Canyon Diablo 17,400g

Meteor Crater is a well known meteorite feature and is visited by many thousands of tourists annually. It is estimated at 61,100 years old!  It was the first proven meteorite crater. Geologist, miner, and visionary Daniel Barringer was convinced the feature was a meteorite crater, defying the popular opinion of so-called experts at the time. Barringer spent a fortune searching for what he believe to be a giant meteorite buried under the crater.

He was right about the crater, but wrong about the meteorite. We now know that the mass fragmented and part of it vaporized upon impact. But Barringer’s insight and determination gave him an honored place in meteorite history and the site is still sometimes referred to as Barringer Crater.

Another key figure in space rock history, innovative meteoriticist H.H. Nininger, conducted years of research at the site and also opened the world’s first private meteorite museum along-side nearby Route 66. Meteor Crater was studied by legendary geologist Gene Shoemaker and some of the NASA Apollo astronauts were trained there prior to their moon missions.

This uncommonly large and excellent specimen displays a particularly attractive hue of Canyon Diablo’s characteristic reddish-bronze natural patina, as well as abundant fine surface features. Examples of this meteorite with such a striking shape and impressive size are rarely offered, and Canyon Diablo is a must for collectors of historic meteorites and crater-forming irons. Note the (natural) spherical indentation where a soft inclusion, probably graphite, is thought to have boiled out during flight or weathered away after its fall to Earth.