NEA 002 / Anomalous IID Meteorite

NEA 002 is the official name for this unique anomalous iron from North East Africa (Libya). It has an incredible, fractal like etch pattern like nothing you have ever seen before. It has been classified as a extremely rare, anomalous IID-an by UCLA (see description below). NEA 002 is one of only three IID-an irons in the Meteorite Bulletin making this an extremely RARE classification, and NEA 002 has by far the lowest TKW of any IID-an meteorite! When UCLA first received the type specimen they noted that it possessed a "truly striking structure". The total known weight before cutting was only 5.48 kg, and after cutting, and sanding losses of around 30%, and the generous type specimen set aside for study, there is not much of this spectacular iron left to go around.

Professor John Wasson's comments on NEA 002:
It does not show the characteristic structure of IID iron. This is a high-Ir (21 mg/g), low-Au (0.56 mg/g) iron so one would expect it to have a band-width of about 0.7 mm. Instead it consists of small domains 0.81 X 2 cm, filled with fine-Widmanstatten pattern of kamacite bandlets, often in parallel clusters of several bands, each ~0.2 mm wide. No inclusions are visible. Cracks are present between several of the domains. Composition similar to that of IID-An Arltunga, which has an anomalous (but still finer) structure.
The elemental composition, as determined by UCLA: Cr 138 µg/g, Co 6.6 mg/g, Ni 101 mg/g, Cu 260 µg/g, Ga 71 µg/g, As 4.1 µg/g, Sb low ng/g, W 3.1 µg/g, Ir 21 µg/g, Au 0.56 µg/g.

The following beautiful specimens of NEA 002 are currently available. Click on the links below for more photos, and prices.