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Acquisition No.: 2021-22
Title: Meteorite; Mount Joy
Item History:

The largest meteorite ever found east of the Mississippi River (and the third largest ever found in the United States) was discovered about 2.5 miles south of Bonneauville. The finder was one Jcob Snyder; the year was 1887. At the time, the young Smithsonian Institute was not interested in purchasing the object. The exceptional mineral content of the meteorite made it quite interesting to the Austrians who purchased it in nearly the condition in which Mr. Snyder found it. Parts of the behemoth can now be found at museums around the world. Austrian, Hungarian, British, and US institutions house parts of the space rock. Several universities in the US have samples.

Several smaller sized examples have made in into public sales realm. The 123.1 gram sample in this collection (Cat. No. 2021-22) is a fine example. Ownership provenance of this sample includes David New, Jim Schwade meteorite Collection, Jay Platek Meteorite Collection, Brian A. Smith, Thomasville, PA Artifact Collection, and Karl Orndorff, Bonneauville Museum Collection.

An example of the Mount Joy Meteorite is said to be in possession of the current owner of the property on which the space traveling rock was originally found.

Specifications for the 2021-22 meteorite follows:

Name.........Mt. Joy

Locality......Pennsylvania

Class............Coarse Octahedrite

Found..........1887

Total Known Weight....350 kg.

Weight of Specimen....123 grams

Source........David New, 5-94.

See the book "Bonneauville History and Lore", and Cat. No's. 1985-07 and 2999-02 (this file) for related information. The Adams County Historic Society has in its collection, samples of the Mt. Joy Meteorite as well as additional information on the piece.

Photograph: Image  Image
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