Author name: James Tobin

  I have cut a great many lunar meteorites in the last couple of decades. Some as large as three kilos and 1.8 kilos to many lunar meteorites weighing hundreds of grams. I have sliced hundreds of lunar stones of just ten or twenty grams. Often on the small stones, I will get two endpieces and one or two slices

I took a three-week driving trip around the country in June. I did some camping, and I stayed in hotels part of the time. If the cities I stayed in had museums, I tried to visit some of them. Of course, I was interested in any meteorites that I happened to see in the museums. I decided to drive the

  Geoff Notkin Star of the hit television series “Meteorite Men” is once again working with Heritage Auctions Nature and Science Department on the Geoff Notkin Collection Auction Part Two. Geoff has traveled far and wide on Earth in search of space rocks. Geoff has amassed a fantastic collection of meteorites and related items. Many of these wondrous natural treasures

I have spent a good deal of time in the deserts of the Southwestern United States during my life. It was a favorite thing of my parents to visit and dig in the abandoned mining camps and ghost towns of California, Arizona, and Nevada. It was a family tradition that I was happy to continue as an adult. In the

Well, first I guess I should report that the meteorite that was being classified in the last issue of the magazine and suspected of being a Howardite is a Polymict Diogenite Breccia. It ended up with less than 10% eucrite material. I am not at all unhappy about the results. I have never had a diogenite breccia classified for me

As 2023 starts Jason Phillips and I have another meteorite well along the classification trail. It is suspected at present to be a howardite or polymict eucrite. Back in late October Jason contacted me and asked if I was interested in doing another of our fun classification projects. I of course asked a couple of questions and then enthusiastically said

I love Allende meteorites. They are a famous CV3 carbonaceous and a favorite of mine. And after forty years of meteorite lapidary work I have cut many kilos of Allende making hundreds and hundreds of slices. It is chondrule packed and has chondrules of all sizes and colors. It has fantastic CAIs sometimes too. But one thing that Allende as

I rarely have two meteorites in the process of being classified at the same time. But that is exactly what has happened twice during recent months. This story actually begins with a pair of meteorites that Jason Phillips and I bought a year ago and how that transaction changed the way I wanted to do foreign purchases in the future.

Last issue I presented an interview I had with Geoff Notkin regarding the auction of his meteorite collection. After doing the interview and speaking with Geoff several times as the article was put together I got pretty excited myself about the event. I decided it was not something I wanted to miss. So I booked a round-trip ticket to Dallas

The Oscar Monnig Meteorite Gallery is on the campus of Texas Christian University in the Sid Richardson Science Building. Oscar E. Monnig amassed in his life one of the finest private collections of meteorites of his time. He was a man with a lifelong passion for meteorites. The Monnig Meteorite Collection was donated to TCU over eight years from 1978

During the last fifty years of collecting and working with meteorites, I have done many fun things with them. As I cut and prepared them pounds of dust were created. I have made it into pigment for art paints. I put the powder into my handmade paper for the specimen cards of my collection. I did that years ago. I

Most of the readers of this article know by now that I cut a large number of meteorites during a year. I have been particularly busy lately. For the last couple of months, I have been cutting every day. I have stopped cutting for anyone else all this work is just for the Meteorite Exchange our company. I thought for

I spend many days in the lab cutting and preparing meteorites. Often I start at 7 am and work until mid-afternoon or early evening. I am supposed to be retired but the secret of a long successful retirement is to stay really busy. At least that is what some experts say. If you plop your retired butt in front of