Important Natural History Auction 2017-07-30
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/29/2017
LUNAR METEORITE ENDPIECE AND FLOWN GOLD KAPTON SWATCH
NWA 0001 - L6 (chondrite)
Lunar meteorites are amongst the rarest of all such missiles from outer space, with fewer than 45 examples known, totaling less than 20 kilograms on Earth. This piece is remarkable, therefore, and only more so in that it bears the distinction of being the first meteorite authenticated from northwest Africa, discovered in a mass of 1200 grams in northern Sudan in 1999. It is an anorthositic regolith breccia, blasted form the lunar highlands, with a good section of fusion crust and a number of white and gray mineral clasts embedded in a dark gray microcrystalline impact melt matrix, 3/4 inches wide and weighing approximately 2.002 grams; together with a 1 inch square of kapton foil from the command module of Apollo 11, a color photograph of the module, and a signed letter of provenance from NASA engineer W.R. Whipley, all presented in a 12 x 8 inch riker mount.
$3,500 - 4,500\n