GLORIETA MOUNTAIN — SUPERB SLICE OF A DISTINGUISHED ANOMALOUS METEORITE 
Stony-Iron – PAL-ANOM
Glorieta Mountain, New Mexico

This is an exquisite, nearly complete slice of a legendary American meteorite. It was in 1965 that the renowned "Father of Meteoritics," Dr. H.H. Nininger befriended a teenaged Steve Schoner and first told him of the meteorites found in the Glorieta Mountain, New Mexico area. Schoner's subsequent recovery of tiny pallasitic fragments fueled his belief in the existence of a larger mass, which prompted Schoner to make dozens of trips to the rugged environs of Glorieta Mountain. While some experts believed the large mass Schoner searched for did not exist, for Mr. Schoner and most meteorite enthusiasts, the fabled main mass of the Glorieta Mountain pallasite was an extraterrestrial Holy Grail. After seventy searches of two to three weeks each over a period of fifteen years, Schoner's efforts paid off. A 20-kilogram mass was discovered from which this gorgeous slice was removed. As a result of the material lost from cutting, grinding and polishing, only 11 kilograms of fine specimens from this historic meteorite exist—fully half of which is now in the world’s finest museums. While pallasites are extremely rare, Glorieta Mountain is rarer still: it is chemically and morphologically anomalous and occupies its own sub-class. This specimen contains a liberal amount of dark grey troilite (iron sulfide)—a signature of this pallasite. Also featured is an aggregate of olivine at the left margin which is interlaced by a fine filigree of nickel-iron. This slice has a Macovich Collection provenance—and is among the last slices controlled by the Collection which purchased the entire mass from Mr. Schoner. On October 28, 2007 a complete slice of Glorieta Mountain sold at auction for $82,750. The lot offered here measures 139 x 92 x 2mm (5.5 x 3.5 x 0.1 inches) and weighs 90.9 grams.

Estimate: $3,250 – 4,500