Nininger Tektites

Dr. Nininger created the American Meteorite Laboratory, opened the world’s first independent meteorite museum on Route 66 near Meteor Crater, and was a founding member of the Meteoritical Society.

During the 1950s, Dr. Nininger and his wife Addie, journeyed to Vietnam and worked with local landowners to assemble a remarkable collection of tektites. This expedition is well documented in his book Find a Falling Star. Each specimen was meticulously labeled, one at a time, by hand. The larger pieces received a hand painted number, while the smaller ones were cataloged using a small number written on tape, and then affixed to the specimen. Some of the specimens offered on this page are likely visible on the table in the photo from Find a Falling Star.

These specimens were received via institutional trade from one of the world’s foremost meteorite research collections. Some pieces are also accompanied by handwritten paper notes in Nininger’s own hand. This is an extraordinary opportunity to acquire a very affordable specimen with an original number from the research collection of one of the most important figures in the history of meteoritics.