[meteorite-list] Meteorite Fraud...A good story....

From: Meteorhall_at_aol.com <Meteorhall_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:42:05 2004
Message-ID: <a1.103f2dd6.27a0cc89_at_aol.com>

Hello Gents and Ladies,
   When I go out meteorite hunting and bring back rocks that MIGHT BE
meteorites I cut a small piece off of the stone with my 6 inch diamond blade
saw, giving me a "window" to see if there is metal or chondrules. Unless the
stone (picked up by a magnet or found with a metal detector) is an obvious
meteorite I cut it. How else can one tell if it is worth sending to a
University for inspection? A year ago I bought a heavy stone meteorite from a
Moroccan dealer at the Tucson Show and took it to six other meteorite
dealers. Only one was sure that it was a meteorite, two said maybe, and three
claimed that it was not a meteorite! Once cut, it proved to be a meteorite.
My point is that some stones have to be cut to be sure that they are indeed a
meteorite. So how will meteorites with a window cut into them show that they
are from a Moroccan dealer? And how in the world can you make all the
Moroccan mineral dealers spray their meteorites with an ID agent? It will not
happen.
   I do not know the answer, but I'm sure in hell not going to give up
meteorite hunting in the USA because Moroccan meteorites have flooded the
market. Let it rain meteorites!
Regards, Fred Hall
Received on Wed 24 Jan 2001 07:25:45 PM PST