Sir Digs-A-Lot
Full Member
Hello everybody. I could use a little help identifying what I think might be a meteorite in 2 pieces.
I went for a hunt last Sunday on a secluded but public dirt road in my town. There is some history to the area so I was hoping for some good finds. I never anticipated finding a meteorite, if that’s in fact what this is. I began finding the usual nails, foil, Lincoln pennies, etc. The dirt road gets a strong stream of water when it rains, so everything was within 2 inches of the surface as most of the loose sandy soil has been washed away. About 30 minutes in I got a strong hit in the foil-nickel range on the Ace 250. I dug about 2-3 inches and plucked out the small triangular shaped chunk of metal in the photos. It’s very heavy for its size and was covered in dirt. After wiping off most of the dirt some of the features were revealed and I thought it looked like a lava rock except it appeared to be made of a silver/black metal. I didn’t think too much about it so I stuck it in my pocket and continued on.
After finding a bit more junk and a couple of pennies I got another strong hit in the foil-nickel range. This time it was the larger of the 2 pieces, again at about 2-3 inches, and about 20 feet away from the first find. The first thing I noticed was the unusual orange peel texture and that it appeared to be melted metal. After cleaning it a bit I thought it was just a chunk of slag of some sort. This one was too heavy for my pocket so I went over and dropped it into my backpack. At this point I didn’t think anything about the 2 pieces being related in any way. I hunted on a little more and called it quits after finding my only coin of the day that was not a penny - a dime. Yay!
It was not until I got home that I began to think the 2 pieces of metal might be related. After rinsing them off in warm water they appeared as you see them in the photos. I noticed the back side of the orange-peel surface was in the form of a triangle and about the same size as the other triangle-shaped piece. I lined them up together and it seems to be a good fit. I’ve spent a few nights this week reading up on meteorites and these 2 finds have all the characteristics of an oriented iron meteorite. But because I know nothing more than what I read this week I’d like to get some help identifying these finds. I also would like to clean them better since there is still caked-on dirt. So far all I did was rinse them and brush off the dirt with my fingers, Any suggestions on cleaning? Also, I did the magnet test with a small magnet. The pull of the magnet is a little weak, but is similar on each piece. I weighed them (not precisely) on a postal scale - the big one is approx 8 ozs and the small one is approx 4 ozs.
What do you guys think? I’d rather not do any of the destructive tests that I’ve seen online such as using a metal file or sandpaper. Any suggestions for getting these tested or verified by an expert? (I live in central Florida). Thanks for reading this and taking a look at the photos.
Happy hunting!
Dan
I went for a hunt last Sunday on a secluded but public dirt road in my town. There is some history to the area so I was hoping for some good finds. I never anticipated finding a meteorite, if that’s in fact what this is. I began finding the usual nails, foil, Lincoln pennies, etc. The dirt road gets a strong stream of water when it rains, so everything was within 2 inches of the surface as most of the loose sandy soil has been washed away. About 30 minutes in I got a strong hit in the foil-nickel range on the Ace 250. I dug about 2-3 inches and plucked out the small triangular shaped chunk of metal in the photos. It’s very heavy for its size and was covered in dirt. After wiping off most of the dirt some of the features were revealed and I thought it looked like a lava rock except it appeared to be made of a silver/black metal. I didn’t think too much about it so I stuck it in my pocket and continued on.
After finding a bit more junk and a couple of pennies I got another strong hit in the foil-nickel range. This time it was the larger of the 2 pieces, again at about 2-3 inches, and about 20 feet away from the first find. The first thing I noticed was the unusual orange peel texture and that it appeared to be melted metal. After cleaning it a bit I thought it was just a chunk of slag of some sort. This one was too heavy for my pocket so I went over and dropped it into my backpack. At this point I didn’t think anything about the 2 pieces being related in any way. I hunted on a little more and called it quits after finding my only coin of the day that was not a penny - a dime. Yay!
It was not until I got home that I began to think the 2 pieces of metal might be related. After rinsing them off in warm water they appeared as you see them in the photos. I noticed the back side of the orange-peel surface was in the form of a triangle and about the same size as the other triangle-shaped piece. I lined them up together and it seems to be a good fit. I’ve spent a few nights this week reading up on meteorites and these 2 finds have all the characteristics of an oriented iron meteorite. But because I know nothing more than what I read this week I’d like to get some help identifying these finds. I also would like to clean them better since there is still caked-on dirt. So far all I did was rinse them and brush off the dirt with my fingers, Any suggestions on cleaning? Also, I did the magnet test with a small magnet. The pull of the magnet is a little weak, but is similar on each piece. I weighed them (not precisely) on a postal scale - the big one is approx 8 ozs and the small one is approx 4 ozs.
What do you guys think? I’d rather not do any of the destructive tests that I’ve seen online such as using a metal file or sandpaper. Any suggestions for getting these tested or verified by an expert? (I live in central Florida). Thanks for reading this and taking a look at the photos.
Happy hunting!
Dan
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