Santa Rosa

Specimen weight: 385 gram endcut from Smithsonian Collection and complete slice from new specimen found in 2008, 981 grams.

Total in Farmer Collection, 2 pieces 1,366 grams total.

National Museum of Natural History Collection (Smithsonian)  #1392.

Iron, Ataxite NI-poor (IC).

This very rare anomalous iron meteorite was found on Tocavita hill, near Santa Rosa, Boyaca state, Colombia in 1810. One large piece of ~750 kilograms and many  small pieces were found. The large mass was in display in the town square of Santa Rosa, on a large pillar until 1906 when Henry Ward saw it, negotiated a deal with the mayor of the town to purchase the meteorite and took it. They were intercepted by soldiers who took the mass to Bogota, where Ward was given a 100 kilogram endcut. 

I recently completed a large exchange with the United States National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian), where I acquired the endcut from. Very little Santa Rosa is in private collections, and the history of this meteorite, and this specimen, makes it a treasures part of my private collection.
Etched endcut, showing the unique etch pattern exhibited by Santa Rosa.
Here you can see the backside, and Smithsonian museum number painted on. You can also see many old cut marks, clearly weathered enough to show that they were done when the mass was in the town square of Santa Rosa, Colombia, before Ward took the mass.

Original Smithsonian label for this specimen.

Complete slice weighing 981 grams, and measuring 202 mm x 156 mm x 4 mm.

Another view of the same slice showing the amazing and unique etch on this meteorite.

Close-up view of very nice and strange triolite nodule with satellite "droplets" of triolite that seem or orbit the larger nodule.