Hi Mike!
I totally agree with you on the site. The Moon Box pictures look like
Geoff Notkins to me. I also questioned them on this
http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=1547
and their response is below... LOL Have a great day! Paul
***************
This iron meteorite J000351
Location：NanDan, China
Type：iron meteorite IIICD
Include agate-base
In order to prevent getting rusty, we spread the black paint outside the
meteorite.
As the ornaments, It can't get rusty.
But if etched after cutting it, it still shows Widmanstaffen-Pattern.
We are the biggest meteorite wholesale websites in China. The meteorite
that we sold is all real goods. If make the fake, we would like to bear
legal responsibility. If there is any question, please let me know at
any time.
***************
Galactic Stone & Ironworks wrote:
Hi Paul and List,
Wow, good eye and nice catch!
What a strange website. Maybe it's just me, or the culture barrier,
but the Rex character seems more like a sideshow promoter than a
seller of meteorites and rare materials. I don't say that as a bad
thing - I just mean that it looks and feels very different than any
meteorite website I have seen.
I didn't wade through the entirety of the listings, but some of them
seem a little dubious - like this offering : Iron Meteorite1.96kg(IAB)
like the head of an alien (Item No.：S000045)
http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=11&pp=A
I've never seen an iron meteorite with this kind of weathering pattern
or any pattern like this caused by natural processes. The specimen
looks altered to me. The listing does not explicitly state the
specimen is in a natural state, so it's not being misrepresented
per-se, but it does seem questionable.
Many of the specimens also lack important details - like the name of
the find/fall or any petrologic data. A photo is presented and the
piece is stated as "pallasite" without any mention of what exact
pallasite it is - http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=159&pp=A
Much of that "meteorite jewelry" recalls the dubious pieces we see for
sale on eBay frequently - the carved crosses, Buddhas, and other
figures.
Example - http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=3868&pp=B#
An unclassified CV3 embedded in a trinket-like resin star. (*ugh* -
don't get me started again on this tacky practice)
Who analyzed it and determined it is a CV3? How can we tell, since
the piece is so small and permanently embedded in resin?
Maybe it's just the English language version of the site with these
issues - I have seen sites like this where the different versions for
various languages are not consistent - so maybe the native language
version has more detailed information?
I did notice that he is offering Martin and Stefan's Moon Rock
displays, so at least those specimens are authentic.
Best regards and clear skies,
MikeG
On 12/5/09, Paul Harris <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Geoff, Eric, and List,
I received an email from the Taiwan Meteorite Company
http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside.asp requesting a Banner Ad and in
reviewing their site I see what appears to be images from Eric Twelker
and Geoff Notkin's sites. They may have others as well but I have not
searched their whole site. Two of the pages are listed below.
http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside2.asp?p1no=2&p2no=0
http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside2.asp?p1no=5&p2no=0
To Eric, Geoff and any other dealer, please let me know if you have
allowed this company to use your photos.
Thank you very much,
Paul
______________________________________________
http://www.meteoritecentral.com
Meteorite-list mailing list
[email protected]
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
______________________________________________
http://www.meteoritecentral.com
Meteorite-list mailing list
[email protected]
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
