[meteorite-list] Rose City H5 Chondrite Auction Questioning/Picture

From: Mark Fox <unclefireballmtf_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:02:30 2004
Message-ID: <20020318184309.71962.qmail_at_web14906.mail.yahoo.com>

March 18, 2002


Greetings Meteorite Enthusiasts!

Long time no type, I must agree! Since the advent of
Lent, I decided to cut back on using the computer
except for work and special matters, which excludes
Sundays, of course.

But now, someone has opened up an interesting
discussion concerning one of my favorite meteorites
--- Rose City. Since I am still intently searching
the area in my county (Newaygo) for a Michigan
meteorite, it so happens that I like to learn
everything I can about the fascinating specimens and
rumors of meteorites that have been found in the
state. This has boiled down in a way to include
keeping track of such meteorites that are being
offered for sale.

Tom, or his ebay User ID: topaz.mineral.expl is the
only person I have so far come across that ever sells
Michigan meteorites on ebay, which according to his
auctions, is also the only source I know of for the
rare Rose City H5 chondrite (fall, 1921), Grand Rapids
IRANOM octahedrite (find, 1883), and Seneca Township
fine octahedrite (find, 1923). As of recent, it
appears that he has put up a lot of Michigan meteorite
pieces for bid, including the big chunk (28.7g) of
what he calls Rose City; the cause of current
questioning. Despite that, that particular auction
evidently caused some hearty bidding and ended a
little while ago.

When I first started visiting his auctions, I was
dumfounded that a person was actually selling Michigan
meteorites, of which I am gathering, are not very
commonly offered for sale! This prompted me to
finally ask him where he was able to get such a big
and handsome piece of Rose City and Allegan, which at
the time referred to large sized samples from both
falls. He e-mailed me back (Thursday, September 20,
2001) and writes in part of the letter:

"This is the third or fourth piece of the Rose City
that I have had for sale over the past several years,
although this is by far the best. They are all from
my personal collection acquired over the past 35 years
(I have been a mineral dealer since 1977). On ebay I
have offered specimens of almost all of the Michigan
falls and finds."

In any event, I must agree with the questions raised
about the pictures he has displayed in his ebay
auctions. They do seem to contrast noticeably with
the first picture I had glanced of Rose City, the
beautiful one pictured on the Arizona State University
web site.

The link to the picture is at:
http://meteorites.asu.edu/rose.htm
 
Perhaps this distinct difference is due to what Bern
doubtfully inferred at the end of his e-mail about the
subject --- a light-colored clast. Of course, one
would more likely agree with Bern's other conclusions,
and dismiss the clast theory altogether, since all the
other Rose City pieces I have seen by Tom exhibit (at
least mostly if not entirely) the same texture and
color as his most recent piece. Still, don't always
cling to what seems to be the obvious or "easy"
conclusion and be carried away with one's
extrapolations, of which even I am at fault with (and
not to say that Bern was). In this case, such a hasty
conclusion would translate into the 28.7 gram chunk of
rock labeled as Rose City as not being one in the same
when shown with definitive Rose City material. At
this point negative extrapolation would take over.
  
Now with that said, here is a theory (expanded from
Bern's) that should be given some thought. From the
pieces professionally examined, Rose City is looked
upon as one highly shocked chunk of space rock, with
an S6 designation! Perhaps this meteorite,
unbeknownst to the majority of meteorite enthusiasts
due in part to its rarity, is composed of two distinct
meteorite materials cemented together, so much so that
perhaps a better term needs to be used--- a
mesoclastic-breccia if you will. Therefore, possibly
only certain section(s) of Rose City were ever sampled
for sale and/or for study which involved revealing the
brutally brecciated black matrix we commonly associate
with Rose City, and only a small percentage of the
lighter "peaceful" matrix that went unnoticed.

In conclusion, I do not detect deceit by Tom, but
question his Rose City picture like a cautious
potential bidder should. In his new Seneca Township
ebay auction which I believe is still going on, it
should be noted that he has taken the effort to
correct a mistake regarding the location where the
iron was found.

If you would like to response to me privately or have
a question, etc., your best bet for an answer is to
use this e-mail for the next few weeks:
marktfoxvdb_at_yahoo.com

Please forgive me for errors if any are present in
this letter.

Long strewn fields!

Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA

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Received on Mon 18 Mar 2002 01:43:09 PM PST