Most of our North West Africa (NWA) meteorites are Chondrites: stony (non-metallic) meteorites that have not been modified due to melting or differentiation of the parent body. These specimens are from areas such as Morocco, the Sahara desert, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Libya, plus a few others. Many meteorites fall in the same areas - where there is one meteorite, there is often many. Classified meteorites are identified by naming where they come from, yet this identification process is counterproductive for the meteorite hunters. For example, imagine you find a nice meteorite in the desert, but in order to sell it, you must tell everyone the exact coordinates where you found it. You will certainly sell that one specimen, however when you return to the area to search for more, you would find a bunch of other people in that area also looking for meteorites. This unwanted competition among meteorite hunters has led to a certain amount of secrecy as to the location of where each meteorite is found. After all, if you found gold, you wouldn't run around telling everyone where precisely it was. This is why the meteorite community came up with the NWA designation for these "unclassified" meteorites. It protects the hunters from having to reveal the locations of their finds, yet still allows collectors to have a NWA meteorite. "Unclassified" does not mean "Unverified" - in fact, each NWA meteorite goes through a great deal of scrutiny and testing before it is officially classified and sold as a meteorite. Dimensions: 62 mm x 60 mm x 50 mm. Weight: 196 grams. Genuine meteorite. This item includes an information card about the meteorite. A certificate of authenticity is included with this item. This meteorite requires special care - due to its high iron content, exposure to water and other chemicals, such as cleaning products or aerosols, may cause the meteorite to rust over time. If you polish the meteorite, use a dry cloth only, or an air duster that does not contain any disinfectant or other chemicals.
