Argentinian Campo del Cielo Meteorite Slab

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Fauna, Flora, Stone & Bones - Fall Edition

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 28, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-10-28 12:00:00 2021-10-28 12:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fauna, Flora, Stone & Bones - Fall Edition https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fauna-flora-stone-bones---fall-edition-7768
Join us for a very special early Fall auction featuring fabulous fossils, rocks, and minerals, plus art depicting flora and fauna from antiquity to present day. This is one sale you won't want to miss! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  South America, Argentina, Campo del Cielo, ca. 2700 to 2200 BCE. A fine, iron-rich slab from a sizable meteorite from the world-renowned impact site at Campo del Cielo (also Piguem Nonralta) in Argentina. This slab is polished and shows off the interesting interlacing banding and ribboning known as Widmanstatten patterns or Thomson structures and are naturally occurring fine layers of material. The shimmering piece is made of an iron-nickel alloy is known as kamacite; a 90% to 95% iron with a 5% to 10% nickel content. Kamacite is only found on earth via meteorites! The 22 plus craters from this 4,500-year-old collision with a giant space rock were discovered by Europeans around 1576 but were well known by the local inhabitants. When analyzed, it was estimated this meteorite itself might be 4.5 billion years old! In all, over 100 tons of meteorites have been recovered making this the largest meteorite field on record. Size: 5.35" L x 0.2" W x 8.35" H (13.6 cm x 0.5 cm x 21.2 cm)
  
  This meteorite also played an interesting role in human history. It provided iron to indigenous people in the region and the Spanish colonists in the area took notice. In 1576, the governor of the province of northern Argentina sent out a military search party to locate the source of the natives' iron weapons. However, it was not until the late 1700s that early natural scientists began to understand the true source of the iron. In 1783, Ruben de Celis used dynamite to clear the area around the craters and discovered that it was not a mine, as previously suspected, but was instead the remains of a single huge mass. Believing the source to be a volcanic eruption, he sent a sample to the Royal Society in London, where it was found to be 90% iron and 10% nickel and thus from a meteor.
  
  Provenance: private Hagar collection, Wildwood, Missouri, USA
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
  
  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #160032

  Condition

  Polished to show off the structures. Intact and a sizable piece!
• Shipping Info

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