Lot 148
Brahin
The Robert Elliott Meteorite Collection
Auction: 18 August 2009 at 15:00 BST
Description
Polished end piece
Dimensions
2.5kg, 12.2 x 11.8 x 10.3cm
Footnote
Brahin (Minsk, Belarus, Russia) Pallasite (stony-iron) - found 1810
Farmers in Kaporenki, a village in the district of Bragin, found two masses of 80kg and 20kg. The administrator of the district sent the meteorites to scientists for further study.
During World War II, German soldiers stole samples of the Brahin meteorite in Kiev and some samples also disappeared in Minsk.
Pallasites are rare, accounting for only around 1% of all meteorites. They are now considered to be specimens of the region lying between the stony mantle and the metallic core of large asteroids. Cut and polished Brahin sections reveal transparent olivine crystals surrounded by a web of iron.