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Hoba (Grootfontein, Namibia) IVB (iron) Found 1920

Personally Collected In 1929 By The British Museum's "Keeper of Minerals". Most noted for being the largest complete meteorite known, this is what the new 5th edition Catalogue of Meteorites has to say about Hoba: A mass measuring over 9x9x3.2 feet, of very ductile iron, was found on a farm 12 miles west of Grootfontein. The main mass remains at the place of fall. Weight estimated from measurements at 60 tonnes.

The Hoba mass still lies where it fell in prehistoric times and is now a Namibian national monument. The following Hoba specimens are non-metallic shale slabs, slices and fragments, and were removed and collected from the Hoba mass by Dr.L.J.Spencer, F.R.S., Keeper of Minerals at the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum), in 1929 - the B.M. (Mineral Dept.) Reg.No. for these specimens is 1929,1963 and the old museum label (click the link) describes the total 2923g collected as "Meteoric 'Iron Shale'".

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