Outstanding specimen Herbert! Rarely has such a nice piece of Ensisheim been offered, especially on ebay. As THE Historic meteorite, I suspect that what we are watching in this auction right now is one of the last of the great offerings of this famous stone.
Ensisheim has no bigger fan than myself, and to see such a great slice in the process of exchange is like watching one generation hand the keys of wisdom to the children of the next. For those of us in the I-have-a-nice-piece-of-Ensisheim-club, past membership reads like a history book of famous Who's Who. Here is a brief excerpt about the great stone simply known as Ensisheim: "In 1492, a meteorite fell in a field near the city of Ensisheim. Only a young boy saw the fall at a place called Les Octrois Laubourg, south of Ensisheim. When the inhabitants were informed of this event, everyone wanted to keep a fragment of it, considering this as a divine sign.. Twenty days later, King Maximilien of Austria, in conflict with the King of France Charles VIII, heard about the stone. He used thus supernatural phenomenon like a divine sign announcing a forthcoming victory of his armies and ordered that the meteorite was hung in the chorus of the church of Ensisheim. In 1794, it was transported to the Museum of Colmar and, in 1804, the town of Ensisheim recovered its trophy which weighed then no more that 55kg. Fifty years later, after the collapse of the bell-tower of the church, the meteorite was kept in the Palate of Regency. Nowadays, the block remaining, weighing 53.831kg, is protected by the "Brotherhood of Saint-Georges of the Guardians of the Meteorite of Ensisheim". It is about the first well documented fall ever observed." When this auction nears its close on June 25th, I suggest we all gather around our computers, a glass of French wine in hand, and toast the entrusting of Ensisheim to its newest caretaker (unless, of course, it's Dean B. Then God help us all! (;- ) Cheers, Martin On 6/19/06, Herbert Raab <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear fellow collectors, I have listed an excellent slice of the Ensisheim meteorite from my personal collection on eBay. The 3.88g slice shows nice brecciation features, and even fusion crust is present along one edgle. It's the best "small" slice I came across in 20+ years of collection. But I have changed the focus of my collection recently, concentrating on fewer, large display pieces, and so I let this beauty go. The reservce price is set to ~70% of what I originally paid for this piece some years ago at the Munich fair. I admit that the piece was not a steal, but well worth that. :-) Simply search for "Ensisheim" on ebay, or follow that link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Ensisheim-meteorite-excellent-part-slice-3-88g_W0QQitemZ6638814618QQihZ012QQcategoryZ3239QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Thanks for looking, Herbert Raab ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
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