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While searching for meteorites over the last two decades, nomads and professional meteorite-hunters have recovered tens of thousands of meteorites of various types. Many terrestrial rocks will mimic the appearance of a meteorite, so these "meteorwrongs" are often mixed in by accident with large bulk shipments as they hit the wholesale market. Occasionally one of these imposter meteorites will find itself in the hands of a dealer who cuts it open to reveal it's true nature.
This piece has all of the right criteria to be a meteorite - fusion crust, heavy for it's size, and strong attraction to a magnet. I guessed this stone was an H5 or H6 chondrite, based on the appearance of the specimen - it looked just like hundreds of such NWA chondrites I had cut over the years.
When I broke off a small piece from a corner, the inner matrix looked all wrong - no metal flakes or inclusions, and no chondrules. Apparently the crust was actually a wind polished layer of desert varnish - an outer layer of terrestrial minerals deposited by thousands of years of exposure to the desert winds.
However, not all is lost, because this stone would make a great display or outreach prop. It is a tool for showing how normal Earth rocks can resemble a meteorite and fool an experienced eye. This specimen is probably made of a magnetite or hematite-related material.
This specimen weighs a substantial 636 grams, and is the size of a grapefruit. Refer to the photos. The black centimeter cube is shown for scale and is not included.
