Nantan – A Spectacular, Massive Iron Meteorite

Weighing more than 1500 pounds, this is one of the largest meteorites available to the public and among the finest Nantan meteorites ever recovered. The Nantan meteorite shower took place in Guangxi Province, in southern China about 250 miles northeast of Hanoi). As a result of a written record of what clearly appears to be the documentation of a meteorite shower in 1516, it is believed this is when the Nantan event occurred, but it’s unclear whether Nantan meteorites are from the event chronicled. 

What is exceedingly clear, however, is that large iron meteorites are exceptionally rare. Only five meteorites weighing 1500 pounds or more have been recovered in the past twenty years. Given the recent surge in the popularity of meteorites, the limited supply of large meteorites cannot begin to meet the demand. On those rare occasions when such a meteorite becomes available, it is typically accessioned by an institutional collection.

Nantan meteorites possess an interesting history — extraterrestrial as well as terrestrial. Although most iron meteorites are liberated from cores of asteroids following a catastrophic collision with another asteroid, Nantan — and other meteorites classified as IAB irons —formed near the surface of a stony asteroid following an immense impact which then experienced a subsequent impact. If the specimen now offered was cut — which should never be the case — a robust medium-octahedral crystalline pattern would be in evidence that is not dissimilar from that seen in lot 114. 

Worthy of any museum collection — and most do not have a Nantan (or any meteorite) this size — this is a prestigious addition to any collection. This meteorite is accompanied by a custom armature and easily moveable base created by artisans who created displays New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. Now offered is an exceedingly rare extraterrestrial colossus originating from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.