11 - Extremely Rare Iron “Gibeon” Meteorite

Extremely Rare Iron “Gibeon” Meteorite Draped in a variegated gun metal-hued patina with ochre accents, the final form seen here is the product of a combination of variables including its composition, its shape upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the chemistry of the soil in which it landed, its orientation in the ground, the amount of groundwater to which it was exposed — and the amount of time it sat in the Kalahari Desert. Originating from the core of an asteroid and shaped by forces both terrestrial and extraterrestrial, this deceptively massive conversation piece from interplanetary space enthralls from multiple perspectives and is the quintessence of an iron meteorite. Weight: ca. 102 kilo. LOCATION: Africa, Namibia, Gibeon; Great Nama Land, Kalahari Desert (25°23' S, 17°47' E) Size: ca. 36 x 34 x 24 cm. PROVENANCE: Germany Private Collection. This iron Gibeon meteorite, comes with a certificate of meteorite identification from the University of Alberta and is signed by dr. Christopher Herd, professor and curator of the University of Alberta Meteorite Collection. NOTE: It was an impact event between two asteroids that ejected what were to become Gibeon meteorites into interplanetary space, a journey that ended when the wandering mass plunged through Earth’s atmosphere before exploding and slamming into what is now the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. In previous generations, indigenous tribesmen recovered small meteorite shards at or near the surface and fashioned them into spear points and other tools. Most iron meteorites display a metallic iron-nickel latticework, known as a Widmanstätten pattern.