Magura

Name in the NHM catalogue: Magura
Locality*: Slanická osada Námestovo, okres [district] Martin, Žilinský kraj [province], SVK
Co-ordinates: 49° 20' N, 19° 29' E
Fall/find: Find
Date of the find: 1840
Type (level 1): Iron
Type (level 2): Coarse octahedrite
Group: IA
Further data: Bandwith 2.4 mm
Recovered weight: 150 kg (original weight might have reached 1500 kg)
Synonyms*: Arva, Árva, Orava, Slanica, Szalanica, Szlanica, Szlanicza
Remark: Remark: Data from Grady, M. M. (2000): Catalogue of meteorites. 5^th rev. enl. ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Data marked with an asterisk (*) are supplemented or corrected.

History of the find: In 1844, Alajos Horváth, physician of Árva County sent iron specimens, found by János Weisz, manorial engineer, to the Royal Hungarian Society of Natural Science. A commission of the Society found them to be of meteorite origin. The meteoritic iron specimens were found in the gravel and mud deposited by the river Orava at the foot of the Oravská Magura Mts. (The locality is now flooded by the Orava water reservoir.) The blacksmith of Szlanica village had been using the meteorite specimens for making horseshoes and other hardware for years until the meteorite was discovered by the scientific world.