Mbale - Uganda Crusted Individual Meteorite - Ordinary Chondrite L5-6 - 20.3g

Mbale is a witnessed fall that fell on August 14, 1992, in the country of Uganda.  It has been classified as an ordinary chondrite L5-6.  Mbale is a very special meteorite for a few reasons.  First, it's a witnessed fall.  Those are always a big deal to most.  The Earth gets hit every day by meteors, but rarely do they survive and make it to huntable land.  Most of the time, they burn up or land in a body of water.  Second, it's known as one of the first meteorites to have a modern representation on the internet.  This was a huge deal back in 1992!  This meteorite fell 2 months before the famous Peekskill, New York witnessed fall which cut the fame of Mbale short.  Mbale is supposedly the 2nd ever hammerstone to hit a human.  It fell around 3:40pm in the town of Mbale and hit a boy on the head after falling through a banana tree.  The boy was not harmed.  Lastly, the locals believed that this meteorite was a gift from God sent to cure AIDS.  During this time in Uganda, the AIDS virus was rampant.  The people of Mbale believed that God gave them this meteorite to cure the virus.  So, they destroyed a lot of the material that was found by grinding it up and ingesting it or making a topical paste out of it. 

This particular piece was once in the Swiss Meteorite Lab Collection.  It's almost 100% crusted and still very fresh!  This is another great piece that is hard to find and rarely ever for sale.  It's the only piece I have.  It comes in a Riker box along with the Swiss Meteorite Lab information card as well as my COA.

The weight of this piece is 20.3 grams.