Hammers
Meteorites that nailed something!

Painting by Jerry Armstrong
Meteorites for sale that bashed cars,crunched mailboxes,
smashed houses, killed animals and mauled humans.
This is the real rogues gallery of the meteorite world:
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NOTE: This Page was updated 2-10-16
PLEASE HIT "REFRESH" or "RELOAD" KEY
if you have not been to this page since before 2-10-16

JUST IN: 2 Forest City super thin part slices

mblood@cox.net
Skype me at: michael.blood3

Though the list is relatively short (well under 150 falls) "hammers"
(meteorites that "nailed" something) are as rewarding and interesting to collect as any
meteoritic category could possibly be - with exceptional variety, costs from the
inexpensive to the very expensive and including the most common varieties from the
H5s & L6s to the most exotic HH, with Cos, EL s and even the highly debated Martian
(Long live the Nakhla dog!).  

It is my hope that visitors to this site will be both entertained and inspired to take up this
"new" area of collecting as have I and several others.
Happy Hunting! Michael
-------------------

Besides Walter Branch, there are many who have contributed to my ability to put this site togeather.
While I am sure I will be overlooking some, I would like to thank Paul Harris, Bob Walker, Martin
Horejsi, E.T., Mike Farmer, Dirk Ross, Matt Morgan, Blaine Reed, the real Steve Arnold, Adam
Hupe, Eric Twelker, Rob Wesel, Eric Olson, Mark Bostick, Geoff Notkin and Jerry Armstrong.

DEFINITIONS:
1). "Hammer" - any individual which is part of a hammer fall in which one or more of the
individuals struck an artifact, animal or human.
2)"Hammer Stone(s)" - the specific individual(s) that struck the artifact, animal or human.
3) NOTE: Most collectors obviously value a "Hammer Stone" more than other individuals
in a hammer fall. However, in the case of many hammers, the specific "hammer
stone(s) is/are not available. Examples include, but are not limited to: Chiang-Khan in
which many stones "rained down" on a fisherman's boat. (one of only 2 hammer falls known
to hit a boat?). The fisherman considered the black rocks "evil" and threw them ALL into
the river! Still, many of us "hammer heads" value having an individual or part of an
individual from that fall. Another example is Barwell, which included an individual
that came through an apartment window, bounced off the floor and landed in a lady's
tea cup! She is said to have thrown it away! Of course the individual "hammer stone"
involved is not available. I have not Been able to track down any of the other Barwell
stones reported to have Struck cars and buildings in this fall. (I haven't even been able
to trace the small Mbale stone that struck the boy - but we do enjoy having
representatives of these falls. On the other hand, many hammers consist of a single stone,
so, everyone that collects said hammer falls has a piece of THE hammer stone.
Examples include but are in no way limited to Peekskill and Claxton (two of the
more famous hammers ever, having struck a car and a mailbox, respectively).
---
Some people may value only Hammers from which they can get the or a piece of the
actual hammer stone(s). That is fine. Most of us hammer heads, however, will collect
what is available from any hammer fall, though, of course, hammer stones, themselves,
will be most valued.
----

NOTE: In deference to Walter Branch, all hammers are listed in chronological order according
to date of fall. Thanks, Walter, for all the work and inspiration!

DATE ............             FALL NAME                 LOCATION    .......... OBJECT STRUCK       

July 24, 1790                Barbotan  (H5)            Barbotan, France    COTTAGE

(Click on photo to enlarge image)
This is one of the oldest recorded meteorite falls, and according to Michael Hammerschlag
Barbotan "crushed cottage- killed farmer and some cattle"
While many pieces were recovered, only 6.9 kg has been preserved - mostly in museums &
other institutions. Barbotan is of historical significance as it fell more than a decade before
"stones from the sky" were accepted by scientists. This meteorite is seldom available to
collectors. 2 exceptionally thin (1mm) partslices and one super thin end piece:      

.537g = $535- SOLD

.6g =   SOLD

.627g = $625- See Photo  HERE

1.1g =  SOLD

.62g = $620- (Thin, large partslice)

.69g = $690- (Thin, large partslice)SOLD

1.16g = $1,150- (Thin, large partslice)

