The Meteorite Hunters: Beauty Unearthed

Meteorites are a rare stone that have travelled throughout the galaxies before falling to Earth. They are older than our own planet, and for centuries have fascinated us with their power and mysticism. The Reliq team is privileged to be able to work with such unique stones, crafting them into contemporary accessory designs to bring and share to the modern world. However none of this would be possible without the skilled people who devote themselves to hunting these rare stones. We spoke to husband-and-wife team Thomas and Mica, who are the incredible people working behind the scenes to unearth meteorites.

How long have you been meteorite hunters?

Thomas: 17 years now. We starting doing this together and we’ve doing this together all along ever since. Before that we sourced crystals – so 25 years in total.

Where do you find is the best place to source meteorites?

Thomas: One of the best places is where we are now, which is Lapland in the absolute northern point of Sweden. North of the Arctic Circle. So now we have the midnight sun up here. There’s also millions of mosquitoes! You need a net when you’re outside. So it can be hard in the field – mentally and physically.

Mica: We travel a lot, but the place we prefer most is up here. We also go all around the glove finding stuff. But the best place is right out here in our backyard, in a way. About 2000 km north of our home. But it’s still Sweden.

Thomas: In Lapland, we are usually around three to four months. And then when we are out in the field, we are usually out about 10 to 12 hours every day and travel about 15 to 20 km a day. With huge metal detectors. So we are just here over the summer usually June, July and August. It’s too cold in winter – it gets down to 40 degrees below. During the other times of the year we go to other places. In South America, South Africa, Australia, California – so all over the place. And before we used to the Middle East before it got too complicated.

Thomas: It’s a huge metal detector. It has a huge frame – 2m by 2m and 3m by 3m. And there are large search coils. And we carry this around with us up to 20km a day waiting for a sound. And the price for this equipment is around 6000 Euros (A$10,000). We have about seven other metal detectors.

Mica: It’s quite an investment.

Thomas: Your arms get a little bit like spaghetti by the end of the day, carrying it around.

         

What was your favourite meteorite find?

Thomas: One of the highlights, maybe 10 years ago, we found a 174 kg meteorite. It was totally hollow inside. And it had a bowl shape and when you hit it with a hammer it sounds like a church bell. There was a lot of digging to extract it. It was four metres deep. So I dig down and Mica takes out the soil and put the soil in a bucket, empties the bucket and sends it back down
to me again, until we get the meteorite.

Mica: And my favourite was a meteorite that was totally shaped like a heart. And
sometimes the signal is so huge with a big find that you can’t wait to find it. But it
doesn’t happen very often.

  

Do you wear any meteorite jewellery or collect any meteorite memorabilia?

Mica: I have so much meteorite jewellery, I don’t have space anymore! And because of the shows we attend, we get to meet a lot of jewellery designers. There’s a really special pair of earrings by a famous jewellery designer that is one of my favourites. And this designer makes jewellery for famous people in Hollywood – like meteorite slices with white gold and diamonds. And there’s also one special ring I really like as well. But I have so many favourites it’s hard to choose.

Our team feel so lucky to be able to work with this incredible duo, and we eagerly await their next cosmic find!