Willamette Meteorite — Partial Slice From The Crown Of The Crown Jewel Of Meteorites

This is a partial slice from the most famous meteorite in the world. In the desire to reveal the singular recrystallized internal structure of the 15.5 ton Willamette meteorite — a centerpiece of the American Museum of Natural History — it was decided in 1997 to cut a 13-kilogram end piece from the crown section of the mass. The partial slice offered here was removed from that section. Willamette is the most massive meteorite found in the United States and, at 14.1 tons, the 6^th most massive in the world. Because it was found atop Earth’s surface, scientists believe it is a glacial erratic (i.e., it landed in Canada and was gently deposited in Oregon by a glacier in the last ice age). According to Clackamas Indian tradition, however, the meteorite was in the Willamette Valley since the beginning of time.

Ellis Hughes discovered the meteorite in 1902, on property adjoining his own, and moved it to his property where he charged an admission fee to the curious. One of his first customers was an attorney from Oregon Iron & Steel who noticed the path from which the meteorite had been dragged from his employer’s land. Oregon Iron & Steel sued for possession and a jury decided in their favor. While on exhibit at the World’s Fair, the meteorite was sold to Mrs. William Dodge, who shortly thereafter donated it to the American Museum of Natural History. The Willamette meteorite was the centerpiece of the Hayden Planetarium when it first opened, and more than 50 million people have seen or touched this meteorite while on exhibition for more than a century. Following a lawsuit to return the meteorite to Oregon in 2000 the American Museum of Natural History and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde signed an agreement to ensure the Grand Ronde’s access to the Willamette Meteorite for religious and cultural purposes while it remains at the Museum for scientific and educational purposes. While the act of cutting the meteorite in 1997 was not without controversy, the curator of the Macovich Collection, Darryl Pitt, noticed an anomaly and as a result he set into motion the scientific reclassification of the world's most famous meteorite by a team of researchers led by the world’s foremost expert in iron meteorites, Dr. John Wasson. In the agreement between the Museum and the Grand Ronde, it was decreed the main mass of the meteorite would never again be cut. This partial slice features Willamette’s signature recrystallized matrix. A rogue 10mm lamellae of taenite on one face is in evidence. There are two cut edges meeting at a 90° angle and three arcs of the meteorite’s external surface. A prestigious addition to any collection, the acquisition of a specimen from a centerpiece exhibit at a major museum is virtually unheard of and now offered is one such exception.

PROVENANCE: 

American Museum of Natural History, New York City

Macovich Collection of Meteorites, New York City; acquired from the above