Sikhote-Alin Meteorite

This meteorite originates from what has been among the most frightening natural phenomena ever experienced: one of the largest meteorite showers to occur over the past several thousand years. Descending over Siberia's Sikhote-Alin mountain range at 10:30 a.m. on February 12, 1947, the enormous Sikhote-Alin fireball resulted in more than sixty tons of iron meteorites raining down on Siberia at the eastern edge of the Asian continent. While impact craters were created and trees felled, no one was killed or injured as the epicenter of the impact was 60 kilometers from the nearest village.

There are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: the more sought-after specimens that broke free from the main mass in the upper atmosphere and which acquired the aerodynamic thumbprints known as "regmaglypts," and the jagged, shrapnel-like specimens that fragmented from the low-altitude explosion. This strikingly dense specimen is an example of the former, with the entire surface covered by regmaglypts and displaying the classic gunmetal patina for which Sikhote-Alin meteorites are so rightly prized.