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Under construction, coming soon.
Some years ago, I purchased a number of cut fragments of an R-chondrite from an Italian meteorite dealer. He told me they were NWA 4419. When I checked the bulletin later, I found that NWA 4419 consisted of a single fusion-crusted stone.
So, it seemed as though the fragments I purchased were not NWA 4419. But they were all pieces of R-chondrites.
I took a closer look and was able to divide the fragments into groups.
One group was obviously NWA 753. That meteorite is distinctively fresh - on par with the new R5 that's been selling for up to $100/g. It's easy to recognize 753 because of its fresh matrix and great chondrules - it's a type-3.8.
The second group of fragments looked darker and much more similar to NWA 978 - we were able to compare to the main mass, and the stones were indistinguishable. It's a little more weathered, and doesn't exhibit much of a breccia. Many rounded, desert-varnished stones have been sold as NWA 978, but the main mass exhibits only fresh fusion crust and angular breaks, leading me to believe that there has been a large mix-up of NWA R-chondrites.
I don't know if the fellow who sold them to me was the one who submitted NWA 4419 for approval originally (in that case, it would be incorrectly noted as a single stone in the bulletin), or if the seller purchased a bunch of R-chondrite fragments and sold them to me as NWA 4419 because that NWA # had a low total known weight in the books.
Either way, calling them NWA 4419 would be silly, because they're all pieces of older finds. You'll find each piece listed with its correct name below.
NWA 753 R3.8
The freshest R-chondrite to come out of Northwest Africa, and one of the lest-weathered ones on Earth. I know, I know -- there's an R4/5 that recently came out that's about as fresh. Either way, this meteorite (NWA 753) appears internally unweathered.
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