L5
Trujillo, Venezuela
Accompanied by a copy of the signed affidavit
Dimensions (height x width x depth): 1.6 x 1.4 x 0.2 in. (4.1 x 3.6 x 0.5 cm)
Weight: 0.1 lbs. (50 g)

On the evening of October 15, 1972 farmhands in Trujillo, Venezuela were startled by an inexplicable sonic boom. The next day a large, exotic rock was found alongside a cow’s carcass whose neck and shoulder had been pulverized. It was clear to the owner of the farm, physician Dr. Argimiro Gonzalez, what had occurred, but he didn’t think anything of it. Many years later scientists confirmed what Dr. Gonzalez had long presumed—the boulder was a meteorite. What Dr. Gonzalez didn't know was that this was the first and only documented fatal meteorite impact. When Dr. Ignacio Ferrin, an astronomer at the University of the Andes, learned of Valera, just one of three Venezuelan meteorites, he visited the Gonzalez estate and met a witness to the events described. This partial slice of Valera exhibits a multi-hued variegated matrix chock full of ‘chondrules’ (spherical inclusions of silica) and scattered metallic grains—attributes which are diagnostic in the identification of stone meteorites. A copy of the signed affidavit accompanies this offering. The piece measures 1.6 x 1.4 x 0.2 in. (height x width x depth) and weighs 0.1 pounds.