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The Moon, lunar feldspathic breccia
Sahara Desert, Mauritania
54 mm (2 inches) in diameter
228.6 grams (0.5 lbs)
NWA 12691 is a quintessential lunar breccia — fragments of different lunar materials naturally 'cemented' together as a result of the pressure and heat from repeated impacts on the lunar surface. One such impact ejected the rock from which this sphere was made off the lunar surface into space before it landed on Earth.
The Moon is among the rarest objects on Earth; every single bit could fit in the back of a pickup truck. In 2017 a significant fraction of all lunar meteorites was found in a northwest African strewn field. It doubled the amount of all lunar meteorites known to exist at the time — and it’s only due to the relatively large amount of NWA 12691 that the possibility of rendering spheres exists.
To explain, the conservatorship of one of the rarest substances known is critical and rocks more massive than the final sphere are required in the sphere-making process due to the trimming and grinding involved. There is an insufficient amount of material from other lunar samples other than NWA 12691 to experience such material loss in the fabrication of spheres, and it may be decades before another lunar meteorite with a sufficiently high total known weight will be found to provide the possibility of additional spheres. This sphere was fashioned by artisan Martin Roberts, a master sphere fabricator and protégé of Dr. Robert Ritchie, author of the standard source “The Sphere Maker’s Craft."
NWA 12691 is composed of fragments of olivine, pigeonite, augite, ilmenite and signature white anorthite naturally cemented together by a melt of lunar regolith and other crushed rock. Scientists are readily able to identify Moon rocks by analyzing a rock's texture, mineralogy, chemistry and isotopic signatures. As an added reference, this specimen is nearly identical to some of the material returned to Earth by Apollo astronauts. An exceedingly limited and captivating presentation of the Moon.
Provenance: Dr. Lawrence Stifler Collection of Meteorites, Brookline, MA.
The analysis of this meteorite was conducted by Dr. Anthony Irving. The classification was published in the 108th edition of the Meteoritical Bulletin — the official registry of meteorites — which accompanies this offering.