4.38g = $6,500- (Ultrathin large partslice) SOLD


Dec. 19,1798               Benares (a) (LL4) Benares, India                  BUILDING
Precious little information exists as to the event of this meteorite, although a great deal
has been made of this being one of the four meteorites scientifically studied in the 1800s
to establish the existence of chondrules among other constituents of meteorites. As rare
as hard to come by as information regarding the fall is any material of this meteorite.
As early as 1899, this has been one of the most difficult of all meteorites to acquire, listed
in Cohen's prices at $55.32 per gram - that is the price over 100 years ago!
Available here, is one small fragment = $375- See Photo  HERE SOLD

April 26, 1803 1PM L'Agle (L6) Orne, France Struck a House & Man
Painting by Jerry Armstrong

Jean-Baptiste Biot's report of the L'Aigle fall: - In the village of St. Michel one stone
fell on the pavement of the church yard. The stone ricochetted from the pavement
about one foot back into the air and came to rest at the feet of the chaplain who
happened to stand in the churchyard during the fall. - Near the village of Bas Vernett
a pear tree was hit. The stone cut off a branch of the tree. - In the village of Mesle the
roof ridge of a house was hit. A large bar of wood came loose. The stone rolled down
the roof and fell to the ground. - In the village of Des Anées Mr. Piche, a wirepuller
was hit on the arm by a small stone. When he picked it up it was so hot that he
dropped it instantly.

Unfortunately, L'Aigle is one of the most difficult to get of the "common" meteorites.
By "common" I mean common in both type and TKW (@ 40 KG) However, this
meteortite is holds such a significant position in the history of how man views the
solar system and the nature of the physical universe that nearly every gram of this
fall is held in institutions - all of which value it highly. For instance, at the last Tucson
Show the wholesale price for this material in quantity was $1,000 per gram. Fortunately,
its position in history has overshadowed it status as a hammer, or the price would
undoubtedly have climbed even higher.

I got all I could afford and offer them here at what is a very "modest" price relative
to the price it demands at the wholesale level: (The 4 smaller pieces have some fusion
crust on the edges which can be seen in the inset photos)

.5g Fragment with Fusion Crust = $600- SOLD

Fragment Click on photos to enlarge

.574g Part Slice with Fusion Crusted edge & copy of
its old Natural History Musuem of Paris Label = $600-SOLD

Part Sice with old Museum Label Click on photos to enlarge

.901g = $1,125-SOLD
1.137g = $1,420- SOLD
1.781g = $2,225-
2.080g = $2,600-SOLD
(All the above are very thinly sliced & have at least some fusion crust on the ege (below)

4.967g = $6,200-SOLDClick on photos to enlarge

Dec. 14, 1807             Weston   (H4)   Weston, CT,U.S.A. BUILDING  

Photos: Old Weston Post Office.............Large Weston specimen.........Old Photo - Weston Historical Society
(Click on photos to enlarge images)  
The first recorded fall of a meteorite in the New World,
and of the beginning of Yale’s meteorite collection,
the oldest in the United States. A chemical analysis of the meteorite made by Silliman,
the first to be performed in this country and among the first few in the world—was read
before the American Philosophical Society in March 1808, and published in its Transactions
the following year. Silliman was therefore established as the first active American participant
early in the development of the field of meteoritics.
He presented pieces of Weston to important friends as well as to scientific institutions. Some
of them eventually found their way into museum collections around the world, thereby
ensuring their preservation. Out of the approximately 350 pounds of the meteorite that fell
on the town of Weston, less than 50 pounds can now be accounted for. Many stones were
smashed by the finders in the town: “Strongly impressed with the idea that these stones
contained gold and silver, they subjected them to all the tortures of ancient alchemy, and the
goldsmith’s crucible, the forge, and the blacksmith’s anvil, were employed in vain to elicit
riches which existed only in the imagination.”Much of the rest undoubtedly gathered dust
on numerous 19th century mantelpieces in western Connecticut before being thrown away.

After reading a report by the two Yale professors, President Thomas Jefferson is reputed to
have said, "It is easier to believe that two Yankee professors would lie than that stones would
fall from heaven!" In another version of the story, after listening to an account of the Weston
event and examining a specimen while dining with a senator, Jefferson said that five words
were enough to sum up the case: "It is all a lie."

Scholars have never been able to pinpoint the original source of Thomas Jefferson's words
about the meteorite fall. Jefferson had a broad knowledge of science, so historians doubt
that he actually uttered such narrow-minded comments. Perhaps they were invented by
one of Jefferson's detractors to embarrass him.

