Meteorite :

I cannot explain this any other way.I have been through all the books on minerals etc and comprehensive guides and better or more knowledgable minds than mine have tried to identify what this is but no one can so far.

It does not correspond with anything i have ever seen.

It is heavy for its size and is the colour of lead yet the crystal formations are totally unlike lead ore [galena etc].The crystal formations are elongated and very thin but dont seem to form a typical shape as they are all massed together randomly and some appear to be hollow and are crossed over each other in no particular order and at conflicting angles.They seem more like layers than crystals.It is metallic in appearance.

Its 4" across.

It smells like matches or fireworks or gunpowder yet it wont burn when exposed to a flame.Normal heat temperatures dont affect its integrity at all so it must have been exposed to an extreme temperature and even that had very little effect.


It seems to be a part of something as either end of it has a scorched pitted surface that looks like it has been exposed to intense heat as the material itself is very hard.The heat burned surface extends to about 1 cm below the surface.this is not the symptom of having been formed or exposed to volcanic activity either
.

It needs to be analysed more.

I say its hard but if i scratch it leaves a grey deposit like graphite.

Weird .

It came out of an abandoned folly in the grounds of a country house in Sussex.it was called the shell house and the walls inside were covered in shells and mineral specimens and crystals that were bedded into the plaster.A lot of them had fallen out and were lying on the floor with all the crumbling plaster.Some of the rocks and minerals were deteriorating.The surface of the shells that were important specimens were ruined by a white bloom on the surface that was impossible to remove.The whole thing was unrestorable.The shells and rocks and cora were probably a collection from someones grand tour.

I took a few home.