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English: One of my other faves from the recent Michael Farmer auction, this 3.4 kg Canyon Diablo meteorite has a 5mm diamond inclusion sticking out of the face that could not be cut by the saw. Garvie wrote to him: “Our research shows that the Canyon Diablo diamond is something even rarer and possibly harder - a material we have called diaphite.”

The Canyon Diablo meteorites have been known and used by pre-historic Native Americans, and collected and studied by the scientific community since the 19th century. Who knew, there was crystal healing placebos within. :)

From the Feb 2022 paper on Canyon Diablo’s diaphite: “Diamond is predicted to have a very high tensile strength, but it undergoes brittle fracture due to defects and the cleavage planes in its crystalline lattice. However, the graphitic layers within the diaphite structures will absorb the energy of a propagating crack resulting in fracture toughened ceramic behavior.” This and other strange light absorption and thermoelectric effects are described there.

From the Christies’ description: “Canyon Diablo contains small diamonds formed from embedded graphite nodules by tremendously energetic collisions on its parent body. Prized by museums and private collectors everywhere, Canyon Diablo ("Canyon of the Devil") meteorites are the quintessential American meteorite. Like most meteorites, this specimen originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Approximately 49,000 years ago, it was part of an errant asteroid that plowed into the Arizona desert with the force of more than 100 atomic bombs. Fragments were ejected more than 11 miles away from the point of impact and the main mass vaporized, creating the most famous and best-preserved meteorite crater in the world—the renowned Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona. The crater is nearly a mile across and 600 feet deep.”

150 mm x 100 mm x 70 mm (6 x 4 x 23⁄4 in.), 3.4 kg.