Avanhandava is a stone not usually represented in private collections, and even more rarely in anything larger than a gram or two. The distribution of Avanhandava is very low even though there are over nine kilograms in circulation.
Avanhandava fell in San Paulo, Brazil in 1952. It is listed as an H4, S2, and despite it’s mundaneness, Avanhandava has found its way into a handful of research studies.
There are much better looking chondrites then Avanhandava. In fact, most stones, even those pulled from the hot sands are more enjoyable to gaze at. Avanhandava as represented in most collections is little more than a friable rust-tinted blob with occasional distinct chondrites.
Initial reports stated that the mass of Avanhandava that arrived on earth was 30cm in diameter. However, it broke up and 9.3kg were preserved. According to the Catalogue of Meteorites, of those few kilos, the largest pieces are 7.74kg in Colegio Estadual, 1.59kg in Avanhandava, 3.1kg in the USNM. Since that totals 12.42kg, but the first two weights exactly total the listed TKW, I assume that some subdividing has occurred within the limited sub 10kg initial report.
Avanhandava is certainly not a looker, but it does represent a half-century old witnessed fall. And any witnessed fall is a good fall in my book.
Until next time….
