METEORITE AMERICANA, THE ORIGINAL TITLE TO THE PEEKSKILL METEORITE CAR, AND PART OF THE CAR. Chondrite - H6 . Peekskil...

Description

METEORITE AMERICANA, THE ORIGINAL TITLE TO THE PEEKSKILL METEORITE CAR, AND PART OF THE CAR
Chondrite - H6
Peekskill, New York - (41° 17'N, 73° 55'W)
The previous two lots survey what happens to Earth following an asteroid impact. And when a meteorite, a far smaller object, punctures Earth's atmosphere and is on a trajectory to hit a car-then what happens? It goes through the car. In this case, both become a museum exhibit that tours the world, with a lengthy stint at New York Citys American Museum of Natural History.

On October 9, 1992, in Peekskill, NY, almost precisely twenty years ago, a 12 kilogram meteorite hit the parked car of 18 year-old Michelle Knapp. Minutes earlier, the fiery descent of the Peekskill meteorite was videotaped from multiple cities across the northeastern United States as video cameras trained on Friday night high school football games turned skyward to capture the rocketing fireball. Only a handful of meteorite falls have been caught on film - and none have been captured from nearly as many angles as Peekskill's sixteen different perscpectives. As a result of this dual pedigree, Peekskill is among the most famous meteorites in the world. Now offered is the original title to the red Chevy Malibu, which was purchased by Knapp from her grandmother for just $400 the week prior to her accident-which turned out to be rather fortuitous: Knapp sold the car within a week for 25 times her outlay. And no, you don't get the car-but you do get the bulb from the rear tail-light that exploded when the car's trunk was punctured by the meteorite, recovered by legendary meteorite dealer Ray Meyer (pictured). Now offered are two one-of-a-kind collectibles from one of the world's most famous fender benders and what the Science Channel has deemed a member of the Top 10 Meteorites. This lot is accompanied by a DVD featuring all sixteen videos taken of the descent of the Peekskill fireball.

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