[meteorite-list] Millions Of Pennies From Heaven

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:20 2004
Message-ID: <20031002195007.19695.qmail_at_web12702.mail.yahoo.com>

Maybe all of the hoopla will motivate him to put on a
wet suit and a mask and dig up the rest that is, as
you say sitting in sewage water.

Steve Schoner

(Such pieces could be sold at latrine low prices,
compared to the others that are not so "crappy")


--- Michael Farmer <meteoritehunter_at_comcast.net>
wrote:
> Here we go, the billion dollar meteorite has
> appeared. This meteorite is a
> chondrite, not a mars rock, nothing more. Great
> stone, not worth millions
> much less $100,000. It looks like Park Forest all
> over again. I spoke to the
> owner just now and have arranged a specimen to be
> classified. He is going to
> Europe and will not discuss sale until the specimen
> is classified in a month
> or two. So at least we all have time to relax before
> the feeding frenzy
> starts in earnest.
> Mike Farmer
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
> To: "Meteorite Mailing List"
> <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 11:03 AM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Millions Of Pennies From
> Heaven
>
>
> >
> >
> >
>
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-0/106510888851640.xml
> >
> > Millions of pennies from heaven
> >
> > Meteorite may bring out-of-world payday
> >
> > By Mark Schleifstein
> > nola.com (Louisiana)
> > October 2, 2003
> >
> > The ugly chunk of tan rock that crashed through
> the Uptown home of Roy
> Fausset on
> > Sept. 23 was an astronomical event in more ways
> than one.
> >
> > No sooner had Tulane University geologist Stephen
> Nelson declared the rock
> a
> > meteorite than offers began pouring in to buy
> pieces of it at sky-high
> prices: $25,000
> > to $50,000 a chunk.
> >
> > Scientists, though less readily able to bring such
> large sums of
> > money to bear, also want to study pieces of the
> rock to look
> > for clues about the beginning of the universe some
> 4.6 billion
> > years ago.
> >
> > Among collectors, however, a much younger rock
> would be
> > worth more. If examination determines it's a mere
> 200
> > million years old and contains a specific mix of
> minerals and
> > chemicals, the meteorite may have originated from
> Mars, said
> > Tracy Gregg, a geology professor at the State
> University of New
> > York-Buffalo and chair of the Geological Society
> of America's planetary
> geology
> > division.
> >
> > "The worth of a meteorite is like any other
> precious stone," Gregg said.
> "It's related
> > to scarcity, and the ones worth the most are those
> that came from Mars."
> >
> > The going rate for a Mars rock? $1,500 per gram.
> Fausset's weighs well
> over a
> > pound, or more than 450 grams.
> >
> > At that rate, a troy ounce of a Mars meteorite
> would be worth $46,500, or
> about 120
> > times the price of pure gold at Wednesday's prices
> on the commodities
> exchange.
> >
> > Even if not from Mars, the pieces could be worth a
> small fortune,
> collectors say.
> >
> > That's why Fausset's find has been moved into a
> secure storage facility,
> he said. The
> > idea that a rock could be that valuable got him
> thinking about security
> quickly.
> >
> > "But whether it came from Mars or dates back to
> the beginning of our solar
> system,
> > it's a fascinating piece of rock that tells an
> incredible story," Gregg
> said.
> >
> > Trade in meteorite chunks has skyrocketed in
> recent years, in part thanks
> to the
> > Internet, said Matt Morgan, a full-time geologist
> with the Colorado
> Geological
> > Survey and a part-time trader.
> >
> > On his Mile High Meteorites Web site, Morgan is
> offering tiny pieces of
> his varied
> > collection for thousands of dollars.
> >
> > For instance, a 2.294-gram fragment of a meteorite
> found in Buenos Aires,
> > Argentina, in 1979 sells for $11,470.
> >
> > "I always wanted a piece of a meteorite, even when
> I was a child," Morgan
> said.
> >
> > Robert Wesel of Hillsboro, Ore., got hooked after
> buying a meteorite
> fragment at the
> > Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
> >
> > "At the time, I had no idea that people could own
> such a thing," said
> Wesel, a
> > registered nurse.
> >
> > Then he went to a gem show and discovered a kiosk
> selling meteorites.
> >
> > "I think I spent about $4,000 with that guy on the
> spot, and that's what
> really
> > launched it," he said. "I walked away with a price
> list . . . and later
> bought more
> > pieces. Then I got a computer, and in 1998 I found
> eBay."
> >
> > Word of meteorite finds travels quickly among
> dealers, he said.
> >
> > "You need to keep an ear to the ground, and if you
> hear something, you try
> to ally
> > yourself with someone in the area or go there
> yourself," he said.
> >
> > In March, he heard about a meteorite strike in a
> Chicago suburb and,
> learning that
> > pieces of the meteorite were strewn through a
> large neighborhood, drove
> there to
> > scavenge.
> >
> > "Everybody who collects does it for a different
> reason," he said. "Some
> collect on a
> > map, one sample from every country. Others are
> trying to get an A-to-Z
> collection of
> > different types of meteorites."
> >
> > Often, pieces of meteorites end up in museum
> collections, despite their
> inability to
> > match the prices paid by private collectors, said
> Denton Ebel, a curator
> with the new
> > Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites at the American
> Museum of Natural History
> in New
> > York City.
> >
> > The museum has more than 120 meteorites on
> display, and more than 1,250 in
> its
> > collection.
> >
> > Samples in the collection are carefully analyzed
> to ensure they are
> meteorites and to
> > attempt to determine their origin.
> >
> > A 30-micron-thick slice, as thin as a human hair,
> is cut off a sample and
>
=== message truncated ===


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Received on Thu 02 Oct 2003 03:50:07 PM PDT