[meteorite-list] NWA and Saharan Specimens My 2 Cents.......

From: SSachs9056_at_aol.com <SSachs9056_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:42:02 2004
Message-ID: <d1.164ca46.279e5f55_at_aol.com>

Hi list,

Love the debates about the worth of weathered, unclassified, ugly meteorites
from who-knows-where from (GPS be damned)....but there is one thing I love
about the majority of these specimens...the price. I have been collecting for
8 years and I have been astounded at the marked increase of meteorites. To
me, I have been on a much more restricted budget with making purchases of
specimens than years past. To be able to get a meteorite with some sort of
pedigree, one has to sometimes pony-up with alot of cash. Being on a much
more restricted budget than I was in my callowed youth, I am thankful for
eBay in that I have been able to build up a collection for much less $$$.

In the long run, when all is said and done, after I am dead and buried, my
collection has already been willed to a small museum in Michigan, (family
members get a few also) which don't have the funds for any meteorite
specimens, (again their funding is for what the public is clammering
for....dinosaur exhibits and fossils.) If the NWA's and Saharans are cut and
polished, I would rather see 40 of those specimens in the hands of 40
children, holding them and looking at a piece of outer space, than to have
one expensive piece, sitting behind a piece of plexiglass. Sure it would be
nice if every NWA was classified. But one shouldn't forget that to a child,
getting them to hold a meteorite, even an unclassified one, is the beginning
of the educational process.

Obviously meteorites will never have the public "hold" on people the way
Fossils have had on our young people, but if you ask me, meteorites can be
just as fascinating if presented well.

Nuff said....

Steven L. Sachs http://www.geocities.com/gangwise/meteorite.html
Received on Mon 22 Jan 2001 11:15:17 PM PST