AESTHETIC TABLETOP CAMPO DEL CIELO METEORITE CAMPO DEL CIELO, Iron, coarse octahedrite – IAB-MG Gran Chaco, Argentina (27°28' S, 60°35' W)

Surprisingly dense, this meteorite exhibits a variety of smooth, finely stippled surface textures. With a chrome-to-charcoal-hued patina, thumbprint-like sockets (regmaglypts) abound and within some are patches of fusion crust. Both of these features are artifacts of fractional heating in the Earth’s atmosphere. Bright and attractive overall, and from a historic meteorite shower, this is an exemplary meteorite that is compelling from any angle, in any orientation.
235 x 242 x 159 mm. (9.25 x 9.5 x 6.33 in.)

30.7 kg. (67.5 lbs.)

Campo del Cielo (“Valley of the Sky”) meteorites are the result of a cataclysmic collision between two asteroids flying at a cosmic velocity in interplanetary space. The Campo parent asteroid was shattered, releasing large metallic fragments from its core. When one such fragment later struck Earth’s upper atmosphere 6,000 years ago, the result was further explosive fragmentation into thousands of meteorites. The larger meteorites struck the ground at such a high velocity that an array of at least 26 impact craters formed, the largest measuring a football field in diameter. Once part of the iron core of an asteroid located between Jupiter and Mars, this meteorite is itself evocative of an asteroid.

Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles for his assistance in preparing this catalogue note.