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Met Name

Met Type

Thin Sections

43 gram cut fragment.   H5

TKW 5.4 kg. Observed fall 21 May 1871, Waldo County, Maine, USA.


 

Frank writes:

The fall was a single 5.4 kg stone that broke on impact. From the description of a large fragment that Charles Upham Shepard acquired, it is apparent that the stone was oriented with a conical shape and a flattish base. Most of the meteorite has been lost with only about 1.2 kg preserved in collections.

The specimen pictured is a 43 gram cut fragment that appears to have been removed at the corner of the lateral or front side and the flattish, rear base of the meteorite. It has two types of fusion crust and was Harvey Nininger's collection piece (#105.2). It is listed in Nininger & Nininger (1950) "The Nininger Collection of Meteorites." In that catalog they note the following for the specimen (then 50 grams): "slice showing front and rear crust." That Nininger greatly appreciated this specimen is evident by the fact that this specimen was not divided when he sold half of his collection to the National History Museum, London in 1959.

Photo 1. Broken surface of the part slice showing Nininger's collection number and the fresh fusion crust wrapping around a curved edge. The flattish base is to the lower left.

Photo 2. Reverse cut side of the previous photo showing the abundant Fe-Ni metal flake of this H5 chondrite. The flattish base lies on the thumb.

Photo 3. Crusted edge of the slice showing a more rough fusion crust of the flattish, trailing side of the stone.

Photo 4. The opposite crusted edge of the slice showing the smoother, leading front side of the stone.