Richland

Hexahedrite (IIAB)

 

247.6 gram partslice. 102 mm x 81 mm x 5 mm. Finished on one side only.
 

The Richland meteorite was found in Navarro County, Texas in 1951. It is a rare Hexahedrite (IIAB). A 13.6 kilogram meteorite was found when cleaning out an old well. In 1998, I got a call from a man in Wasilla, Alaska who said he had a 47 kilogram iron meteorite which was already confirmed to be a Hexahedrite. I negotiated a purchase and flew to Alaska to get the meteorite, which I put in a backpack and actually carried/dragged onto the airplane. The flight crew was fascinated with this backpack which was so heavy that I could barely carry it. Imagine taking this on a flight today. The man told me his father had found it near Frederickburg Texas in the 1940s. I cut the mass up into slices and sold all off under the name "Fredericksburg". Dr. Wasson of UCLA, the world's expert on iron meteorites analyzed a sample and determined that the meteorite was paired with Richland and thus, all Frederickburg pieces are actually Richland meteorite pieces. I can not find the old photos of the mass before and during cutting, but if I find those photos, I will post them. Sadly the disks have been misplaced or destroyed.

Close-up photo of the unique etch pattern, strange fractures and incredible triolite "trains" typical in the meteorite.