METEORITE MUONIONALUSTA Silver Coin 5$ Cook Islands 2011
The spectacular Muonionalusta meteorite is predestined to be immortalised on the latest and very interesting coin edition 2011 of Cook Islands with an authentic piece of stone inlaid. It depicts a meteorite impact in vivid colours with particular design. This unique and extremely rare coin features an insert of a piece of Muonionalusta meteorite with its beautiful Widmanstätten patterns. The coins obverse depicts the Raphael Maklouf effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the monetary denomination. Meteorite MUONIONALUSTA Meteorite showers, which fall toward the earth, occur daily. However, only some make it to the surface of our planet. Most of them disintegrate in the atmosphere. The discoveries of these meteorites are special in every occasion. By coincidence two boys discovered this special meteorite from outer space in Muonionalusta, Sweden. The Muonionalusta meteorite is, a rather unstable, rust prone iron meteorite. It was originally discovered in 1906 near Kiruna, Sweden. This meteorite is classified as a fine (IVA) Octahedrite, and has beautiful etch patterns that resemble those of the Gibeon meteorite. On closer inspection the texture of the surface catches ones eye first. The very technical looking structure occurs by an extreme slow cooling down from 1 up to 100 degrees per million years – an unimaginable slow process. The Widmanstätten patterns, (called also Thomson structures) named after the Austrian natural scientist Alois Widmanstätten (1754 -1849), are only visible when handled with nitric acid. These unique structures cannot be reproduced artificially and are therefore a clear identifying feature for meteorite iron. The item “METEORITE MUONIONALUSTA Silver Coin 5$ Cook Islands 2011″ is in sale since Wednesday, March 15, 2017. This item is in the category “Coins & Paper Money\Coins\ World\Australia & Oceania\South Pacific”. The seller is “powercoin_italy” and is located in Roma. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Circulated/Uncirculated: Uncirculated
- Year: 2011
- Composition: Silver
- Country/Region of Manufacture: Cook Islands