Listees,
Yes to cut a wonderful oriented meteorite hurts. But also the interior
of such a space rock is important: to cut a very nice full slice into
some part slices will destroy a nice collection piece also, especially
if the part slices don't show all features, which were represented by
the full slice. Only a few part slices of a meteorite can show every
better nearly every feature.
Isn't a full slice of a rare meteorite worth the same as a nice heat
shield? For me it is! Isn't a full slice much rarer than all part slices
of the same fall/find and so a very special collection piece? For me it
is!
Just my two cents...
Ingo
>> Don,
>> You touched a nerve there. I hate it when I see an incredible
oriented
>> meteorite and then realize that it has been cut or ground for a
window.
>> I ve seen a couple recently that I would love to have in my
collection
>> and was willing to pay top dollar until I seen the cut ( even on the
>> backside ) and then the value dropped by 80 % in my eyes.
>> All dealers should really know what they are doing before they ruin
an
>> oriented meteorite.
>>
>> Bob
>> - Original Message -
>> From: "Don Rawlings" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To:
>> Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 8:13 PM
>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Samples
>>
>>
>>> Doug and listees:
>>>
>>> I find it amazing that some dealers are only too
>>> willing to destroy the beauty of an oriented meteorite
>>> which is obviously a common type to get it classified
>>> and then refuse to get a rare meteorite classified
>>> because they think it "looks like" something someone
>>> else has.
>>>
>>> How is the collector, or his/her heirs, going to sell
>>> that rare meteorite that was never classified? It may
>>> seem like a bargain at the time to buy a field
>>> classified meteorite but there will come a time when
>>> it will most likely be considered worthless in the
>>> secondary market.
>>>
>>> Your advise is certainly sound.
>>>
>>> Don
>>>
>>> --- mexicodoug <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>
Hi Tim,
OK, I guess the first thing I assumed (and possibly
Mike did, too) was since
you called it a fall it was like Gao-Guenie: a
witnessed fall.
But since you are apparently discussing an
unwitnessed fall from a hot
desert a.k.a. for us, dense collecting area (don't
know where else to get
all those Mars rocks), the best thing to do is to
plot the strewn field. In
the contemporary world that seems so difficult since
we can't even get
location information for one stone that has already
been through maybe
several hands.
So I only see two options or combinations between
them:
1) Don't buy anything that is not documented.
Discourage others supporting
this.
2) Buy everything under an agreement of trust from a
reputable seller and
submit the batch to a scientist and let him/her
minimize the guesswork and
possibly minor tests if doubts come up. Or in a
positive light, to convince
the scientist to say the batch is the same material
or cull out what is not
to arrive at the TKW.
If you want to by Mars without any formal
classification, in the form of
many pebbles, there is no solution except 2),
whether you go it alone or
spread the risk with partners. Because you would
now be representing a rock
that has been subjectively field "classified".
While some people can live
with this, others can't. If you can at least get
locational information for
your specimens, you don't have to give the full
20/20 - or anything for that
matter if enough to meet the combined 20/20 is in
curation as vouchers for
the group after the naming of your material - if a
scientist agrees to
classify and pair it to an existing classification.
This is the motivation
of the newer guidelines.
Some people get mad about subjective classification,
because they broke the
ground on the sample and "invested", while others
are pissed that it is
obvious and common sense dictates the material is
what it is (arguments
like, bought from the same trader, got from the same
nomad, found together):
with no further support except subjective judgements
perceived as strong and
well founded.
This latter may be true, but that still doesn't
remove the reality. Only if
the specimens fit together can this be foolproof.
Even an expert meteorite
hunter scientist can find or purchase a handful of
meteorites in the field
from a known fall and every once in a while a
terrestrial rock can sneak in
that has you fooled like a baby. Let me say it has
happened to me, and it
is a very frustrating and humbling experience. Some
time I'll tell the
story of a meteorwrong that saw me coming it was a
>
