[meteorite-list] NWA 032

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From: MeteorHntr_at_aol.com <MeteorHntr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:41:59 2004
Message-ID: <d3.f130f9a.27910cf1_at_aol.com>

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In a message dated 1/12/01 6:46:37 AM Central Standard Time,
peterscherff_at_rcn.com writes:

> Hi,
>
> I am looking for a sample of NWA 032. Can anyone help me?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Peter Scherff
>
>

Hello Peter and List,

I have just got some NWA 032 back from the lunar research lab and I have
documentation letters of authenticity (with a photo of the individual part
slice on each letter) for each piece.

I understand that if you buy your piece from any reputable dealer, odds are
very strong that you will indeed get what you are buying. However, if you
have ever shown a piece of SNC or other Lunar material to someone outside of
the collecting field, often times you will hear a comment like "How do you
KNOW it is from the Moon (or Mars)?" And if they don't say it out loud, odds
are they are thinking it! How do you respond? "I bought it from this real
trustworthy guy on the internet?" And in the future if and when you (or
your heirs) ever decide to sell your specimen, such documentation could mean
almost EVERYTHING when it comes to reselling it.

A couple of years ago, I had a couple of pieces of the DaG262 Lunar meteorite
documented, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were interested
in them. One I sold at Christie's Auction, which in order to protect their
reputation, they absolutely required the documentation or they would not
offer it. One of the private buyers of one of the other pieces bought it to
have for his show-and-tell meteorite lectures that he does at schools. He
found it was also necessary to offer the proof in documentation form or he
would be laughed at by the kids. It was not enough to be able to prove to
them that there are indeed meteorites from the Moon, but he had to prove that
the piece he had was a piece of that lunar meteorite.

I only have a few part slices ranging from 0.0155g (15.5mg) up to 0.1704g
(170.4mg) in size. I have a couple of slices that have not been documented,
but are still genuine. The price for the documented pieces have a slight
premium, however, they are still what I would consider very reasonable
considering what you are getting. Just the saw losses in cutting the piece
down and the portion that it took in destructive analysis (instrumental
neutron activation analysis) to determine the authenticity added quite a bit
of cost to these.

Below is the written contents of the letter I have on each specimen:

****************

[On the letterhead of:]
Washington University in St. Louis

Lunar Meteorite
Northwest Africa 032
Found 1999, Morocco
Lunar Mare Basalt

[Photo of complete slice submitted for testing]

Our Laboratory obtained part of a slice of a meteorite from the International
Meteorite Brokerage to be tested in order to verify that it is indeed of
lunar origin. Once in our lab, we divided the slice into 13 smaller partial
slices and we tested split #5 using instrumenta; neutron activation analysis.

(Each specimen has the individual weight and photo here)

Split #1 15.5mg

[Photo of 15.5mg part slice]

[Chart of results of INNA test]

We have determined the concentrations of 21 chemical elements in split #5
(51.0mg) as noted in the photo documentation and concluded that this specimen
is (1) a lunar mare basalt and (2) a piece of Northwest Africa 032 lunar
basalt. Our analysis is entirely consistent with other analyses of lunar
samples, including other samples of the Northwest Africa 032 meteorite that
we, as well as other institutions, have made.

[Signed and Dated]
Randy Korotev
Research Associate Professor

********************

I hope to get my web site updated in the next week with more details, but if
you need more information before then, please email me. If there are any
pieces left, I will bring some to Tucson with me in 2 weeks.

If this is something you would be interested in, please contact me.

Steve Arnold
www.meteoritebroker.com

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<HTML>In a message dated 1/12/01 6:46:37 AM Central Standard Time,
 peterscherff_at_rcn.com writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hi,
 
    I am looking for a sample of NWA 032.  Can anyone help me?
 
 Thanks,
 
 Peter Scherff
 
 </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 
 Hello Peter and List,
 
 I have just got some NWA 032 back from the lunar research lab and I have
 documentation letters of authenticity (with a photo of the individual part
 slice on each letter) for each piece.  
 
 I understand that if you buy your piece from any reputable dealer, odds are
 very strong that you will indeed get what you are buying.  However, if you
 have ever shown a piece of SNC or other Lunar material to someone outside of
 the collecting field, often times you will hear a comment like "How do you
 KNOW it is from the Moon (or Mars)?"  And if they don't say it out loud, odds
 are they are thinking it!  How do you respond?  "I bought it from this real
 trustworthy guy on the internet?"   And in the future if and when you (or
 your heirs) ever decide to sell your specimen, such documentation could mean
 almost EVERYTHING when it comes to reselling it.  
 
 A couple of years ago, I had a couple of pieces of the DaG262 Lunar meteorite
 documented, and I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were interested
 in them.  One I sold at Christie's Auction, which in order to protect their
 reputation, they absolutely required the documentation or they would not
 offer it.  One of the private buyers of one of the other pieces bought it to
 have for his show-and-tell meteorite lectures that he does at schools.  He
 found it was also necessary to offer the proof in documentation form or he
 would be laughed at by the kids.  It was not enough to be able to prove to
 them that there are indeed meteorites from the Moon, but he had to prove that
 the piece he had was a piece of that lunar meteorite.
 
 I only have a few part slices ranging from 0.0155g (15.5mg) up to 0.1704g
 (170.4mg) in size.  I have a couple of slices that have not been documented,
 but are still genuine.  The price for the documented pieces have a slight
 premium, however, they are still what I would consider very reasonable
 considering what you are getting.  Just the saw losses in cutting the piece
 down and the portion that it took in destructive analysis (instrumental
 neutron activation analysis) to determine the authenticity added quite a bit
 of cost to these.
 
 Below is the written contents of the letter I have on each specimen:
 
 ****************
 
 [On the letterhead of:]
 Washington University in St. Louis
 
 Lunar Meteorite
 Northwest Africa 032
 Found 1999, Morocco
 Lunar Mare Basalt
 
 [Photo of complete slice submitted for testing]
 
 Our Laboratory obtained part of a slice of a meteorite from the International
 Meteorite Brokerage to be tested in order to verify that it is indeed of
 lunar origin.  Once in our lab, we divided the slice into 13 smaller partial
 slices and we tested split #5 using instrumenta; neutron activation analysis.
 
 (Each specimen has the individual weight and photo here)
 
 Split #1    15.5mg  
 
 [Photo of 15.5mg part slice]
 
 [Chart of results of INNA test]
 
 We have determined the concentrations of 21 chemical elements in split #5
 (51.0mg) as noted in the photo documentation and concluded that this specimen
 is (1) a lunar mare basalt and (2) a piece of Northwest Africa 032 lunar
 basalt.  Our analysis is entirely consistent with other analyses of lunar
 samples, including other samples of the Northwest Africa 032 meteorite that
 we, as well as other institutions, have made.
 
 [Signed and Dated]
 Randy Korotev
 Research Associate Professor
 
 ********************
 
 I hope to get my web site updated in the next week with more details, but if
 you need more information before then, please email me.  If there are any
 pieces left, I will bring some to Tucson with me in 2 weeks.  
 
 If this is something you would be interested in, please contact me.
 
 Steve Arnold
 www.meteoritebroker.com</HTML>

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Received on Fri 12 Jan 2001 08:44:17 PM PST

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