[meteorite-list] Tucson report-long

From: Bob King <lakewind_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:07 2004
Message-ID: <3A81D255.18656.56F3B7_at_localhost>

Hi all,
This was my first Tucson show and I've finally rested up enough
after returning home to write a few notes for those who might be
interested. One thing that struck me was how international the
show was with dealers in fossils, minerals, artifacts and our
beloved meteorites from an amazing variety of countries. I'd walk
down the hallways of the Inn Suites and see signs hanging from
the doors from India, Russia, Pakistan, China, Sweden, etc. etc. It
was a fantastic opportunity to converse in a foreign language and I
found myself doing just that with a dealer named Ahmed Pani from
Vienna (and Morocco). Our conversation was an interesting mix of
Spanish, German and English during negotiations over his
meteorites. I found that most dealers were willing to negotiate
price, and that many slices and pieces of Ghubara, Sayh al
Uhaymir 001(beautiful crusted stones and slices), Gaos, Kunya-
Urgench, Santa Catarina were $1/g or less with Sikhote-Alins down
around .30/g. Dhofar 007 eucrites and small Esquell slices for
$20/g. Most foreign dealers will not take credit cards so next year
I'll remember my checkbook after the real money evaporates!

Saharan meteorites were everywhere. You could find them at quite
a number of regular mineral dealers but I finally settled on a nice
Saharan nonclassified chunk for .35/g from Luc Labenne that was
perfect for handing around in my astronomy class. In addition to
Saharan finds, he had on display many of his rare meteorites. Like
most meteorite dealers he was more than happy to let you hold the
rarest of his finds including a nice big sliced chunk of Itqiy. This
was something that I really appreciated about the dealers -- their
pleasure at handing over their most treasured meteorites to
ordinary folks like me. Blaine Reed was the same way with his
lovely slice of new lunar material -- a beautiful creamy, grey-white
anorthosite with delicate black shock veins.
Marvin Killgore's room was abuzz with his own new lunar/martian(?)
find. He did me the kind favor of performing a nickel test on a
meteorite suspect (it did not respond but Marvin suggested it still
might be a live one.) He also had a very nice setup where you
could view thin sections in polarized light on a projection screen.
To see the polarized view you held a large circular disk of polarizing
material in front of the screen. In kaleidoscope-fashion, the crystals
flashed in and out of color as you rotated the disk.
I grew weary by the end of the day from meteorite hunting but
somehow was back at it the next. That's when I discovered the
Macovich collection and Steve Schoner's warm enthusiasm about
anything meteoritic. After I considered buying a particularly nice
slice of Estherville (but didn't) Steve said the piece now had a 'glow'
to it. Huh? "Yes, he continued, "now that you were interested in it
someone else will be attracted to the piece." Sure enough, later
that day it was sold. The price -- $7 a gram for a finely polished 52g
slice. Sure wished I had an extra thousand or two. Wished that alot
last week!

Darryl Pitt's huge scalloped Gibeon was set up in the middle of the
'Macovich room' as an extraterrestrial candy dish holding Reese's
peanut butter cups and Milky Way candy bars. A nice touch.
Since I was so busy looking at meteorites and missed lunch it was
sure nice to see those candy bars.

Of course another wonderful aspect of the show was seeing so
many folks who I've only known through e-mail. Many gathered for
Geoff and Steve's birthday bash last Thursday night at El Charro.
Highlights of the conversation were Mike Farmer's new moon rock
and a giant, dinner-plate sized slab of metal-rich Portales that was
passed around the table like an appetizer tray. After collecting 10-
20g pieces it is easy to be overwhelmed by the size of slices on
display in Tucson. And yet I realized that the small slices I own
still have the same basic character as the big ones and are
adequate for my needs.
Michael Blood's auction was almost impossible to find along the
unilluminated Tucson streets (gotta keep those Kitt Peak
astronomers happy!) but once I got there it was really a blast.
Michael added just the right dose of humor to the affair and there
were some exceptional deals especially on Roman's Sudbury
impact material and some of Dean Bessey's thin sections. The
final auction item was a special T-shirt featuring the famous photo
of Dean on his pile of rocks with an interesting reference to
hemorroids.
At night I camped in the mountains west of the city at Gilbert Ray
campground. If you ever want a nice desert experience and a
cheap place to stay I'd recommend it. Only $7 a night for a tent
spot and all the coyote howling at night you can handle. The
owners are very friendly and the place is peaceful -- felt good at the
end of days spent driving around to crowded hotels. There's great
hiking in the area, too.
So in the end I was impressed not only by the enormous variety of
rocks, minerals, fossils, etc for sale but also by the shared passion
of the dealers and collectors I met, their generosity of spirit and
eagerness to share their knowledge and materials. It was a great
experience.

Already pondering next year,
Bob
Received on Wed 07 Feb 2001 11:55:17 PM PST