Show me your Meteorites

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by physics-fan3.14, Oct 17, 2019.

  1. physics-fan3.14

    physics-fan3.14 You got any more of them.... prooflikes?

    So, I recently purchased an actual meteorite from Heritage.

    However, while reading about meteorites, their history, and collecting of meteorites, I came across a bit of interesting info: apparently, there is a series of Roman coins which feature meteorites. These are from the emperor Elagabalus and show the "stone of Emesa", which many believe was a meteorite.

    So, in the interest of science, can you show me some examples of these coins? Or, are there other coins you have which depict meteorites, meteors, meteor showers, or similar cosmic events?

    Take a look at my meteorite, and teach me about coins with meteorites!

    meteorite 1.jpg
     
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  3. furryfrog02

    furryfrog02 Well-Known Member

    I have neither a meteorite nor one a coin depicting one. I have seen pictures of a Julius Caesar denarius with a comet on the reverse. Hoping some of these amazing CTers come through with some great coins :)
     
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  4. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    These are kinda cool. 4.5 Billion Years old for the Moon Rock
    [​IMG]

    and Mars is perhaps 4.6 Billion. However, with the volcanic activity, this piece may be between 3.5 - 4.6 Billion...
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Suarez

    Suarez Well-Known Member

    That does look really cool, have to admit!

    I once walked on the flattest, most featureless surface on the earth, the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, and saw little black rocks here and there contrasted against the stark white floor out there in the literal middle of nowhere. I wondered if they were meteorites. What else could they be?

    SDC10634.jpg

    Rasiel
     
  6. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    I had posted this in @Bing ’s Caesar’s Comet thread. I was amazed at the odd coincidence that this coin, last series struck within 2weeks of his assassination, has a STAR / Comet on the reverse. The 4 months later a comet appears and folks revered that it was from Caesar Divus.

    I captured this one because of it was minted during the last 2 weeks prior to Caesar's assassination. The symbol below the scepter is a STAR. Cool premonition prior to his death! Couple that up with the Seer's warning "Beware the EIde of Mar"!

    This Denarius was minted 4 months before the Star appeared in July, 44 BCE.
    [​IMG]
    Roman Imperatorial Era
    Julius Caesar Lifetime
    P Sepullius Macer AR Den
    1st 2 weeks-Mar 44 BCE 4.03g.
    CAESAR – DICT PERPETVO Veiled -
    Venus Victory sceptre star
    Syd 1074a Sear Imperators 107e Cr 480-14
    Rare

    Andrew Alföldi arranges Crawford 480 series coins in (44 BC) month order as follows:

    RRC 480/1, Buca - January
    RRC 480/2, DICT QVART - early February
    RRC 480/3/4/5, CAESAR IMP - late February
    RRC 480/6/7/8/9/10/11/12/13/14, DICT PERPETVO - early to mid March14
    RRC 480/17/18, CAESAR IMPER - late March
    RRC 480/19/20, PARENS PATRIAE - April
    RRC 480/15/16, MARIDIANVS - April
    RRC 480/21/22, CLEMENTIAE CAESARIS and Mark Antony - April
     
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  7. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
    Elagabalus ( image from CNG )

    This emperor was High priest of the sun- god Elagabalus in the city of Emesa. The cult of this god was represented by a sacred stone. He moved it from Emesa to Rome around 219 AD. Many historians and numismatist believe that the famous stone was in fact a METEORITE, a gift from the gods to the humans. You can notice on the reverse that the quadriga is bearing the stone of Emesa upon which is an eagle. The stone was shown every years in the streets of Rome.
     
  8. dadams

    dadams Well-Known Member

    Nice rock Jason! Can you give us an idea about how big it is? As to Elagabalus I’m hoping @TIF will be along soon.
     
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  9. physics-fan3.14

    physics-fan3.14 You got any more of them.... prooflikes?

    Oh, yeah! 2.7 x 2.2 x 1.1 inches (think about the size of a large egg). Weighs 289 grams.

    Small compared to museum showpieces, but this particular meteor apparently exploded in the atmosphere and there are thousands of tiny pieces. This is one of the larger of the small pieces.
     
