SIKHOTE ALIN METEORITE
SIBERIA, 4.54 BILLION YEARS B.P.
African & Oceanic Art, Natural History and Ancient Art
Auction: 30 July 2025 from 14:00 BST
Description
displaying a gunmetal patina, displaying profuse regmaglypts, the form sculpted by the intense heat and melting during its atmospheric entry
Dimensions
223g
Footnote
The Sikhote Alin shower was the largest meteorite shower of the last several thousand years. The meteorite is considered to have broken off from a larger mass in the asteroid belt around 300 million years ago, before beginning its slow journey towards Earth. The present example fell to Earth over eastern Siberia on the 12th February 1947 as part of that famous event. Many of the eyewitnesses at the time thought the world was ending; a smoke trail streaked across the sky, shockwaves from the explosion shattered windows and uprooted trees and sonic booms were heard hundreds of miles away.