Large Complete Slice Of A Seymchan Meteorite — Extraterrestrial Gemstones In Natural Metallic Matrix

Pallasites represent less than 0.2% of all known meteorites and are widely considered the most beautiful extraterrestrial substance known. Like the vast majority of pallasitic meteorites, Seymchan originated from the mantle-core boundary of an asteroid that broke apart during early solar system history. Following pinball-like impacts, a portion was serendipitously bumped into an Earth-crossing orbit. 

The crystals seen here are the result of small chunks of the asteroid’s stony mantle becoming suspended in and crystallizing in the molten metal of its iron-nickel core. Cut and polished, the lustrous metallic matrix features silicate crystals of gleaming olivine and peridot (gem-quality olivine, also the birthstone of August) ranging in hues from emerald to amber. The prominent metallic latticework dominating the middle of the slice is referred to as a Widmanstätten Pattern (see lot 109). It is the result of a slow cooling that provided sufficient time — millions of years — for the two metallic alloys to orient into their crystalline habit. As the only place where this can happen is within differentiated asteroids, the vacuum of space (and theoretically within Earth’s own core), the appearance of this pattern is diagnostic in the identification of a meteorite. As the crystals are not homogenously scattered throughout the metallic matrix, Seymchan is referred to as a transitional pallasite, a much less common and more idiosyncratic presentation. Delimited by a rim of the meteorite’s external surface, crystal aggregates are suspended in a marvelous lattice in this superb example — a large format slice that strikingly evokes the extraterrestrial catch of the day. 

PROVENANCE:

Macovich Collection of Meteorites, NYC