PAL – Pallasite Admire, Lyon County, Kansas (38° 42' N, 96° 6' W)

Admire is a pallasite, the most beautiful of all meteorite varieties, and the most resplendent extraterrestrial substance known. Admire pallasites are readily identified by large polycrystalline areas that cleaved into highly angular shards, and it is rare that the distribution of these angular crystals is as aesthetic as in the example now offered. Less than 0.2% of all meteorites are pallasites, rocks that formed at the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid when olivine (a magnesium-rich silicate mineral) crystallized in magma chambers within the mantle atop the molten metallic core. Gem-quality olivine, the semi-precious gemstone peridot (the August birthstone) is found in some pallasites — and such is the case with the current offering. The first two masses of the Admire pallasite were discovered while plowing a field in Lyon County, Illinois in 1881. More than a century later, enterprising meteorite hunters returned to the site, and after a lot more plowing (following the use of a metal detector) they discovered several additional masses. Admire meteorites are also the source of PalladotTM, the trademarked name of faceted peridot specifically extracted from Admire pallasites for jewelry applications.