We do know that Jefferson was interested in the Weston event and called for a careful
investigation. This study was performed by Nathaniel Bowditch of Salem, the famous
author of "American Practical Navigator" and one of America's most noted astronomers.
His findings confirmed those of the Yale professors. Stones had indeed fallen from the
heavens over Weston, Connecticut. So significant and popular this material is has resulted
in it simply NOT being available any longer.
click on photo for larger image
Note: TOP ROW 2nd & 3rd specimens from the left are SOLD
2ND ROW: 2nd & 3rd speciemns from the left are SOLD
Small frag = 35-
Med Frag = 50-
Lg Frag = 75-
XLg Frags = 150- See Here
.411g frag = $200- with large FUSION CRUSTED area See Here
.587g frag = $300- with cut face See SOLD
.930g frag = $425- See SOLD

July 14, 1847 BRAUNAU Zxech Republic (Iron Hex. IIA) HOUSE
Photo: Braunau specimen, Berlin Museum
It is often said that Nan-Tan is the only Iron witnessed fall, but that is not so! Read the newspaper
account below describing the Braunau fall of 1847:
On the 14th July last, a remarkable aerolite fell at Braunau, in Bohemia. Two fragments were
found, one weighing fifteen, the other twenty-one kilogrammes. The aerolite appeared to proceed,
as is very often the case, from a small black cloud. The smaller fragment fell upon a house, pierce
the roof, struck the beam which caused it to deviate slightly from its course, passed through a
ceiling composed of white clay and straw, and entered a room where several persons were assembled,
but, fortunately, no one was hurt...A fragment has been analyzed by M. Fischer, of Breslau, who
found in it, besides sulphuretted iron, carbon, phosphorus and bromine.
Literary Gazette/Sandusky Clarion Newspaper

One of only two irons to hit things, Braunau, like many hammers, is nearly impossible to get.
It just cannot be had. I am proud to make two thin, Etched individuals available to the growing
numbers of hammerheads :

.883g = $650-SOLD

1.5g Etched, thinly sliced / FC edge = $825- click on photo for larger image

1.72g Etched, thinly cut part slice = $1,000- click on photo for larger image

December 9, 1858 Ausson (L5) Haute Garonne, France. Struck a Building

Very little is reported about this fall, very little material has ever been
available.
Sold out - Trying to get some more - JUST IN!
(If I can ever get it cheaper, I will offer it cheaper - but don't hold your breath!)

.180g = $150-

.261g = $265-
.371g = $375- click on photos for larger images
.744g = $745-
.797g = $800-

May 1, 1860             New Concord             Ohio   KILLED A HORSE

 
Struck and killed a young horse. Fell in Muskingum County on May 1, 1860. It was
named after the nearest town, New Concord, which is also the hometown of the first
American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn.
This is one of the truly classic hammers, now nearly a century and a half old and
still one of the very best buys. These are all I have left:
      
24.533g = SOLD
19.773g = SOLD
10.436g = SOLD
7.094g = SOLD

5.145g = $235-
8.619g = SOLD (Listed in photo as 6.619 - actually 2 grams heavier) SOLD
9.442g = $435-
9.291g = $430-
8.192g = SOLD
10.781g = $470-
11.569g = $525-
8.298g = SOLD
16.890g = $760-
20.417g = $850-
Aug. 8, 1868                Pillistfer ( EL6)        Pillistfer, Estonia      BUILDING

(Click on photo to enlarge image)  
This is one of the all time great historic witnessed falls of a rare type (EL6), exceptionally
hard to get,
1.839g = SOLD
.705g = SOLD
.574g = SOLD
   FINALLY got another piece in:
1.517g = $1,250- See Photo
( a beauty with a natural, fusion crusted edge at the top)
And now, another:
36mg = $125 - see photo:   Click on any photo to Enlarge

                                 
Jan.30, 1868      Pultusk (H5)            Warsaw, Poland           HOUSES
 
(Painting by Jerry Armstrong - Click on photo to enlarge image)
The Pultusk meteorite fell January 30, 1868 at 7:00 PM in the town of Pultusk, NE of
Warsaw, Poland. A large fireball and detonations were followed by a shower of small
stones falling over a large area. Thousands of small stones rained down on the land and
houses, most between a few tenths of a gram and ten grams and are known as "Pultusk
Peas".
Offered here is a single stone, fully fusion crusted, and somewhat large for a Pultusk
- weighing 14.74g and including a label from the "Naturhistorisches Museum Wien"
from the era of the fall. (See photos) This historic piece with its label is available = SOLD

