Any Meteorite hunters here?

metalmeister

I would consider them precious metal even though they are iron/stone, stone or iron. Some sell for big bucks. I used to watch the Meteorite men show and loved it. What happened to it?

Jinx86

I had a customer bring one in last week. He was outside grilling and heard a thud on his roof and a ting sound in his rain gutter. He went up with a ladder a picked out a black rock. The spectrometer showed 30% Palladium 5% silver with the remainder mostly Iron.

metalmeister

Did it make the news cycle?

Jinx86

No it was just a little 5 gram thing. Is that news worthy?

Mission16

I don't hunt them but they are fascinating.
Used to have a couple of sliced iron ones.

Mission16

@Jinx86 said:
No it was just a little 5 gram thing. Is that news worthy?

I would think it would have some local interest.

mbogoman

I've got a few. I find them...fascinating! I've got a decent whole chunk of the Gibeon, plus two pieces of it that have been polished to show the Widmanstatten pattern (see below for examples, one looks like a Borg cube). Also a nice looking Sikhote-Alin pock-marked one that has the stereotypical meteorite look to it.

callawayc7

I don't hunt them but I do have(collect) a few. They are definitely cool!

Coulport

A coin dealer had 2 12/12 pans that were 2 inches deep with them. One was black & the other was rusty & the pieces weighed up to an ounce. He said they were from South America, Argentina I believe. They must have come down like rain. I bought some of both kind for my grandson.

ricko

I have never been lucky enough to find one... have looked for them.... Cheers, RickO

metalmeister

I am sorry. I should have posted this on the Metal detector forum. Anyway, looks like other folks collect them too. I found some in the desert. As soon as I have time to figure out a new photohub, as I am still numb from the photo bucket fiasco I will post some pics.

Awesome meteorite cube ! A nice 4 Billion+ year old paperweight .

PerryHall

@mbogoman said:
I've got a few. I find them...fascinating! I've got a decent whole chunk of the Gibeon, plus two pieces of it that have been polished to show the Widmanstatten pattern (see below for examples, one looks like a Borg cube). Also a nice looking Sikhote-Alin pock-marked one that has the stereotypical meteorite look to it.

Those are beautiful specimens. I live in a humid area so I have to ask how do you protect your meteorites from corroding? I'm guessing that cube is quite valuable and you want to protect your investment.

mbogoman

Certain meteorites are more stable than others. A lot of things play into it: age, metallic makeup-up, crust. I had a large chunk from one of the south American ones and one from Arizona in my small collection a few years ago and they both absorbed moisture easily and started rusting and flaking. I tried everything with them (sealed in Tupperware with a dessicant) but nothing seemed to work. I ended up selling the ones that could not handle living here (Escondido, north of San Diego and under marine influence). The more stable ones (Gibeon, Sikhote) haven't changed - they are just on a shelf for display or sealed in shadow boxes.

CCC2010

Where can one buy the Borg Cube? I love it!

mbogoman

@CCC2010 said:
Where can one buy the Borg Cube? I love it!

I got mine here: meteoritemarket.com/GNet.htm

It doesn't appear they have any currently. There are a couple small ones on Ebay, search for "Gibeon cube".
My cube weighs exactly 125g

ricko

Those cubes are impressive.... I would love to find a meteorite that was large enough to machine... something about personally finding the original that attracts me..... Cheers, RickO

mbogoman

Here is another site I have ordered from in the past. They've got a huge selection:

catchafallingstar.com/

1630Boston

They are interesting.....and expensive

metalmeister

expensive = precious metal ??

mbogoman

FWIW - They have gone up QUITE a bit since I purchased mine.

Holy cow! My 125g Gibeon cube that I paid $124.50 for in 2002 now sels for around $550-600; my solid 455g chunk of Gibeon, $220 in 2002, now goes for around $1500. I think that beats most other classes of collectibles over the same timespan!

callawayc7

@PerryHall said:
Those are beautiful specimens. I live in a humid area so I have to ask how do you protect your meteorites from corroding? I'm guessing that cube is quite valuable and you want to protect your investment.

I had an iron meteorite that started to rust. I just coated it with some gun oil (Hoppe's #9) and it has been stable for years now.

mbogoman

@callawayc7 said:

@PerryHall said:
Those are beautiful specimens. I live in a humid area so I have to ask how do you protect your meteorites from corroding? I'm guessing that cube is quite valuable and you want to protect your investment.

I had an iron meteorite that started to rust. I just coated it with some gun oil (Hoppe's #9) and it has been stable for years now.

I tried that on my Campo Cielo. Nothing worked. Sealed it in a tupperware box with dessicant packs, it continued to absorb moisture, rust and flake off.I ended up selling it to someone in a drier climate.