Actually the seller (Mr. Szep) was immediately contacted by IMCA on 7-09-2004.
I informed Mr. Szep that I had spoken with the original finder (Mr. Yocum)
last October when this material appear on ebay last year. Mr. Yocum told me that
Alan Rubin and others had inspected his samples of this 'Nevada strewnfield.'
Mr. Yocum reported that Alan Rubin had told him it was 'slag and contained
no nickel'. Mr. Yocum did not believe Alan Rubin because "how else
could these huge pieces have wound up in the middle of nowhere?"
After informing Mr. Szep of these things. Mr Szep again asked me
for my opinion on his photos. I also have a sample of this material sent me
by Mr. Yocum. I gave Mr. Szep my observations as to why I felt the material is
slag and I suggested he have NEMS verify. I provided NEMS contact
information and details.
I cannot explain why Mr. Szep has not closed this auction. I.M.C.A's interest in this matter is unfinished.
Thanks, Ken Newton http://www.imca.cc
Robert Verish wrote:
If now one else will speak up, I guess I'll have to say it...
I find this whole Nevada-meteor-wrong-auction-thing as being potentially very embarrassing to the meteorite community.
This problem-auction was first brought up on the
IMCA-List, but nothing more was said about it. Nothing more was mentioned about how the seller of
this auction of this untested, misidentified material
was actually an IMCA member! Nothing more was posted
about how assistance should be lent to the seller in
this matter before any bigger problems arise.
Now there's a discussion on this List, but instead, the issue is centered on "trying to determine the ID" of this rock that is clearly a desert varnished iron ore. But there's a bigger problem here. The seller isn't some inexperienced rockhound/prospector trying to sell on eBay some iron ore that he has confused with being a meteorite. The seller is ONE OF US!
The problem is that the entire meteorite community can
suffer a black-eye over an incident like this. How
this problem gets handled will be crucial to the
reputation of the IMCA, if not all collectors in
general.
There are a number of questions that still need to be answered, and some of you have already been trying to get those answers. But I'm not going to raise those questions here on this List. I feel these questions should be raised and discussed on the IMCA-List, where it was first raised, and where it properly belongs.
Bob V.
______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