2.132g Frag with @30% Fusion Crust and 20% polished side = SOLD 
3.424g Perfect Whole stone with 100% rich, black Fusion Crust = SOLD 
FINALLY got some original famous Pultusk "Peas."
100% Fusion Crusted
Each one comes with a color copy of the original label:

DeadHorse2.jpgClick on photos to enlarge

#1 - .361g = $60-
#2 - .793g = $75-
#3 - 1.043g = $95-
#4 - 1.530g = $ SOLD
#5 - 1.350g = $125-
#6 - 1.566g = $140-
#7 - 1.685g = $150-
#8 - 2.000g = $180-

Click on photos to enlarge
#9. 1.331g = $135- SOLD
#10. 1.145g = $115- SOLD
#11. 1.401g = $140- SOLD
#12. 1.431g = $145- SOLD

ONE OTHER - NOT OF THE ABOVE LOT:
6.066g = $500 Blacker specimen & 100%FC Click on photos to enlarge

NOTE: The "silver" tip is light reflection from the membrane box, not loss of FC on the specimen.

...........................

Nov. 19, 1881   Grossliebenthal (L6) Odessa, Ukraine,USSR BUILDING (& A MAN?)
Structure in the Grossliebenthal region of Russia
(Click on photo to enlarge image)  

This is one of the most frustrating hammers to research as there is both much said - but
with little revealed! While sources cite a building being struck at least 3 sources state that
a man was injured. One even states he was specifically a "postilion" (which the dictionary
defines as the rider of the left front horse of a team of horses drawing a carriage). However,
this reference was from a newspaper and we are not provided the man's name and he is
not mentioned in the Catalogue of Meteorites.
In any event, one thing that IS certain is that this material is VERY difficult to obtain and
I have never managed to acquire more than a few tiny fragments.
Priced according to size as follows:

Small = $50- SALE = 40- with any other purchase
Medium = $75- SALE = 65- with any other purchase
Large = 100- SOLD
See Photo HERE

May 2, 1890          Forest City      Iowa, USA        One Stone Struck a HAYSTACK
 1,493g Specimen of Forest City in the Museum of National History, N.Y. 
(Click on photo to enlarge image)

This is the fall that established the law of meteorites ownership based on the owner of the
land where the meteorite alights. Read about the case that went all the way to the Iowa
Supreme Court to establish this precedence - making this one of the most important falls in US history:
To Read more, click HERE

Late in the afternoon of May 2, 1890, people in northern Iowa were startled by the
appearance of a great fireball in the west which eclipsed for a moment the sunlight of an
almost cloudless sky. Traveling at incredible speed from the southwest the meteor roared
across the sky sputtering and throwing off a long train of sparks. The dazzling head,
likened to the moon in size, left a heavy line of black smoke in its water, distinctly marking
the meteor's course through the heavens. (Ben Hur Wilson in a recent number of "
The Palimpsest," published by the State Historical Society of Iowa at Iowa City)

The meteor descended at an angle variously judged to incline from 50 degrees to 55
degrees with the horizon, and to the eye its course was apparently from the southwest to
the northeast. The final explosion occurred over Winnebago county about eleven miles
northwest of Forest City. An area some three or four miles in length and from one and
one-half to two miles in width was showered with meteorites. Although this meteoric field
was adjacent to the town of Thompson, it was readily accessible from Forest City, the
county seat. Inasmuch as most of the publicity emanated from the latter place, the meteor
became known as the Forest City meteor, though Thompson would have been a more
accurate geographical designation. (Iowa Recorder; Greene, Butler co. Iowa; July 1929)

Sorry, all Forest City Sold Out -NOW 2 MORE SPECIMENS:

NOTE: More Forest City just in (After about 2 Years of searching.... VERY difficult to get at ANY price:

Micromount = $35- SOLD

132mg = $125- Click on any photo to enlarge image

181mg = $175-

1.354g with FC= $750-

Spring 1903/1917   PlainviewHale City, Texas BROKE CORRAL

(Click on photo to enlarge image)  
In the Spring of 1903, in Hale City, Texas one of the stones
of the Plainview "find," (which was not reported until 1917) struck
and broke the crossbeam of a horse corral. This report
was related to me by Blaine Reed, from whom I bought his
last piece. Had this report been from any dealer of lesser
reputation for honesty than Blaine, himself, I would not
have taken it as gospel.

Each of the following part slices were cut from the stone
that broke the corral:
19.661g = $550-
13.045g = SOLD
11.449g = $365-
5.962g = SOLD
CONTACT ME DIRECTLY for PHOTOS of
available pieces of this hammer stone.        

