Iron, fine octahedrite Gibeon, Great Nama Land, Namibia

Most iron meteorites—including the current example, among the finest zoomorphic meteorites known—originate from the cores of asteroidal bodies that briefly existed between Mars and Jupiter 4.5 billion years ago. Their shattered remains populate the asteroid belt. Recovered from the edge of the Kalahari Desert, Gibeon iron meteorites are the bounty of a huge meteorite shower that occurred thousands of years ago when an enormous iron mass from the asteroid belt slammed into Earth’s upper atmosphere before exploding and raining down in an elliptical strewnfield in what is now Namibia. Indigenous tribesmen of past generations recovered small metallic shards and fashioned them into spear points and other tools. The specimen now offered was recovered in 1991 by a tribesman with the aid of a metal detector. Gibeon meteorites have a relatively high nickel content and if this meteorite were cut it would reveal a gleaming octahedral crystalline pattern. Surrounded by a multitude of gleaming ridges, this meteorite features a naturally formed hole. It is rare for meteorites to possess such holes, and far more rare still when the hole results in a distinctly zoomorphic example, as does this meteorite, which bears a striking semblance to a terrier. This specimen is accompanied by a custom armature and select pedigree: The Macovich Collection of Meteorites—the most acclaimed collection of aesthetic iron meteorites.