Bernhard, Adam and others: I saw this stone, and a hundred or more like it in Edwin Thompson's room at the Inn Suites. To me they looked like water worn stones also, most were noticeably paramagnetic with the exception of some that were less...like the one you got from Steve.
I saw this particular stone in Tucson (Steve showed me) and I think that he got
from ET also. My impression was it was a water worn LL or L6. Especially after I
saw the entire batch in a tray in Edwin's room. I myself went through these
oddly shaped stones and found a few that had nice chondrules. I bought one that
was also oddly shaped with folds, etc. and cut it, and sure enough it has
chondrules...but it is more like a H4 (strongly paramagnetic).
Could regular rocks be mixed in ET's group that included real meteorites like
the one I got, possibly...or these were all found in an area that had conditions
that created such oddly shaped meteorites.
They are strange looking...but is yours(Steve's) an achondrite???...I don't
think so,
John
Hi,
app. 2 weeks ago, Steve Arnold (Illinois) sold a "mystery NWA" on ebay.
This is the text that came with the auction (as often with Steve, no
pic):
"Up here for auction is a mystery.This is a 134.9 gram whole stone that
has been cut by AL LANG.It is a unclassified NWA mystery stone.I had bob
haag,richard norton,al lang,ed thompson,blaine reed, and a few others
give thier opinion on what it might be.No one knows.It has a very rich
dark brown matrix.Very few or none at all with chondrules.High in metal,
but it pulls very weakly even with a strong magnet.You can be the lucky
winner of this mystery stone and you can try and get it classified.It
measures 6.5 cm x 5.2 cm x 3.8 cm.I will start the bidding at $1.00.
Good luck."
Well, I bidded and won the item. Today it arrived. I had a closer look
at it, took some photographs and am looking for your expertise now.
Let me describe the tactile impressions: The item is feels pretty cold
when you hold it, and it has about the right weight for a meteorite of
this size. However: the outside feels quite "soft", more like an
ordinary stone than a meteorite, like a pebble that has been in the
water.
There is indeed a lot of metal visible from the outside, but on the cut
surface, the deeper you go inside, the less metal you find. A close
examination with a 10x magnification showed no chondrules at all, at
least for me.
Here are three photos of the object (they are quite large in order to
reveal more details). I have brightened the photos and added some
contrast and some mild sharpening, but I'd say they are true to the
visual appearance of the object:
http://metcollector.rendelius.com/mystery1.jpg
http://metcollector.rendelius.com/mystery2.jpg
http://metcollector.rendelius.com/mystery3.jpg
So - what's your impression? Is it a meteorite at all? What is it?
Bernhard
Title: Nachricht
Hi,
app. 2 weeks ago,
Steve Arnold (Illinois) sold a "mystery NWA" on ebay. This is the text that came
with the auction (as often with Steve, no pic):
"Up here for auction is a mystery.This is a
134.9 gram whole stone that has been cut by AL LANG.It is a unclassified NWA
mystery stone.I had bob haag,richard norton,al lang,ed thompson,blaine reed, and
a few others give thier opinion on what it might be.No one knows.It has a very
rich dark brown matrix.Very few or none at all with chondrules.High in metal,
but it pulls very weakly even with a strong magnet.You can be the lucky winner
of this mystery stone and you can try and get it classified.It measures 6.5 cm x
5.2 cm x 3.8 cm.I will start the bidding at $1.00. Good luck."
Well, I bidded and
won the item. Today it arrived. I had a closer look at it, took some photographs
and am looking for your expertise now.
Let me describe the
tactile impressions: The item is feels pretty cold when you hold it, and it has
about the right weight for a meteorite of this size. However: the outside feels
quite "soft", more like an ordinary stone than a meteorite, like a pebble that
has been in the water.
There is indeed a
lot of metal visible from the outside, but on the cut surface, the deeper you go
inside, the less metal you find. A close examination with a 10x magnification
showed no chondrules at all, at least for me.
Here are three
photos of the object (they are quite large in order to reveal more details). I
have brightened the photos and added some contrast and some mild sharpening, but
I'd say they are true to the visual appearance of the
object:
So - what's your
impression? Is it a meteorite at all? What is it?
Bernhard
