[meteorite-list] Aubres Sale

From: MARSROX_at_aol.com <MARSROX_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:02 2004
Message-ID: <104.1da83118.2ae2c992_at_aol.com>

I've recently returned from a couple of weeks in Scotland including an
excellent visit with Rob Elliott. We did drink beer, actually Guinness Stout,
at "room temperature" (which is the correct temp for Guinness) although he
had all of the windows of his home open such that the ambient temperature was
to the chilly degree that we burn wood in our Florida fireplaces. He did not
offer any "haggis," but they are routinely served in Scotland and I had them
a few times. If the amount of oatmeal is minimal and a fair amount of nutmeg
is added, they are quite tolerable, especially with a wee dram of single
barrel, malt whisky as a chaser. Accompanied by some poetry by "Rabbie" Burns
and a little bagpipe music, it's almost enough to make one don a kilt. Almost.

Anyway, Rob has one of the planet's most magnificent private collections,
over 300 locations and he's recently traded w/Monica for Aubres, the type
specimen for Aubrites. It fell September 14, 1836, at 3 in the afternoon in
Nyons, Drome, France. A single stone of about 800 grams was collected. The
NHM (London) has 440 grams less at least 10% traded off. Rob received 28.41
grams in trade making him the second largest repository (!) of this material.
This specimen can be viewed at his website.

By its own regulation, the NHM can no longer trade more Aubres. The Cat of
Mets lists only 500 gms. remaining in all repositories. Only Moscow and
Budapest have amounts of more than 20 grams so the likelyhood of more coming
on the market from those sources is minimal. Rob has told me that what's
available on his website is all that he will cut and sell. It is my belief
that less than 32 grams are in the public domain, making this key piece
virtually out-of-reach for most collectors.

I traded for an exquisite 1.4gms. with Rob which I treasure and am keeping,
and another 0.150 gms. available here today. A very healthy micro, it's a
freshly sliced fragment measuring 9 x 6 x 1.5mm.

The price is $300, same as on Rob's website, and I will also entertain trades
for Barbotan, Pasamonte AEUC, LA001, the "new nakhlite",Gujba bencubanite,
Alais, Krasnojarsk (w/olivine) or Siena.

I will pass on a photo of the specimen (courtesy of Rob) to interested
parties.

Regards,

Kevin Kichinka
Fort Myers, Florida
Received on Sat 19 Oct 2002 10:43:30 AM PDT