I noticed you are suggesting to make the awards from meteoric iron, and that you mentioned the award is called "Guide Star". For whatever its worth to you, here are my comments:
0. You will need 73-76% the weight of iron meteorite (density about 7.9 g/mL) to make something the same size as sterling silver (density about 10.3 g/mL), which is very very nearly a third heavier.
1. Assuming the award has something to do with service, and the concept of a "guide star" is based on guidance...i.e. is based on the idea of navigation using the stars, I would hesitate on the iron meteorite for one undesirable aspect: We are pretty sure that the iron meteorites, which represent less than one in 10 meteorites, are from larger asteroids that had mid space collisions with such terrific force that the very core of them was fractured and propelled randomly in space after their collision. So from that perspective, if there is to be some romance in the idea, I am not sure it makes them appropriate, unless you frame it as navigating to collide and be at least partly destroyed. I would see the collision as more applicable to a marriage but then I would use a mesosiderite as sort of a yin-yang idea representing each person (a mesosiderite may contain a mixture of stone and iron from two bodies that collided and whoever wears the pants can be the iron:)
2. Similarly, the asteroids, minor planets, are like the planets, in that they are not fixed in position but wander against the starry sky. As a matter of fact they are sometimes perturbed and thus are even less useful than the planets for guidance if they were visible, but are too small anyway (usually). The iron cores, while they were not formed on Earth are no more stars than any Earth rock or melted metal.
3. If you melt the iron, why would you want meteoritic iron in the first place? You would have effectively killed the only real tie this matter has with its provenence. The patterns are what really define its extraterrestrial nature.
4. On the plus side, there are some meteorites which are suspected to be made of star dust, i.e., the raw material that made the Earth, asteroids, etc. Some materials are more primitive than others. Perhaps you can inlay a small amount of a primitiver one, and perhaps completely engulf it with some clear resin as a centerpiece of your award.
5. Another option for me for such an award would be to incorporate a nice prism in the award that catches and separates Sunlight. True starlight ... and gives everyone the ability to navigate...
6. If these considerations aren't relevant you could use a common iron and let the imagination write the rest of the story! I am sure someone could sell you the blanks (we saw lots of Widmannst�tten pattern etched "space coins" at the Tucson show) and you could just do the engraving. They are no doubt carved rather than melted. You could always buy a "slice" of the desired thickness and chip away at the edges to make your pattern, if you have the right tools. A shop grinding stone used sparingly and slowly would probably do just fine for the finishing touches, whether rounded or angular. Then engrave it, bake it, and coat it with something so it won't rust.
Hope this is of some use...
Saludos
Doug Dawn
Mexico
En un mensaje con fecha 03/21/2004 5:21:02 AM Mexico Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] escribe:
Asunto: [meteorite-list] Tough question for collectors
Fecha: 03/21/2004 5:21:02 AM Mexico Standard Time
De: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Enviado por Internet
Hi,
I'm an amateur jeweler who makes awards &medallions for a couple clubs I belong to. I've been asked to make several medallions for an award called a "Guide Star."
Previously, I have made them of silver, Sterling, even gold. I now have a client who wants to sponsor four medallions -- and wants to make them very special. Since the award is a Guide Star, he thinks it would be neat to make this set of four medallions out of a true star -- a meteorite.
Sounds like a cool idea to me, but I have no real knowledge of the raw material. While searching the web, I've discovered great passion for collecting that I was completely unaware of. Such incredible passion, that I'm now very unsure of whether to proceed with the project.
I'm certain that recasting the iron-nickel alloy would destroy the Widmanstaetten figures which are so prized among collectors. Yet, I cannot think of another process by which I would make the medallions. (I am, after all, only an amateur.)
Before I go any further with this project, I'm asking your people for information. I seek opinions from collectors (pro, con, philosophy). I also seek functional information (melting temperature and density comes to mind). A medallion of silver weighs 4 ounces, so how much meteorite . . .?
Anything you could provide would be most helpful before I continue. Please no flame-ing, yet.
Thank you,
Jay Toser
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
135 Lazy Lake Dr.
Fall River WI 53932
