Good question, Tom. I think you are following a painful paradigm most must face when lucky enough to have extraterrestrial material in possession. This is really a very personal decision, I think. Maybe you wont get the best advice from a vetern, like asking Madonna or Wilt Chamberlain what to do on a first date, but rather a brother. Before you do any further cutting, why don't you decide what your objective to getting it classified is, rather than approaching it from the gram point of view.
(1) Do you want to Maximize your investment responsibly?
take Dean's very insightful discussion and other commercial folks' sensitive to the sciences' strategy ideas if you can figure out what they are actually recommending
(2) Do you want to Maximize your contribution to meteoritics?
take Fred's strategy, or better yet, agree in advance to just send it to the analyst and ask them to cut it efficiently with your concerns in mind, and send you immediately back the 47 grams.
(3) Do you want to Maximize your personal aesthetic museum?
don't send the good pieces. They might not be different anyway. Consider that you are putting your aesthetics above the science. Perhaps the stone doesn't need to be classified at all at this time, there are a lot of others out there waiting in line.
(4) Are you too obsessed with owning meteorites to distinguish?
...definitely don't send anything...you probably won't be satisfied for many of the reasons discussed by others.
I spoke once with someone who had a meteorite he actually found himself, classified. It was the same size as yours. But HE found it. Much bigger emotional tie, I'd say. You know what he got back? One %#/(#( covered thin section. I recall looking at the slide as he ironically laughed. He bellyached something like "My Grandma went to Florida and all I got was this stinkin' Tee shirt", but deep down inside, I know he would do it all over again for the contribution he made to science. The rest of his material? Sold off, given away...he lost track of it over the many intermediate years. Or do you have a state of the art indestructable, permanently endowed and curated meteorite museum in the cellar? I didn't think so..:)
I also know a collector who recently departed us of the living (bless him) with a huge collection of rocks and minerals, and...some meteorites. Some got sold off, others waisted away in the inheritance...a meteorite like yours would probably have been lost in the sad shuffle of events.
Aristotle, a meteorite-challenged individual, left to posterity much documented "science" and "philosophy". Everyone knows who he was and his theories, as they will for thousands more years. Many of his contemporaries are now practically or completely nameless -like an unpublished meteorite today- even the ones who with hindsight had some better ideas. If humans are still around in 2500 years, the far future children can research your 58 gram meteorite, as long as it is well published with something interesting. If one sends what turns out to be a non-descript meteorite, or nothing sent at all, there is no sense (except the immediate $$ kind), so enjoy the stone and learn to classify it yourself:) Thin sections are only $20 or so, and a gram of material, and microscopes can be begged, borrowed, stolen, or bought, too:)
At the end of the day clearly it's whatever you feel is right, if I can see the concensus. I wouldn't brush off Dean's comment about giving the researcher something interesting to do, though. After all, they are spending much more resources on it probably than you ever did. Meteorites are really just a bunch fantasy and of rust prone metal and stone without the science, and most of their sustainable value comes from the body of science and specific information developed around them anyway. The rest contains hype and speculation, and honest personal pleasure. You do want to know what's in the interesting parts of those 58 g, isn't that what the name of the game is?
As several have said, bring it to Tucson first by all means. After maybe 4.6 billion years, three more weeks can't make that much of a difference - you already know that I know -, and you may be able to do your unique stone more justice and help out to get better results, and get to keep more of it, thanks to all the nice free advice to our senior members out there.
One thing I promise...despite possibly feeling let down in some aspects of sample management, you will become much more in touch with meteorites and their appreciation if you trade material for science with a qualified individual. Sacrifice can enhance love, or so they have been telling me.
Saludos
Doug Dawn
Mexico
En un mensaje con fecha 01/12/2004 7:59:35 PM Mexico Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] escribe:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
What Dean said: Damned if you do, damned if you don't!
Try sending two slices of the meteorite from different looking
sections. You may have to give a little more than the ten
