The discovery and recovery history of the Ban Cho Lae, Thailand meteorite On October 29, 2006, I purchased a 3580 gram stony meteorite from Rev. Paul Dodge, a retired Baptist missionary who, with his wife Winnie (a nurse), had served in Thailand in the 1970’s working with the Karen and Lahu people in the northern part of that country. The decision to purchase this supposed meteorite was based solely on photos that I had of the stone in question. The meteorite had not been classified but it was obvious that it was a meteorite from the photos of the stone. (After I purchased the stone I found out that Rev. Dodge subsequently donated a generous portion of the purchase price of the stone to the mission in Chiang Mai where he had served). The stone had obvious signs of having been displayed in the home of Rev. Dodge for many years. When I received it, the upper part of the stone was covered with the years of accumulated layers of old dust and oily grime and was spattered with white house paint presumably from periodically repainting the living room over the span of the 31 years that the stone sat on display in the Dodge home. The more naturally even side of the stone had been thickly coated with a resin or lacquer (?) in order to provide a flat stable base on which to rest and to prevent scratching of the surface it was displayed upon. The original cut surface was left as is and oriented vertically to show the interior of the stone. Upon receiving the stone, I sent a type sample to Dr. Albert Jambon at the University of Paris and the sample was determined to be an H5 S0 W1 meteorite. Clay/fine brown mud samples still found embedded in the fusion crust and recesses of the stone were also found to be typical of that part of northern Thailand. The stone was discovered by two Lahu tribesmen while cutting wild rattan in the forest near the village of Ban Cho Lae in northern Thailand in February of 1975. The Lahu tribesmen who found the stone transported it 20 miles to the south and showed it to their missionary, Rev. Paul Dodge in the city of Chiang Mai to see if it was worth any money. Paul Dodge purchased the stone from the two Lahu tribesmen and took it to the Geology Department at the University of Chiang Mai and showed to Acharn Suchit (Acharn is the Thai word for Professor) who was the Professor of Geology at the time. When Acharn Suchit saw the stone, he asked for permission to remove a portion of the stone for testing and subsequent donation to the university geology department and Paul Dodge agreed to do so. After the stone was cut and tested in the geology department lab, Acharn Suchit told Paul that the stone contained a lot of metal and alteration minerals and was therefore most likely a meteorite. In order to confirm without question the authenticity of this meteorite and its terrestrial history, I then contacted Paul Dodge’s son, Brooks Dodge who at that time was residing in the city of Chiang Mai and was continuing his father’s missionary work. After contacting Brooks in Chiang Mai he agreed to research this further on my behalf and he then traveled to the University of Chiang Mai and discovered that Acharn Suchit had since retired but he was able to talk with the current Professor of Geology, Prof. Pisanu Wongpornchai. Prof. Wongpornchai was very helpful and he and Brooks then travelled to the home of the retired professor Acharn Suchit and questioned him about the stone. From photographs of the stone now in my possession, Acharn Suchit was able to confirm that the events surrounding the stone brought to him by Paul Dodge were correct as stated and that the stone was the same that Paul Dodge brought to him that day in 1975. Ban Cho Lae is one of only four meteorites from Thailand and as such is quite rare. In order to make some of this material available to collectors, I had Mr. Marlin Cilz of the Montana Meteorite Laboratory remove a modest portion of the main mass which I hold. I have little of this rare meteorite available to collectors. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=161163031160&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT#ht_106wt_880 Jack Schrader ______________________________________________
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