[meteorite-list] Shirokovsky authenticity questions?

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:13:11 2004
Message-ID: <0d0f01c30d42$f57209c0$b4dbe60c_at_attbi.com>

Dear List Members,

I have been getting some emails concerning faked meteorites asking who the
dealers are. I will not point them out publicly but will discuss the
situations.

One very concerned collector sent me the following:
                                                *************
It would be of tremendous benefit to our community if you could provide a
bit more details on the 'faked' manmade object and perhaps in a private
email let us (me) know which dealer might have purchased the specimen. We
collectors are contacted 'privately' by many dealers on new finds/falls,
etc., and are especially vulnerable to being duped intentionally or
otherwise. Very appreciatively,
                                               *************

I have only seen three cases of manmade meteorites, all of which came from
Morocco. Two of the fake meteorites were studied by us. When we found out
they were not real we warned other dealers to be watchful for them. The
third case involved another dealer in the US who purchased one anyway
despite warnings. I have never seen any of these resold to collectors so
there is no reason to mention names here.

As far as the Shirokovsky "meteorite?" goes, I think the following statement
made by Jeff Grossman, Chair of the Meteoritical Society's Nomenclature
Committee pretty well sums it up below:

                                             ****************
I have recently heard from my colleagues that several credible lines of
geochemical and petrologic evidence seem to indicate the object unofficially
called the "Shirokovsky pallasite" is a pseudometeorite.
                                           *****************

The word pseudometeorite(not a real meteorite!) would stop me cold in my
tracks if I were to consider purchasing any of this new rock. If I were a
dealer I would stop selling it immediately until the issue is resolved. I
heard from a well informed source that it appears to be manmade. I know of
one dealer who was told the same thing and yet he has been actively selling
this material since the Tucson show. This dealer was informed that it was
not an approved meteorite and probably never would be. I will not mention
his name on the list because it will only cause problems. It will surely
come out soon anyway.

All the best,

Adam Hupe
IMCA 2185
Received on Mon 28 Apr 2003 12:59:32 AM PDT