Seymchan Meteorite | Triangular Sculpture of Seymchan Meteorite Featuring Natural Internal Structure And External Surface

Seymchan meteorites originated from the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid that broke apart during early solar system history. Following pinball-like impacts in space, a large mass was serendipitously bumped into an Earth-crossing orbit. Having arrived on Earth thousands of years ago, specimens of the Seymchan meteorite were first discovered in 1967 near the settlement of Seymchan in the Magadan District of Russia — the locality of Stalin’s gulags.

Some Seymchan meteorites contain gemstones from an asteroid’s mantle suspended in the metallic matrix (see lot 97). Some contain sections of mantle in discreet zones or bands (see lots 103 & 111) and, as is the case with the sample now offered, some consist entirely of the asteroid’s metallic core. The prominent latticework seen is referred to as a Widmanstätten pattern. It is the result of a slow cooling rate that provided sufficient time — millions of years — for two metallic alloys to orient into their crystalline habit. As the only place where this can happen is in the vacuum of space (and theoretically in Earth’s own core), the appearance of this pattern is diagnostic in the identification of a meteorite. The reverse features the natural exterior of the meteorite from which this sample was cut. Renowned Russian artisan Alexei Kovalev selected the section of material now seen and rendered it into this otherworldly sculptural form. A band at the perimeter of each face is highly polished. This is a superlative example of a Seymchan meteorite featuring its natural crystalline lattice and external surface celebrated in a unique modern sculpture.