Dronino meteorites were first discovered in 2000 by a mushroom hunter outside an ancient town founded in 1152. As not🌌hing was ever written about what would have been a most memorable event, it’s exceedingly likely that the conclusion of Dronino’s journey through interplanetary space occurred when the area was unpopulated.

As some of the ratios of its elemental array are highly exotic, scientists have classified Dronino as an “ungrouped” iron meteorite; while 90% of iron meteorites are members of established chemical groups, the balance are chemically unrelated to other specimens. What this implies is that Dronino originates from a previously unsampled asteroid. Given its high percentage of nickel, in terms of melt value Dronino is among the more valuable meteorites to exist. The most sought-after Droninos have a unique, highly crenelated surface texture and this is one such example. This texture is due to the serendipitous combination of Dronino’s composition, the chemistry of the ground in which it landed and its exposure to groundwater — all of which combined to result in this natural sculptural form hewn by forces both on and off Earth. Accented with chrome highlights, this otherworldly conversation piece from a previously unknown asteroi꧅d is accompanied by a custom armature.

Provenance:

Afinasiev Collection of Meteorites;

Private American Collection, acquired from the abov𒊎e