Most (~88%) stony meteorites are ordinary chondrites. Below are some photos of sawn faces of ordinary chondrites. The brightest materials in each photo are metal grains (veins in “Richarton”). Ordinary chondrites contain iron-nickel metal and, consequently, will attract even a cheap magnet.
Do This
If you have a rock that attracts a cheap ceramic magnet (DO NOT use a rare-earth or neodymium magnet), saw it in two or saw off an “end” with a tile saw or lapidary saw to see what’s inside. DO NOT use a file or abrasive rotary drill. If it is a meteorite then metal grains should be easily visible on a sawn surface. You should be able to see SAW MARKS in the metal, as in several of the photos below. Sawing a meteorite does not necessarily decrease its value. All meteorites need to be sawed in order to obtain a classification. One experienced meteorite finder and dealer once told me, “Every time I saw a meteorite, I’ve increased its value.”
If there is no metal, then the rock is not a meteorite.
The meteorite above violates a number of the recognition principles that I stress in “Some Meteorite Realities.” There is no obvious fusion crust. The surface is not glassy or shiny and there are no regmaglypts. It is clearly a broken fragment of a larger meteorite. If you look closely at the upper image, however, there are shiny metal grains along all the protuberances (points, ridges) because these areas have been abraded from handling. Also, the specific gravity is 3.42, well within the range of ordinary chondrites.
This is one of many fragments of ordinary chondrite from Algeria known as Northwest Africa 869 (L3.6, 2 tons). On the top, the fusion crust is still intact. Notice that it is smooth with no holes. The rougher portion on the bottom of the photo is where the meteorite fractured after it fell. This meteorite probably also fell thousands of years ago and has been exposed to harsh conditions in the desert. Note that there is no obvious metal. L chondrites do not contain as much metal as H chondrites. The rock does attract a magnet, however.