[meteorite-list] Park Forest Main Mass Status

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:36 2004
Message-ID: <20030506112830.68477.qmail_at_web12301.mail.yahoo.com>

--- walter branch <branchw_at_bellsouth.net> wrote:
> I have always felt the term "main mass" was so ill
> defined <snip>
> Think of the problems with all the NWA meteorites
> Now, don't get me started on TKW...
> -Walter
>
>
You wont get a consensious on the term because people
use them to suit their own purposes (I suspect that
some people would even accuse myself of that - and
have a valid case to saying it). You often hear
dealers selling something as "Cut from the main mass".
I would vote that with known strewnfields that it is
the biggest piece after it hits the ground is what is
the main mass. Thats whats useful for study and
information about the fall. Just my opinion. I can see
the other points of view. A problem arises when a
larger piece is found years after the fall.
But I want to talk about NWAs where we dont know the
TKW or the pairings.
Maybe Jeff Grossman can help clarify some things here.
My understanding is that a meteorite is submitted to
the meteoritical society and that is the TKW (Maybe
total mass is a better term - for example say NWA4500
has a mass of 560 grams and it is one stone).
If the dealer who has this meteorite cuts this up the
biggest piece of NWA4500 is the main mass of NWA4500.
I would think that the term "Desert Main mass" is a
better and new term that should be introduced into the
meteorite world at this time as there is no way of
knowing the TKW of a fall and everybody knows that
paired stones have a very good chance of later turning
up. However, the biggest piece of the 460 gram NWA4500
is the main mass of NWA4500. If a paired stone later
turns up it would be given a new name (NWA4700 maybe
in my hypetetical example).
Now here is the part that maybe Jeff Grossman can help
clarify on. It is easy to identify paired stones of
NWA869 and the moroccan CR2 for example. However, is
it correct to just call any of the moroccan CR2
meteorites NWA801 (One of the official numbers of the
strewnfield). We know that they are paired with NWA801
but they are not a part of NWA801.
I also see some dealers just taking the liberty of
taking numbers that other dealers have registered with
the meteoritical society and since they beleive that
it is a paired rock just use that number to sell their
own meteorites. And I know that some of these pairings
that are being used are wrong - and even if they are
correct, changing the Total mass of the rock as
registered with the met society. This is possibly
increasing the mass of the rock that the first dealer
registered even though the actual dealer who
registered the rock might not know that there is more
of the rock being sold under his name.
>From a strictly business point of view I am not sure
why a dealer would even want to use another dealers
number to sell his rocks (And artificially compete
with another dealer when it is not necessary) when new
numbers are easily available from the met society. And
getting a new number is better from a scientific
standpoint as better (More accurate) data is
registered with the met society. To me, probably
paired is a better way to record the item with the met
society (And collectors get more info also) rather
than just selling more of a rock and having two
different dealers using different total mass in their
sales of the same rock.
I am talking about NWAs but the same problems applies
to the DAGs and other desert meteorites where we know
that some rocks are paired. A good (But not isolated)
example is all of the paired DAG CO3 stones that are
paired and have their own DAG numbers. There are a lot
of DAGs paired with the DAG477 L6 also (As well as the
DAG476 Mars series of rocks - If I found a new Mars
rock paired with this would it be OK to just sell it
as DAG476 or should a new DAG number be obtained).
My thinking is that it is not appropriate to just take
a paired stone and just decide by myself to just sell
it using another dealers number that he got from the
met society without telling anybody or informing the
met society or the other dealer who actually got the
number and is selling it as his NWA number. I think
that this would unethically mess up another dealers
marketing, give buyers false information about what
they have just bought, and degrade the accuracy of the
met societys records (And we all know how hard it is
to get accurate data to the met society - if you dont
know see the archaives for a long list of the problems
that they encounter)
This is just my opinion. Maybe Jeff Grossman can
clarify how some of these issues should be handled.
Sincerely
DEAN BESSEY
www.meteoriteshop.com






 





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Received on Tue 06 May 2003 07:28:30 AM PDT