This meteorite originates from the second largest meteorite shower of the last several thousand years. Its journey began when two asteroids collided, resulting in the liberation of a metallic iron core that then wandered through interplanetary space for 385 million years before encountering Earth on February 12, 1947. Slamming into our atmosphere at 10:38 AM local time, the mass produced a fireball brighter than the Sun as it broke apart and sailed over Siberia’s Sikhote-Alin Mountains. As a result of the increasing pressure exerted on the largest mass, another explosion occurred at a very low altitude and the shockwaves from this explosion collapsed chimneys, shattered windows and uprooted trees. Sonic booms were heard more than 300 kilometers away and a smoke trail 33 km long persisted in the sky for hours. A famous painting of the event by artist and eye-witness P. I. Medvedev was reproduced as a postage stamp issued by the Soviet government in 1957 to commemorate what many witnesses likened to what was seemingly the end of the world. There are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: the more sought-after scalloped specimens (that broke free of the main mass in the upper atmosphere) and the jagged and twisted specimens (that resulted from the low-altitude explosion). This is an example of the former. Wrapped in a deep pewter-hued patina with charcoal accents and chrome highlights, this meteorite is completely covered with regmaglypts — the artifact of atmospheric frictional heating during its solitary fiery plunge through our atmosphere. Iron meteorites are rare. They represent less than 2% of all meteorites. Only 49 irons are witnessed falls which represent merely 3.4% of the 2%. From one of the most historic meteorite showers since the dawn of civilization, now offered is a quintessential Sikhote Alin meteorite. Christie's would like to thank Dr. Alan E. Rubin at the Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles for