Sometimes when a meteorite falls through the Earth's atmosphere features called regmaglypts form on the surface. These look like thumbprints - e.g., pressing your thumb into play dough. Regmaglypts Fusion Crust Caddo County, Oklahoma. 1987 Shaw Meteorite - Lincoln County, Colorado. It isn't always easy to identify a meteorite even using the properties discussed above, because common terrestrial rocks and man-made materials share some of the same characteristics.
Lets look at some areas where confusion can arise.
Objects such as iron grinding balls often have a smooth rounded appearance and may be thought be meteorites. Lumps of iron slag from smelting processes can also have some similarities to meteorites, so it is important to be careful. The major difference between iron produced by human activity and meteoritic iron is the presence of the element nickel. Iron metal in all meteorites contains at least some nickel whereas man-made metal objects do not. In addition, the interior structure of iron meteorites is unique and unlike any man made metal alloys.