Complete Slice Of the Imilac Main Mass With Gems From Outer Space

Now offered is a most distinguished meteorite; one of the largest slices of what is among the most sought after meteorites which contain extraterrestrial gemstones. When reporting on the sale of the adjacent slice to the current offering, said NPR’s Scott Simon (recipient of every major broadcast journalism award), “And who said baseball isn’t the universal sport?”

In the 1990s an American meteorite dealer had the opportunity to view the meteorites not on display at London’s Natural History Museum (formerly The British Museum of Natural History). Included among them was the main mass (i.e., the largest single piece) of the historic Imilac pallasite. He realized if the meteorite were to be cut in the middle, any resulting slices from the midsection would bear an uncanny semblance to the shape and dimensions of baseball’s home plate. The Museum decided to cut the meteorite to bedazzle the public — and to provide modest slabs to two dealers in exchange for their having provided the Museum with exotic specimens of the Moon and Mars. Now offered is one of the 11 renowned Imilac plates.

Containing extraterrestrial semi-precious gemstones, pallasites are widely considered the most beautiful meteorite known, and Imilac is among the most coveted. What makes this specimen more still is that it originates from the Imilac main mass — now on display at The Natural History Museum.

Pallasites are also exceedingly rare; less than 0.2% of all meteorites are pallasites. Like nearly all pallasitic meteorites, Imilac originated from the mantle-core boundary of an asteroid that broke apart during the early history of our solar system and it was recovered from the Atacama Desert atop the Andes, the highest desert on Earth. The crystals seen here are the result of small chunks of the asteroid’s stony mantle becoming suspended in the molten metal of the asteroid’s iron-nickel core. Cut and polished, the lustrous metallic matrix features translucent crystals of gleaming olivine and peridot (gem-quality olivine and the birthstone of August) ranging in emerald to amber hues. A few of the olivine crystals are iridescent. The meteorite’s exterior rim is composed of a thin band of molten olivine and metal — the result of frictional heating in Earth’s atmosphere following its billions-of-years sojourn through the solar system.

Now offered is a widely celebrated pallasite specimen of the most exquisite extraterrestrial substance known. 

PROVENANCE:

The Natural History Museum, London

Macovich Collection, New York City, acquired from the above