Iron nickel meteorite from the 1947 Russian Sikhote-Alin strike. On February 12, 1947, one of the largest meteor showers in recent history occurred in the Sikhote-Alin mountains of Russia.The meteorite exploded in the atmosphere as it fell, raining many tons of metal on an elliptical region about 1 square mile in area creating many craters some as large as 60 feet in diameter.Eyewitnesses observed a large body brighter than the sun that came out of the north and descended at an angle of about 41 degrees. The bright flash and the deafening sound of the fall were observed for about 200 miles around the point of impact and a smoke trail, estimated at 20 miles long, remained in the sky for several hours.As the meteorite, traveling at a speed of about 9 miles per second, entered the atmosphere, it began to break apart, and the fragments fell together. At an altitude of about 3 1/2 miles, the largest mass apparently broke up in a violent explosion.On November 20, 1957 Russia issued a stamp for the 10th anniversary of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite shower. It reproduces a painting by P. J. Medvedev, a Soviet artist who witnessed the fall: he was sitting in his window starting a sketch when the fireball appeared, so he immediately began drawing what he saw.The Sikhote-Alin meteorite is classified as an iron meteorite composed of approximately 93% iron and 5.9% nickel.Shipping in the US mainland will be FREE by USPS first class.