Large holes

If it is stony and contains large holes, then it is not a meteorite

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Stony meteorites

With very few exceptions (below) stony meteorites do not contain centimeter-size (or larger) holes or pits. Meteorite regmaglypts are shallow, not deep like the holes in the photos below. All the photos below were sent to me by persons inquiring if the object in the photo was a meteorite. None of them are meteorites. Note that none of them has a fusion crust.

Some exceptions

Stony meteorites

Here are photos of a few meteorites with large holes. For the two lunar meteorites, the holes are likely a weathering effect where a large clasts fell out of the stone. For, Oued Namous 001, the hole is a volcanic vug (large gas bubble). See also Vesicles in Meteorites.

NWA 15343 (lunar) | Touat 008 (lunar) | Oued Namous 001 (angrite)

Iron meteorites

Some iron meteorites have large holes

The Willamette (15.5 tons) iron meteorite on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, (early 1900’s?). Photo credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
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