[meteorite-list] Northwest Africa Meteorites a blessing, or omen?

From: Edward Hodges <holyfireballs_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:04 2004
Message-ID: <F50QUtL5FEHsFXhseCZ000223ff_at_hotmail.com>

While at Tucson I noticed a huge number of unclassified NWA's for sale. Some
lots were going for as little as $0.35 a gram. I noticed many people buying
unclassified specimens. To me an unclassified meteorite is just a rock,
basicilly worthless. Of course it is a meteorite, and it might even be a
fairly rare one at that. Still, it is of no scientific importance yet.
Meteorite values are determined by weight, classification,fusion
crust,orientation, and special circumstances (e.g. one killed a dog, or
cow), sometimes the odd shape may up the value, etc..What does an
unclassified meteorite's have going for it other than fusion crust and
weight? So, should I assume that the starting prices for an UNWA with
complete crust is $0.35? Doesn't buying one of these help science, or hurt
it? After all, we all know that they are haphazardly collected by poor
nomads, probably their only source of income. Still more are collected by
greedy westerners with dollar signs in their eyes. Almost no data is
available on these rocks (e.g. locality, TKW, how many stones were found,
etc.), most pairings are lost, and the strewnfields will never be studied.
This for me defeats the whole purpose of collecting and studying meteorites.
The data tells the story of the rock, which is the one of the most
interesting parts. Am I the only one who thinks this? Does anyone else agree
that by buying UNWA's that you are contributing to the dumbing down of the
science involved, and feeding the ego's of greedy Westerners who are only
interested in your dollar? I can already hear the responses this email will
get. Just remember that is is better to appear a fool, than open one's mouth
and remove all doubt. This is a serious topic that will eventually affect
the whole science, and market of meteorites. If you want to slam what I have
to say, that is your right. Just as it is you right to act civil, and stop
to think for a moment.- Edward R. Hodges

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Received on Tue 12 Feb 2002 07:45:17 PM PST