I've recently returned from a couple of weeks in Scotland including an excellent visit with Rob Elliott. We did drink beer, actually Guinness Stout, at "room temperature" (which is the correct temp for Guinness) although he had all of the windows of his home open such that the ambient temperature was to the chilly degree that we burn wood in our Florida fireplaces. He did not offer any "haggis," but they are routinely served in Scotland and I had them a few times. If the amount of oatmeal is minimal and a fair amount of nutmeg is added, they are quite tolerable, especially with a wee dram of single barrel, malt whisky as a chaser. Accompanied by some poetry by "Rabbie" Burns and a little bagpipe music, it's almost enough to make one don a kilt. Almost.
Anyway, Rob has one of the planet's most magnificent private collections, over 300 locations and he's recently traded w/Monica for Aubres, the type specimen for Aubrites. It fell September 14, 1836, at 3 in the afternoon in Nyons, Drome, France. A single stone of about 800 grams was collected. The NHM (London) has 440 grams less at least 10% traded off. Rob received 28.41 grams in trade making him the second largest repository (!) of this material. This specimen can be viewed at his website. By its own regulation, the NHM can no longer trade more Aubres. The Cat of Mets lists only 500 gms. remaining in all repositories. Only Moscow and Budapest have amounts of more than 20 grams so the likelyhood of more coming on the market from those sources is minimal. Rob has told me that what's available on his website is all that he will cut and sell. It is my belief that less than 32 grams are in the public domain, making this key piece virtually out-of-reach for most collectors. I traded for an exquisite 1.4gms. with Rob which I treasure and am keeping, and another 0.150 gms. available here today. A very healthy micro, it's a freshly sliced fragment measuring 9 x 6 x 1.5mm. The price is $300, same as on Rob's website, and I will also entertain trades for Barbotan, Pasamonte AEUC, LA001, the "new nakhlite",Gujba bencubanite, Alais, Krasnojarsk (w/olivine) or Siena. I will pass on a photo of the specimen (courtesy of Rob) to interested parties. Regards, Kevin Kichinka Fort Myers, Florida ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
