[meteorite-list] Matteo's Challenge Answered(was India #2)

From: Steve Schoner <steve_schoner_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:25 2004
Message-ID: <20031011230453.38106.qmail_at_web12702.mail.yahoo.com>

I can tell by looking.

But professional minerology I leave to professional's

I only send off specimens that are deemed meteorites.

I leave the final classification to them.

However, since the beginning of this year, my aims
have changed. I am tired of simply saying that this is
a meteorite and give a general idea of type, then send
it off for detailed classification. I am on
disability for now; I have plenty of time to recover
and persue, or volunteer time at the local university
to do the classifications with their equipment. And I
will be looking into this in the coming weeks and find
out where my aims will go.

Steve Schoner/ams






--- David Freeman <dfreeman_at_fascination.com> wrote:
> Dear List,
> I don't know about most of the list members, but
> after slicing a
> meteorite, I still can not tell by looking, the
> difference between an L
> and an H with a loupe or a magnet.......AND, I have
> been cautioned by a
> very professional meteorite friend to not even get
> into the habit of
> doing the guessing. So, back to having the
> professional with the
> optical and microprobe means to do the mineralology,
> be it large (in my
> opinion, not huge) sliced meteorite, or micro crumb.
> Best,
> Dave Freeman
>
> Sharkkb8_at_aol.com wrote:
>
> > steve_schoner_at_yahoo.com
> <mailto:steve_schoner_at_yahoo.com> writes:
> >
> > ......infamous B**** Specks....[snip]....How
> do you know, other
> > than the reputation of the seller behind it?
> >
> > How does the average collector know that a 50-gram
> slice is what the
> > seller says it is? You, Steve, are certainly
> sophisticated enough to
> > visually assess a specimen with great accuracy,
> and do some labwork to
> > establish authenticity, but the "average
> collector" probably
> > can't/doesn't do either. Sure, most everyone with
> a basic grounding
> > in meteorites can tell the difference between all
> the "familiar"
> > collectible rocks. But past that, I think that
> very, very few
> > collectors can visually discern the nuances
> between one unfamiliar
> > Ordinary Chondrite and the next, or do lab
> follow-up on purchased
> > specimens << so that the minerology (sic) of such
> can be confirmed via
> > optical and or microprobe means. >> .
> >
> >
> >
> > So it seems unfair to me to focus solely on tiny
> specimens and point
> > out the difficulty of their verification, and
> complain that
> > the (subjective) reputation of the seller is the
> only available
> > criterion for buying them. Reputation alone is
> what the majority of
> > casual collectors must rely on for any purchase,
> no matter how big or
> > small the specimens they buy.
> >
> >
> >
> > Gregory
> >
>
>


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Received on Sat 11 Oct 2003 07:04:53 PM PDT