Quartz Gem Tree on Amethyst Crystal Geode Section

Two highly polished translucent slices with brown and grey banding with quartz crystal formation inside, one resembling a 'smiley face'. 478 grams total, 16.1-17 cm



From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.

A magnificent polished cross-section from the Seymchan pallasite meteorite, revealing the honeycomb-like structure characteristic of pallasites, with translucent olivine crystals embedded within iron-nickel crystals; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 356 grams, 23.2 cm



Discovered in 1967, recovered from the bed of the river Hekandue in the Magadan District, Russia (62° 54’ N, 152° 26’ E).

The main mass of 272.3 kilograms was found during a survey in June 1967 by geologist F. A. Mednikov. The mass was a triangular-shaped thumb-printed meteorite lying among the stones of the brook bed. A second specimen of 51 kilograms was found with a mine detector at a distance of 20 meters from the first in October 1967 by I. H. Markov. During a new expedition in 2004, Dmitri Kachalin recovered about 50 kilograms of new material. Remarkably, about 20% of the new specimens were found to contain olivine crystals, and so revealed the silicate nature of the meteorite. The pallasitic structure was not previously discovered during studies on small metal-only sections of the original mass. The distortion of the Widmanstatten patterns is interpreted as shearing of the superheated meteorite as it broke up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Irregular geode matrix with purple amethyst crystals; the metal branches tipped with polished dark and light green aventurine quartz pebbles. 723 grams, 18 cm



From Brazil. Ex Mineral Imports, London, UK. Gregory, Bottley & Lloyd (Gregory's), Harwich, UK.