Gibeon Meteorite - Ancient Iron from the Asteroid Belt
Size: 32mm x 11mm x 22mm Approximately
Weight: 21gram
Origin: Namibia, Africa
Classification: IVA Fine Octahedrite
Provenance: Ex Karl Sprich Collection - Pre-2012 Legal Export
The Gibeon Meteorite represents one of the solar system's most scientifically significant iron meteorites, originating from the metallic core of a shattered protoplanet that existed during our solar system's violent infancy. This 9-gram specimen fell to Earth in prehistoric times, landing across what is now Namibia's stark and beautiful desert landscape.
Discovered by European explorers in the 1830s, though known to the indigenous Nama people for millennia, Gibeon has yielded over 26 metric tons of material from a strewn field covering nearly 20,000 square kilometers. However, since Namibia's 2012 Heritage Act, all Gibeon meteorites became protected national treasures, making legally obtained specimens like this increasingly valuable.
The meteorite's kamacite and taenite crystal structures create the iconic Widmanstätten pattern—intersecting nickel-iron crystals that grew at a cooling rate of just 1-2 degrees Celsius per million years. This glacial crystallization process occurred in the vacuum of space, producing patterns that serve as cosmic fingerprints, unique to each specimen.
Perfect for the discerning collector, this Gibeon fragment is a genuine piece of planetary geology from beyond Earth—a tangible sample of the building blocks that formed our solar system!
