Retuerta del Bullaque meteorite. Slice
Retuerta del Bullaque meteorite. Slice
| Weight | 190 grams |
|---|---|
| Found | Spain, 1980 |
$3.800
1 in stock
Description
For sale the slice with code 9.1.
Retuerta del Bullaque is an iron meteorite from Spain. It weighed 100 kilos when found in 1980 by Faustino Asensio. Faustino said that he and his father used to rest under a tree in their farmland while taking care of their herd. Once he saw a weird-looking stone and tried to lift it. He couldn’t and that was weird for him. The stone remained there for several more years. During this time, the meteorite was being used as a bench to rest under the tree. Sometimes Faustino and his friends used to play to see who was able to lift it off the ground.
Finally, they took it to the town because they thought it was remainings of the Spanish civil war. In their town, Retuerta del Bullaque, the family had a bar and the stone was used to press Spanish hams for over 15 years. One day, a friend of Faustino’s sister passed by the bar, and he turned out to be a worker of the Museo Geominero of Spain, in Madrid. He was the first person to recognize it as a possible meteorite. Specialized staff from the museum went to Retuerta del Bullaque and recognized it as a meteorite.
In 2011, they took the piece to the museum to analyze it. They cut 2 pieces totaling 10 kilos. They also made 3 very realistic casts. One remains in the Museo Geominero, one is in a local museum and another one was given to the family and still can be seen today in their bar as a tourist claim. The remaining meteorite was given back to the family and results were published.
Retuerta del Bullaque was classified as an IAB iron and the third largest iron from Spain. The family had several offers to buy the meteorite but none succeeded. The story was crazy for such a small town in the middle of Castilla-La Mancha (Don Quixote’s land), and the town got full of journalists for several days. There are many press articles about this meteorite in several languages.
Certificate of authenticity included. IMCA 5591.
Do not miss this opportunity!