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  10. Islander80-83

    Islander80-83 Well-Known Member

    Hey @Alegandron- Earth rock from my backyard, 4.543 billion years old. :hilarious:

    Screen Shot 2019-10-17 at 7.23.46 PM.png
     
  11. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

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  12. GoldFinger1969

    GoldFinger1969 Well-Known Member

    I am a member of one of the largest astronomy clubs in the country and our annual space & expo show featured The Meteorite Men for a few years when their TV show was still on. Nice guys....talked to them a ton and bought a meteor from their collection, too.

    I'll take a pic and show it.
     
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  13. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    Just looking at it, it seems to show signs of very high heat and even some melting perhaps. Is the entire thing that dark, almost black, all over?
    I see little spots of reddish/rust color which may indicate iron.
    There are some relatively smooth edges and some other very angular edges, which, why the differences on the same rock, I don't know the meaning of.
    In the manner of a river pebble, the action of the water rolling the rock 'round and 'round will smooth and soften the sharp edges, perhaps as this rock entered and traversed our atmosphere, it too, was tumbled and smoothed and softened by the heat and the action of the atmosphere passing over it, while, at the same time, leaving angular and somewhat sharp looking areas untouched, as if protected from the same forces that heated, smoothed and softened.

    I can't say for sure because I wasn't there, riding' it in ( ala Slim Pickens on the H bomb in the movie Dr. Strangelove)

    watch
     
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  14. rrdenarius

    rrdenarius non omnibus dormio Supporter

    elgab rock.jpg
    I would like a meteorite coin like the one CNG sold for the price of a nice truck.

    At the age of fourteen, Varius Avitus Bassianus (better known as Elagabalus or Heliogabalus) inherited the office of high priest of the sun god El-Gabal at Emesa in Syria. The deity was worshipped in the form of a sacred stone, and when Elagabalus was made emperor and journeyed from Emesa to Rome, he took the stone, probably a meteorite, with him.
     
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  15. GoldFinger1969

    GoldFinger1969 Well-Known Member

    Iron meterorites show these traits; stony meteorites do not and are more likely to melt into glass silica and/or break up and evaporate.
     
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  16. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Nice meteorite fragment, @physics-fan3.14!

    Here's one of my favorite collector websites and it has a page about coins with baetyls/meteorites/sacred stones:

    https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/baetyl_coins.html

    Hmm, I hadn't looked at it in a while and it has rekindled my desire for more of these types!

    Here's the coin @dadams's called out-- one of my favorites :) :

    [​IMG]
    Elagabalus
    AR denarius, 19.4 mm, 3.5 gm
    Antioch, 218-219 CE
    Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, Laureate draped cuirassed bust right
    Rev: SANCT DEO SOLI / ELAGABAL, Quadriga right, bearing sacred stone of El Gabal, flanked by four parasols
    Ref: RIC IV 195
    Vauctions 310, lot 250 (25 Sept 2014)
    ex CNG Mail Bid Sale 33, lot 914 (15 March 1995)

    https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-a-boy-and-his-stone.254886/

    Parts of the diorama from that writeup were destroyed by hurricanes in 2017 but I hope to get it set up again in the future (in the midst of moving now):

    [​IMG]

    ...


    My most recent meteorite acquisition: witnessed fall meteorite, February 15, 2013. Chelyabinsk, Russia. LL5 chondrite, 48.4 gm. Whole specimen with fusion crust.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]



    ...

    One of the most unusual classes of meteorites are the stone-irons (pallasites). They are particularly dramatic when sliced and polished. Olivine (peridot) from outer space... how cool is that?!! Here are two slices from the "best" such meteorite, the Esquel pallasite. I acquired these two slices from the person who owns the main mass, Bob Haag (known as The Meteorite Man, not to be confused with the later TV show "The Meteorite Men").

