[meteorite-list] Happy Birthday Peekskill

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:24 2004
Message-ID: <200310092024.NAA25307_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Peekskill brings back some fond memories.

I obtained my first piece of Peekskill about a week after the meteorite had
hit the car. Marlin Cilz had obtained the meteorite with some partners.
Marlin called me up and was offering the meteorite for $15/gram provided a minimum
of 25 grams was purchased. At the time, that was a steep price for a stony
chondrite, even factoring in the novelty factor of the meteorite hitting a car.
He mentioned there was some red car paint still on the meteorite, so I asked
if my piece could include some of the red paint when he cut if off, and he
obliged. I ended up buying a 27 gram piece. I still have that piece, though
the red paint had now faded to a pink color.

Is Peekskill really going for about $100/gram now? Wow.

The following Christmas, Marlin sent out Christmas cards to his
customers that included color photos of the meteorite, the car and
the small 'crater' underneath the car. One of the photos showing Marlin
holding the meteorite surrounded by the Knapp family would be
published as black-n-white photo in Richard Norton's "Rocks From
Space" book.

I attended the Tucson show in 1993, and the Chevy Malibu was on display
there. The Peekskill main mass was in Lang's room, and by that time, it had
been whittled down to about half of its original size.

Ron Baalke
Received on Thu 09 Oct 2003 04:24:38 PM PDT