posted 04-01-2006 04:38 AM               

The ground meteorite has been applied to the stamp by the Austrian State Printing Company using a method specially developed for this purpose. The meteorite was first examined by the Vienna Natural History Museum, an institution that has acquired an excellent international reputation through over 200 years of collecting and investigating meteorites, and identified as being H-chondrite (a stone meteorite, subgroup of “ordinary chondrite”). The Vienna Natural History Museum’s examination provides proof beyond doubt that an original meteorite has been used for the stamp. The meteorite most probably originated from the Asteroid Belt, an accumulation of hundreds of thousands of chunks of stone, ranging in size from gravel stones to mountains, that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter (at an orbital radius around three times the distance between the earth and the sun).
The chemical composition of the mineral olivine (stated as Fa18) is typical of this kind of meteorite, and can be verified by examining the meteorite dust on the stamp. The chemical and physical properties of the meteorite examined, like all other meteorites, are such that they constitute no risk to human health.
The part of the roughly 19 kg meteorite that was not required for the production of the stamp has been deposited as a reference sample at the Vienna Natural History Museum, where it is on display.

I have a few of these souvenir sheets and its FDC for sale:
Souvenir sheet **: 7,50 Euro
FDC: 8,40 Euro
plus postage.

If interested, contact me at JPEsders at web.de