Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and other Rare Meteorites

With one edge of the meteorite’s natural exterior, Willamette’s signature recrystallized Widmanstätten pattern is showcased to marvelous effect. Spanning the uppermost edge is the meteorite’s exterior surface. It’s virtually unheard of to be able to obtain a sample of a centerpiece exhibit at a world-renowned museum — this is one such exception. Modern cutting.
57 x 45 x 2 mm. (2¼ x 1¾ x ⅛ in.) and 47.2 g.

The Willamette meteorite is the most famous meteorites in the world. It is a celebrated centerpiece at the American Museum of Natural History and the specimen now offered comes from the main mass on display. The 15-ton meteorite was discovered in 1902 by a miner on the property of Oregon Iron & Steel, which happened to be adjacent to his own. It is believed that the meteorite, the largest recovered in continental North America, fell in Canada or Montana untold epochs ago and was a glacial erratic (i.e., it was deposited in Oregon by a glacier during the last Ice Age). The miner ingeniously (and illegally) moved the meteorite onto his property where it was placed on exhibition. An Oregon Iron & Steel attorney who came to take a look noticed the groove through the forest from where the meteorite had been hauled, and successfully sued to have the meteorite returned. The meteorite was exhibited at the 1905 World’s Fair and then sold to Mrs. William E. Dodge, who gifted the meteorite to the American Museum of Natural History — where it has been on display for more than a century and has been seen or touched by an estimated 50 million people.

In 1999, a coalition of Oregonian Native Americans, The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, filed a claim to have the meteorite returned to Oregon by invoking the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). According to Clackamas tradition, the meteorite, called “Tomanowos”, was delivered from the Moon to the Clackamas at the beginning of time. The Museum went to federal court seeking a declaratory judgment against the Grand Ronde, and as part of a settlement, it was decided the meteorite would remain a Museum centerpiece and never again be cut. However, it’s as a result of it having been cut that UCLA researchers, including Dr. Alan E. Rubin, recently demonstrated that Willamette is the sole known representative of its parent asteroid and is a member of the rare “ungrouped” class of iron meteorites.

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 catalog note.