Bur-Abor, IIIAB

Bur-Abor is a special one for us.  Some ten or fifteen years ago, we emailed Eric Twelker about a few Bur-Abor specimens he had on his website (they were all sold).  He was kind enough to share the contact information of the finders in Kenya, who still had the main mass.  We gave them a ring, and had a delightful conversation with them.  It began with an odd question “Oh, would you like to buy some uranium?”  Needless to say, we declined the ‘hot offer.’  Negotiations for the meteorite eventually stalled; the last we heard was that the iron was en-route to the US in a shipping container, but that was almost twenty years ago.

When this smaller specimen turned up, I nabbed it.  It’s a memento of one of our early, more memorable attempts to reach out beyond well-known meteorite dealers.

Here’s the Meteoritical Bulletin write-up for the iron:

And here are some photos of the 44.5 gram quarter-cut.  These photos were taken from Mirko Graul‘s listing (in case you don’t recognize his ubiquitous photographic style).  The specimen’s preparation is immaculate; the hackly rear is a testament to the finders’ having chiseled pieces off of the main mass in order to sell them.

And here’s an image of the ~290 kilogram main mass.  The owners circulated this image years ago, while trying to sell it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A 274 kilogram specimen of Bur Abor was offered at a Bonhams auction in May 2021 as the Bur Abor “main mass,” but the above 290 kilogram specimen looks like a different mass to me.  …There may be more Bur Abor around than was previously thought.