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]



    [​IMG]
    SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria. Emesa. Antoninus Pius
    AD 138-161
    Æ24, 12.06 gm, 11h
    Obv: Laureate head right
    Rev: Eagle, holding wreath in beak, standing right, head left, on baetyl of El Gabal
    Ref: SNG Copenhagen 309 (Γ in right field of rev.); SNG München 811 var. (Є in right field of rev.); BMC 1-7 (various letters on rev.)

    That beautiful coin belongs to @AncientJoe. His images are much better, of course :).
     
  17. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Sikhote-Alin shrapnel with some surviving remaglypts would be my guess. Did the seller ID it? Meteorite photos need to show all sides, like coins, for a good ID.
    [​IMG]
    Collecting meteorites has much in common with ancient coins. There are many varieties but not all are certainly understood. Some are common, some rare and some showing interesting and unusual variations that are not shown on all of their type. Some Sikhote-Alin, for example, are found in pieces that entered separately and have the thumbprints on the surface from ablation. Others broke up lower or on impact and look more rough/jagged. The one above seems to be an outside piece of a remaglypted piece that split showing one side of each type.

    Meteorite collectors are plagued with something akin to our 'bronze disease' that destroys their prized specimens. It is called 'rust'. Proper storage and treatment is required. Collectors favor pieces from known 'falls' preferably one observed in recent years. This is like our fondness for coins from known hoards. Meteorite collectors place a lot of importance on size as coin people prefer tetradrachms to obols. Some would rather have a nicely shaped meteorite with interesting characteristics but more are sold by the gram without regard to these fine points. This parallels the situation we have where some value 'fine style' and others just want mint state.

    Sikhote-Alin is like the owl of Athens. They are common and available in many variations. They do not rust badly. Many are very beautiful and interestingly shaped. The fall was witnessed and well studied. Some people sell some pieces for several times a reasonable number to people who do not specialize in the field. Some show better when cut in half so you can see the inside. (OK, that is a bit of a stretch!)
    [​IMG]


    They are my favorite. Yours is attractive.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2019
  18. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Some of the pallasites are notorious rusters (Seymchan and Brahin, for example). Some are noted for being more resistant (Esquel, for example). Prices reflect this.

    I've lost a couple of pallasites to rust. They were stored reasonably well but they fell apart anyway. All that was left was a bag of rust particles and chunks of olivine.

    Speaking of chunks of olivine from pallasites, there is a company who purposefully rusts the metal and saves the gemstone*. They facet the stones: peridot from space!! Super duper cool :). Much material is lost during faceting in normal circumstances. Finding suitable bits of olivine from pallasites is particularly difficult since most have fractures in the stone, so the resulting faceted gems are very small. Nonetheless, someday I'd like to have one.

    *I've forgotten their name and can't find them online. Palidot? Palladot? Not sure... maybe the company no longer exists. It is possible to find faceted pallasite olivine here and there though.
     
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  19. AncientJoe

    AncientJoe Well-Known Member

    As @TIF said, that is indeed my coin. I bought it after the auction when it was slabbed... needless to say, it isn't anymore ;) Here are my images:

    Emesa.jpg

    I wear a meteorite wedding ring but my favorite is this Campo del Cielo:

    Meteorite_zpsb08cbb65.jpg

    "This Campo del Cielo exhibits well-defined regmaglypts (the small thumbprint-like impressions in the fusion crust caused by frictional burning and melting as the meteorite plunges to Earth). A protuberance on one side evokes a human profile. Accompanied by an ebony display stand, this is a winsome example of a meteorite. 5.25 x 6.75 x 3.5 inches and 4.45 kg (9.8 pounds)."
     
  20. Johndakerftw

    Johndakerftw Mr. Rogers is My Hero

    Thank you for doing a thread on meteorites, @physics-fan3.14! Congrats on yours! They are so fascinating.

    You all have sweet pieces. I have a small piece of an unclassified meteorite. I'd like to get some more some day, especially a pallasite.

    Erin
     
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  21. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    Muonionalusta, formed from the molten core of a failed planetoid. It is estimated to be 15 million years older than the Earth.

    59F35389-06E2-4033-9C8B-5170166D2625.jpeg 57FE5F72-8D93-4024-ABDF-0B8CCB6617DF.jpeg
     
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