Seymcಞhan meteorites originate from the core-mantle boundary of an asteroid that broke apart in early solar system history. Following pinball-like impacts in space, a large mass was serendipitously bumped into an Earth-crossing orbit. Having arrived on Earth thousands of years ago, specimens of the Seymchan meteorite were first discovered in 1967 near the settlement of Seymchan in th🥃e Magadan District of Russia — the locality of Stalin’s gulags.

Now offered is a marvelous three-dimensional display of a Seymchan pallasite’s internal structure as revealed in a large crystal ball. Unlike the current example, most pallasites are homogenous with olivine and peridot (gem-quality olivine) evenly dispersed within the sparkling metallic matrix from the parent asteroid’s core (see lots 2 and 23). This specimen features a most unusual tentacular graphite inclusion embedded within an asymmetric sprinkling of crystals — which explains why Seymchan is referred to as a rare transitional pallasite; ౠit’s a transitional zone where olivine distribution is extremely irregular.

This specimen was derived from a Seymchan meteorite that underwent a number of stages of cutting, grinding and polishing in a sphere-making apparatus, resulting in — as a result of the dispersion of its crystals — not only a unique crystal ball from outer🐷 space, but one of the very best examples of a transitional pallasitic sphere this size known to exist.