Where can I buy pre-etched meteorites?

May 6, 2009 2:12 AM

So I was admiring the meteorite collection at the Natural History Museum yesterday and thought it'd be cool to have a nickel-iron meteorite of my own to sit on the shelf. My question: where's a reliable place to buy decent-sized meteorites (preferably a place that will ship to Singapore)?

And a followup: is it possible to buy them pre-etched to show off the Widmanstatten patterns? I have no idea where I'd find a diamond saw or enough nitric acid to do the etching myself.

I've found this thread that has an answer for the first question, but cutting and etching is another matter.

Thanks, hive mind!

posted by The Shiny Thing to Shopping (4 answers total)

Not directly related to meteorite, but this site from Singapore Post will allow you to have a shipping address in the USA (and Japan).

They will collect the item on your behalf, and then ship the item for a (small) charge to you in Singapore.
posted by joewandy at 3:07 AM on May 6, 2009

When I was a kid Boys Life magazine (for scouts) had an article on collecting Micrometeorites. So if you will be happy with with tiny ones, you can collect them yourself.

You can Google Micrometeorites or here is one link I just found:

http://bizarrelabs.com/met.htm

Barry
posted by mbarryf at 5:08 AM on May 6, 2009

There was an instructable on micrometeorite collection as well. Using a couple of strong magnets, you can collect them out of puddles and whatnot. Never tried it, but have been meaning to give it a shot since I read about it.
posted by jquinby at 6:02 AM on May 6, 2009

Best answer: I happen to know first hand that the main gift shop at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex has meteorites for sale. I saw both very large expensive ones (whole) and also smaller ones (that I suspect are pieces of a larger one) in the $20-$40 range. No idea whether they'll ship.

KSC Space Gifts
posted by johnvaljohn at 7:31 PM on May 8, 2009