Registry:	AE069
Mineral Name:	Somervell County
Source:	Texas
Mineral Size:	254.87g
Sale Price:	$3,000.00
Description:

The entry in the Meteoritical Society records is very short:
Three masses were found in 1919. They were recognised as meteoritic in 1937.

In fact we do know quite a bit more.

According to the records kept by Oscar Monnig and now archived at Texas Christian University, in Fort Worth, Texas:

In 1919 the West family was clearing out a new field southwest of Glenn Rose, in Somervell County, when the plough got hung on a heavy rock some 8 inches (20 cm) below ground. A mule was used to pull it out, it was a metallic mass broken in 3 pieces by the plough. Oscar Monnig went there in April 1937 and purchased the whole thing. Because of the brittle, weathered condition of the meteorite, he was advised to get it encased in a brand new product: Lucite. A letter dated 1942 from the Bakelite Company states that they had been able to do the work yet because of shortages caused by the war effort. But according to another letter in the archives,  the work was finally done in 1943 by the Neville Co. in Pittsburgh. However the meteorite did not stay whole for very long, it continued to oxidize internally and eventually broke apart.

(Personal communication from Dr. Arthur Ehlmann, Curator of the Monnig Collection, TCU, Fort Worth, Texas.)

 

The fragments for sale here were extracted from the mass still kept at TCU, and have been treated with VCI (Volatile Corrosion Inhibitors). 

 

Fragment, about 97 x 53 x 33 mm.