How Do We Know It Is Real?
This is the most practical question anyone can ask before buying a meteorite, and a fair one. Like any market for rare materials, the meteorite trade has its share of misidentified rocks, wishful thinking, and the occasional fraud. Here is how genuine material is actually verified.
Physical signs
Fusion crust. As a meteorite falls through the atmosphere, its surface melts and quickly re-solidifies into a thin, dark exterior layer. On older finds that have sat on the ground for thousands of years, the crust is often weathered away, though traces can remain.
Weight. Iron meteorites are far denser than almost any terrestrial rock. A piece the size of a golf ball feels noticeably heavier than you expect. This is core material from a differentiated asteroid, and density is a defining feature.
Magnetism. A strong rare-earth magnet clings to genuine iron meteorite material, and not weakly. The high iron content makes a firm pull unavoidable. It is a fast, non-destructive first check.
Widmanstätten pattern. Cut, polish, and lightly acid-etch an iron meteorite and it reveals interlocking bands of iron-nickel alloy that form only during extremely slow cooling over millions of years in space. No terrestrial process produces it. This is the definitive visual confirmation.
What FRGMNT° uses
Every fragment comes from verified, classified iron meteorite material sourced from established dealers with documented provenance. You are not buying a rock that looks the part. You are buying verified, classified, extraterrestrial iron.