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Re: Yorkshire find?

Hello Rob:
Sounds interesting. If you were me, I would cut a thin slice off (about the size
of a US Quarter) and have it analyzed. If it is fairly fresh and carbonaceous, as
it sounds like from your description, it may be scientifically important. Dealers
and collectors alike do have duties to the scientific community. It is also
possible that you do have an Allende, since they have been distributed in great
numbers world-wide. Could you post an image of the specimen?

Matt

FERNLEA4@aol.com wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I've just returned from a hastily arranged dash to Yorkshire, England where I
> purchased a small stone meteorite from a farm worker. This time, however,
> there may be more to it than meets the eye, so I thought I'd ask advice from
> the listees.
>
> Over the past couple of weeks, I've had my allotted 15 minutes of fame all in
> one lump, with an interview given to a local newspaper eventually reaching the
> national newspapers, then tv and radio. During an interview for BBC radio, I
> mentioned that I'd be interested in buying meteorites from finders if they'd
> care to send me a small piece to inspect. Luckily enough, a few days later,
> England had a wonderful midnight fireball which stirred up a lot more
> interest. By all accounts, the fireball may have been big enough to drop a
> little bit of space treasure, and although I didn't expect to have any
> response, I contacted the BBC again last Friday to let them know that I was
> offering a reward for any pieces found. Sure enough, little pieces of black
> rock started to arrive in my morning post but none came anywhere close to
> warrant further investigation.
> Yesterday evening however, I received a phone call from a guy in Yorkshire
> claiming to have found a (the?) meteorite.....the description given to me
> matched perfectly and without any prompting from me either. This guy would not
> let me visit him at his home, nor was he willing to send me a sample or even
> allow me to arrange collection by a registered courier. I had to arrange to
> meet him somewhere and he'd show me the stone.
> To cut a long story short and after a long drive, I eventually found him and
> he produced a small black rock from his pocket, wrapped up in a plastic bag.
> The stone itself is complete, conical, perfectly crusted with only a few chips
> through to the grey interior; it was also damp from rain or dew. There are
> contraction cracks all over the crust and some flight markings too. It draws
> slightly on a magnet but in my opinion, the crust doesn't look as fresh as I'd
> expected to see from a recent fall. Not wanting to return home empty handed,
> we agreed a price (he wanted only cash of course!) and I purchased the stone
> from him. Trying to get information from this guy regarding more details of
> when & where he found it was like pulling teeth, and about as much fun
> too....all he saw were £££££'s ($$$$$'s?) I gather that he found it last
> Saturday, lying on the grass lawn in his front garden, just as he was about to
> trim the grass. He said it probably hit the roof or side wall of his farmhouse
> and fell to the ground.
>
> When I returned home, I enlarged one of the chips in the crust and discovered
> white inclusions embedded in the grey matrix. I'm not planning on doing it any
> further damage to look for chondrules yet, but so far, it reminds me of
> Allende.
> >From looking at the dusty black crust, I'm not convinced that this is a fresh
> fall, but the seller certainly knew he had found something of interest to me.
> He was very careful to avoid giving any details about himself because he was
> afraid I might ask for a refund later on!
>
> We've have had a few recorded falls in the UK over time, but for those of you
> that go searching for meteorites on field trips, my question to you is
> this.........if you find a meteorite from no known strewnfield, do you just
> happily add it to your collection or do you always investigate further by
> arranging full analysis? If this stone was bigger, then I'd send a sample to
> the right people for testing now, but at the moment, I'm playing safe and
> asking for advice first. Incidentally, how much is actually needed by the test
> lab's for a complete analysis?
>
> At best, this little 28g stone is another "newbie".......at worst, I've been
> conned and have just another stone meteorite, albeit from a UK fall, to add to
> my collection. I've seen enough to be as sure as I can be that this IS a true
> meteorite and the relatively small price that I paid for it, doesn't really
> warrant anyone going to much trouble by trying to sell me a "ringer".
> This piece is also starting to dry out....should I try to keep it in it's damp
> state?
>
> If anyone has any comments, all thoughts and assistance gratefully received!
>
> Regards,
> Rob.
> http://members.aol.com/FERNLEA4/index.html



--
Matt Morgan
Mile High Meteorites
http://www.mhmeteorites.com
P.O.Box 151293
Lakewood, CO 80215-9293
"For a geologist, life is a field trip"
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