FINE METEORITE END PIECE
Muonionalusta - Iron, fine (IVA) octahedrite
Kiruna, Norrbotten, Northern Sweden
Although no-one has so far located its impact crater, the Muonionalusta meteorite is believed to have fallen approximately 1 million years ago somewhere in the Arctic Circle, making it the oldest known meteorite on Earth; glacial action carried parts of the fall to northern Sweden where they were first recorded in 1906. This is an excellent end piece, with an almost right-angled corner, and covered on the outside with finely textured fusion crust, the swirling gun-metal patina enlivened by areas of dark orange rusting. The inside face has been etched with nitric acid to expose the uncanny lines of Widmanstätten patterning peculiar to octahedrite iron meteorites (and some pallasites). Furthermore, the shimmering silvery lattice is dramatically punctuated near one edge by a large 13/16 inch wide inclusion of dark metallic troilite with hints of a golden sheen. A fine, varied, and aesthetic specimen of a highly collectible meteorite, it measures approximately 6 3/8 x 6 1/2 x 1 inches and weighs 2694g.