Meteorites just don’t seem to ever go out of style, and we’ve got a great selection of them made into jewelry, in pieces that are ready to set, and as mineral specimens. Many collectors have special favorites, and these are a few of ours:
Campo del Cielo refers to iron meteorites found outside Buenos Aires, Argentina. they are estimated to be between 4,000–5,000 years years old. The craters, containing iron masses, were reported in 1576, but were already well known to the aboriginal inhabitants of the area. The total weight of the pieces so far recovered exceeds 100 tonnes, making the meteorite the heaviest one ever recovered on Earth. The largest fragment, consisting of 37 tonnes, is the second heaviest single-piece meteorite recovered on Earth, after the Hoba meteorite.
Pallasites are a fairly rare type of stony-iron meteorite, with only 61 known sites and four “observed falls.” Discovered by (and consequently named for) Peter Pallas in 1772, who discovered a 680 kg mass of meteorite near Krasnoyarsk in the mountains of Siberia. The large olivine crystals, of gemstone variety peridot, are often called “volcanic bombs” of the Earth’s upper mantle. These peridot crystals make pallasites some of the most attractive and sought after meteorites by meteorite collectors. Significant finds have been found in Antarctica, China, Argentina, Russia, Belarus, Chile and Kansas in the U.S.
Sikhote-Alin is the name of the Siberian (Russian) Mountains where a huge meteorite was observed falling in 1947. This fall was incredibly exciting and unique in the history of meteorites and their observation because though large iron meteorite falls had been witnessed previously and fragments recovered, never before in recorded history had a fall of this magnitude been observed.An estimated 70 tons of material survived the fiery passage through the atmosphere and reached the Earth.
Canyon Diablo: 49,000 years ago an asteroid plunged into what would later be north-central Arizona in the U.S., creating the enormous Meteor Crater. Thousands of fragments of the meteorite were scattered over the area that came to be named Canyon Diablo after the nearby river gorge of that name. Canyon Diablo are among the most historically significant and collectible meteorites available. They’re made of nickel andiron with inclusions of graphite and other minerals, and are classified as Coarse Octahedrite Iron Meteorites. The smaller fragments show the effects of being torn apart by the tremendous crater-forming explosion. Thin sharp edges and twisted metal are typical features of the meteorites from Meteor Crater.