Crab Orchard

The Crab Orchard meteorite was found in Cumberland County, Tennessee, in 1887. Five masses weighing a total of ~49 kilograms were plowed up on a farm. Crab Orchard is a beautiful mesosiderite. It is a very difficult meteorite to get specimens of, and I was very pleased to acquire such a fine specimen from one of the world's great institutions.

 

  Specimen weight: 41.27 gram partial slice. #376-  from the United States National Museum, (Smithsonian) collection. I made a large meteorite exchange with the Smithsonian in 2008 and this was one of my acquisitions.
 

Close-up of museum numbers painted on the reverse which is not polished.

Close-up photo showing the nice matrix of pyroxene and metal.

 

Actual label from Smithsonian collection. It is for the entire sample, #376. Note, the piece now weighs 41.2 grams as I had to re-polish the face resulting in some loss.