28km x 8km in Nantan County, Guangxi, China. Classified as an iron meteorite; 111CD Course Octohedrite, the composition is approximately 92% iron, 6% nickel and contains more than ten other minerals including kamacite, taenite, dominate, plessite, schreibersite, triolite, graphite and others.
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A crater field of roughly 26 craters was found in the vicinity of this crater, which is estimated to date to 4-5 thousand years BP. The age of the meteorite itself is thought to be c.4.5 billion years, formed as part of the development of this solar system. The largest two fragments, the 30.8 ton Gancedo and 28.8 ton El Chaco, are among the heaviest meteorite masses ever recovered on Earth. In 1576, the governor of a province in Northern Argentina commissioned the military to search for a large mass of iron, which it was believed the local people claimed had fallen from the sky and which they used for their weapon production. The expedition discovered a large mass of metal which was assumed to be an iron mine and brought back a few samples, which were described as being of unusual purity. Following the legends, in 1774 Don Bartolomé Francisco de Maguna rediscovered the iron mass. He himself did not believe that the stone had fallen from the sky and assumed that it had formed by a volcanic eruption. However, he sent the samples to the Royal Society of London. In 1990 it became protected by law.
