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Sunday, 28 October 2007, 21:40 GMT

In pictures: Meteorite auction

Crown Section of Willamette Meteorite (image courtesy of Bonhams)

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A piece of America's best-known meteorite, the Willamette, topped the bill at an auction in New York.

A piece of the Brenham Meteorite from Greensburg, Kansas (image courtesy of Bonhams)

A piece of the Brenham Meteorite from Greensburg, Kansas (image courtesy of Bonhams)

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Bonhams was offering 54 lots including this piece from Greensburg, Kansas, which glitters with the naturally occurring gemstones olivine and peridot.

A Sikhote-Alin meteorite (image courtesy of Bonhams)

A Sikhote-Alin meteorite (image courtesy of Bonhams)

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This piece is from the Sikhote-Alin Meteorite Shower of 1957 in eastern Siberia, a spectacular "fireball" which caught the imagination of Soviet citizens.

Meteorite from Gibeon, Great Nama Land, Namibia (image courtesy of Bonhams)

Meteorite from Gibeon, Great Nama Land, Namibia (image courtesy of Bonhams)

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This iron meteorite from Namibia, once part of the core of a planet which briefly existed between Mars and Jupiter, hit Earth a few thousand years ago.

A slice of the Glorieta Mountain Meteorite (image courtesy of Bonhams)

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This is a slice of the Glorieta Mountain meteorite containing crystals of olivine in a nickel-iron matrix.

The Claxton mailbox (image courtesy of Bonhams)

The Claxton mailbox (image courtesy of Bonhams)

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One of the odder lots had to be the only mailbox known to have been hit by a meteorite (Claxton, Georgia, 1984). The event was witnessed by a bewildered Vietnam war veteran.

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Related to this story:
Space rocks go under the hammer (28 Oct 07 | Americas )
Meteorite yields life origin clue (01 Dec 06 | Science/Nature )
Rare space rock 'a gem' (22 Jul 02 | Science/Nature )
Meteorite records early Solar System (05 Sep 00 | Science/Nature )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Bonhams & Butterfields
BBC guide to meteor showers
American Museum of Natural History
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