(Edinburgh, UK)  Lyon & Turnbull partners with Artfact Live! to offer live online bidding on over 100 museum quality meteorites from the Robert Elliott Meteorite Collection August 17, 2011.  The second session in a two-part auction, the sale encompasses The United Kingdom’s largest private collection of meteorites and space artifacts.  The first session was offered in 2009 and brought a combined total of £113,000.  The upcoming August 17 session consists of 101 lots, including Robert Elliott’s most impressive item: a Hambleton Meteorite found while digging in Thursk, North Yorkshire in 2005.  A former electronics engineer, Robert Elliott has spent the last 13 years amassing a world-class collection of meteorites and space artifacts.  For additional information, or to bid live online from anywhere in the world on Artfact Live! please visit www.Artfact.com.

Highlighting the sale is a rare Hambleton Meteorite found in North Yorkshire in 2005.  The meteorite is one of the only two discovered in the UK and is classified as a Pallasite: an extremely rare core shard of a larger asteroid, accounting for just 1% of all known meteorites.  Scientists have speculated that the meteorite has been on earth for approximately 220 years and could be associated with The Great Meteor of August 18th, 1783.  Testing has shown that it contains a previously unknown mineral, classifying Hambleton as the most rare meteorite recovered within the United Kingdom.  Up for auction is the meteorite’s main mass, the largest piece of the Hambleton in existence.  The piece weighs 5.8kg and is estimated to bring  £12,500-£18,000.

Also up for auction is the Holbrook Meteorite, which fell to earth in Holbrook, Arizona (USA) in a loud and explosive meteor shower during the early evening of July 19, 1912. The 2.2kg Holbrook Meteorite offered here is one of the largest specimens recovered from the historic fall of the 190kg original Holbrook meteorite, and is estimated at £4,000 - £5,000.

A 5.0g L’Aigle Meteorite also crosses the block at this important meteorite auction.  The stone meteorite, which fell April 26th, 1803, is considered to have played a major role in the modern understanding and acceptance of the origin of meteorites, and is one of the field’s most highly regarded historical specimens.  The appearance of a bright fireball and loud detonations over the region of Orne, France was widely reported by witnesses and is described in historical texts of the period.  The numerous eyewitness accounts helped to establish beyond a doubt that these “strange stones” did indeed fall from the sky.

A full-color catalog for the sale is available at www.Artfact.com. 

In addition to this important Meteorite auction, Artfact Live! also offers live online bidding at premier auctions around the world.  Artfact Live! bidders benefit from an enhanced, easy-to-use bidding console; a comprehensive auction database; and a powerful search engine that allows bidders to search consignments by keyword, auction house, artist name and more.  To register to bid at this or any other Artfact Live! auction, please visit www.Artfact.com.

Artfact.com is the largest global marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions.  In 2009, Artfact launched two live online bidding platforms, Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! In the UK, allowing users to bid in real-time on auctions held around the world reaching a community of more than 10 million knowledgeable collectors and dealers worldwide. In 2010, Artfact merged with AuctionZip.com, increasing the reach of their platforms to include thousands of auction houses around the country.  Artfact's industry leading database includes more than 57 million complete auction results totaling more than $204 billion in value, including information on more than 500,000 international artists.

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