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.
Displaying a gunmetal patina, the example to be offered in our forthcoming Form Through Time auction was sculpted by the intense heat and melting that occurred during its atmospheric entry.
Lyon & Turnbull offers four auctions of Antiquities annually; with sculpture from ancient Greece and Rome placed into biannual dedicated sections of our Five Centuries sales and Fine Antiquities offered in our biannual Form Through Time editorial sales. This ensures that the broad range of Antiquities offered at Lyon and Turnbull each reach the correct market.
alex.tweedy@lyonandturnbull.com