DRONINO -END PIECE OF AN EXOTIC RUSSIAN METEORITE
Iron, Ataxite.
Kasimovsky Raion, Ryazan Oblast, Russia

This is a select end piece that reveals the internal and external structure of an unusual meteorite. With an exterior that뭩 a deeply burnished gunmetal patina, the cut and polished interior surface reveals a galaxy of inclusions scattered throughout its nickel-iron matrix. A sample of Dronino was first found in 2000 by mushroom hunter Oleg Nikolayevich Guskov. Three years later Oleg Nikolayevich finally visited the Vernadsky Institute in Moscow with what he thought might be a meteorite. Upon the recognition that it was a meteorite, a recovery mission was immediately organized that resulted in a multitude of specimens being collected꿢nd presumably a few mushrooms as well. Dronino is the 111th Russian meteorite to be identified and only the third iron meteorite shower located in Russia in the last 250 years... and the other two are represented in this offering (see lots 11 and 12). A great deal of research is currently being conducted on Dronino, a low nickel ataxite with nodules of sulfide. Based on trace element chemistry, Dronino is classified as an ungrouped iron. For now, the date of impact has been delimited by an absence of historical records of the event. The village of Dronino is located 20 km from the town of Kasimov which was founded in 1152. As nothing was ever written about what would have been, without a doubt, an extremely memborable event of incandescent phenomena, smoketrails and sonic booms, it appears likely that the Dronino shower occurred earlier than the 12th century when the area was unpopulated. This superb aesthetic example was deaccessioned from the privatte collection of a researcher affiliated with the Vernadsky Institute.

Dronino
Iron. Ataxite (ATAX)
Dronino, Kasimovo-Ryazan Region, Russia
In April 2003, a previously-unknown iron meteorite was found with a total recovered weight in excess of 500 kilograms. Dronino is classified as an Ataxite, meaning a high nickel content (when compared to other iron meteorites) and no crystalline pattern when sliced and etched.

Oleg Guskov, who lives in Moscow , first found Dronino when returning home from collecting mushrooms in July 2000 near the village of Dronino . As he walked along a path leading along the edge of a forest, he noticed a rusty piece of metal sticking out of the white clay soil. The meteorite could not be dug out of the clay with a knife, so he returned with a shovel and a wheelbarrow to extract the meteorite and take it home. The specimen sat in the yard for a couple of years, splitting into three pieces. Guskov eventually took it to The Laboratory of Meteoritics in Russia, who, after analysis, determined it to be meteoritic.