Nov. 4, 1906     Diep River (L5)       Cape Province, South Africa HOUSE

At 4:30 PM, near Diep River, Western Cape, South Africa, a 910 gram stone fell and crashed
through a metal roof of a house, on a farm called HERMITAGE.
An extremely rare meteorite with a very low total known weight - nearly impossible to get.
Until I got the only available material I have found, my own collection had only a .241g
specimen. Now that is available as well as the others listed below (these are the only specimens
I may every have of this material:

.080g = SOLD
.671g = SOLD
.973g = SOLD

Just in: 50mg = $75- Click on photo to enlarge image

June 30, 1908 TUNGUSKA Evenkiyskiy, Russia Killed Reindeer, knocked a man down


A ferocious impact near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in remote Siberia--and after 100 years,
scientists are still talking about it.

"If you want to start a conversation with anyone in the asteroid business all you have to say is
Tunguska," says Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. "It is the only entry of a large meteoroid we have in the modern era with first-hand
accounts."

Above: Trees felled by the Tunguska explosion. Credit: the Leonid Kulik Expedition. [more]

While the impact occurred in '08, the first scientific expedition to the area would have to wait for 19
years. In 1921, Leonid Kulik, the chief curator for the meteorite collection of the St. Petersburg
museum led an expedition to Tunguska. But the harsh conditions of the Siberian outback thwarted
his team's attempt to reach the area of the blast. In 1927, a new expedition, again lead by Kulik,
reached its goal.

"At first, the locals were reluctant to tell Kulik about the event," said Yeomans. "They believed the
blast was a visitation by the god Ogdy, who had cursed the area by smashing trees and killing animals."

While testimonials may have at first been difficult to obtain, there was plenty of evidence lying around.
Eight hundred square miles of remote forest had been ripped asunder. Eighty million trees were on
their sides, lying in a radial pattern.

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"Those trees acted as markers, pointing directly away from the blast's epicenter," said Yeomans.
"Later, when the team arrived at ground zero, they found the trees there standing upright – but
their limbs and bark had been stripped away. They looked like a forest of telephone poles."

Such debranching requires fast moving shock waves that break off a tree's branches before the
branches can transfer the impact momentum to the tree's stem. Thirty seven years after the
Tunguska blast, branchless trees would be found at the site of another massive explosion
– Hiroshima, Japan.

Kulik's expeditions (he traveled to Tunguska on three separate occasions) did finally get some of
the locals to talk. One was the man based at the Vanara trading post who witnessed the heat blast
as he was launched from his chair. His account:

Suddenly in the north sky… the sky was split in two, and high above the forest the whole northern
part of the sky appeared covered with fire… At that moment there was a bang in the sky and a
mighty crash… The crash was followed by a noise like stones falling from the sky, or of guns firing.
The earth trembled.

The massive explosion packed a wallop. The resulting seismic shockwave registered with sensitive
barometers as far away as England. Dense clouds formed over the region at high altitudes which
reflected sunlight from beyond the horizon. Night skies glowed, and reports came in that people
who lived as far away as Asia could read newspapers outdoors as late as midnight. Locally,
hundreds of reindeer, the livelihood of local herders, were killed, but there was no direct evidence
that any person perished in the blast.

"A century later some still debate the cause and come up with different scenarios that could have
caused the explosion," said Yeomans. "But the generally agreed upon theory is that on the
morning of June 30, 1908, a large space rock, about 120 feet across, entered the atmosphere of
Siberia and then detonated in the sky."

It is estimated the asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere traveling at a speed of about 33,500 miles
per hour. During its quick plunge, the 220-million-pound space rock heated the air surrounding
it to 44,500 degrees Fahrenheit. At 7:17 a.m. (local Siberia time), at a height of about 28,000 feet,
the combination of pressure and heat caused the asteroid to fragment and annihilate itself,
producing a fireball and releasing energy equivalent to about 185 Hiroshima bombs.

"That is why there is no impact crater," said Yeomans. "The great majority of the asteroid is
consumed in the explosion."

Yeomans and his colleagues at JPL's Near-Earth Object Office are tasked with plotting the orbits
of present-day comets and asteroids that cross Earth's path, and could be potentially hazardous to
our planet. Yeomans estimates that, on average, a Tunguska-sized asteroid will enter Earth's
atmosphere once every 300 years.

Exceptional specimen of surviving tree section showing the 1908 ring = $650-Last one SOLD