[meteorite-list] Collecting Habits, a walk down memory lane (long)

From: Walter Branch <branchw_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:33 2004
Message-ID: <000001c39824$51b273c0$76c69f44_at_wbranch>

Elton,

Dang, man. Expand your post to cover pre-internet days, add some photos,
interview a few people, produce a table of contents, design a dust jacket
(or not - I hate dust jackets), and you have a book on the history of
meteorite collecting!

I think I was a bit contemporaneous with you when I started collecting. I
remember posts from Frank (getting my degree in geology) Stroik and Calvin
(esoteric) Shipbaugh. I also remember paying about $47.00 for a 47 gram
Chinese tektite! I am still partial to those old named falls and finds you
mentioned.

Best wishes,

-Walter
------------------------------------------
www.branchmeteorites.com
Walter Branch, Ph.D.
Branch Meteorites
PO Box 60492
Savannah, GA 31420



----- Original Message -----
From: "E.J" <jonee_at_epix.net>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 7:08 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Collecting Habits, a walk down memory lane
(long)


> Walter had this subject almost right...a habit? Maybe. Addiction?
> for many of us.
>
> As to collecting strategy, mine has migrated over the years much as I
> suppose many other "Lay Collectors". When I began collecting there was
> a scarcity of meteorites exhibits, literature, and photos available for
> me to study. I subscribed to the belief that meteorites are all around
> us if we cultivate a trained eye we will have a better chance of finding
> them. I started collecting about the time Mike Farmer moved from
> student to full time seller, long before the concept of hot desert
> meteorites. There were perhaps less than 40-50 named meteorites
> commonly traded. Fortunately, they included samples of Irons, Stony, and
> Stony Irons so those were easy slot to fill. Crust--any Crust, was to
> DIE for.
>
> Gibeon, Canyon Diablo, Sikhote Alin,and Odessa were virtually99 % or
> the Iron trade. Common Chondrites about a 50-30-20 split between Western
> US, Russian/European locales and the rest of the world and mostly L-6s.
> Achondrites- Mt Edgerton, Tatahouine, Pena Blanca Springs, Norton
> County, were available and fortunately covered a large portion of the
> big 4 Achon. classes: HED's and Aubrites. Imilac,Vaca Muerta, Huckitta,
> Brahin and Brenham were practically the only available Stony Irons.
> Esquel was and is expensive. Allende was expensive by today's
> standards, but plentiful. The other available Carbonaceous Chondrites
> you could count on one hand. No primitives, No R's Rumuruti E's
> Enstatites--I am not sure if Martians and Lunars had been recognized as
> such. From those easily available named meteorites I assembled a good
> starter collection of micro mounts to be a field/lab reference to
> compare against candidates. I thought this is about it I have enough.
> There weren't many die-hard collectors then. For many of us our
> collections were limited by the number of times a week we could donate
> blood(wink). This was my "Starter" category. I used it in talks to
> students and people wanting an opinion on their find. EBay commingled us
> with all the other Rocks and Minerals. Here on the list we debated a lot
> about meteorite in-flux, and dispensed a lot of information about
> Meteorite 101 before Richard and Dorothy Norton put it together for our
> community. Harvey H. Was quoted chapter and verse because only a couple
> of us had "Catch a Fallen Star" to share with everyone else. Most of the
> meteorite list "Founding Fathers" (plus a hand full of ladies) were
> here then. Bernd, then as now, had the most obscure questions answered
> within the day. Ron also kept us plugged into NASA's related
> efforts....Ah the good old days!
>
> Meanwhile, back at eBay, El Hammami was the cheapest common chondrite
> around. Little anyone suspect that this huge fall--caravaned to
> civilization by Nomads on camels, would foreshadow the "Gold Rush" of
> the 90's. Dar Al Gani aka DAG meteorites hit the market-- so plentiful
> were they and, so sparse was DAG for land marks, we started numbering
> them. About the time we became accustomed to the convention,
> Sahara001,002,003-- who knows? was available to collectors. Meteorites
> were so inexpensive, the lay collector could afford 30 and 50 gram
> slices and even whole stones! Collecting interest was now fueled by the
> variety of matrix colors, shock veins of ringwoodite and, breccia we
> could actually see! Weekly, the numbers continued to roll out but they
> lacked sequence. A number here-- a number there, the collector now
> wanted to get the full Sahara Sequence and seemed a possible collecting
> goal. Dohfar and HaH were also commonly seen subsets of hot desert
> locations. A palm-sized, full slice, was not to DIE for they were
> affordable! A whole stone was still as much as a late used car. It was
> worth a near death encounter, only. A partslice, thin section, AND the
> rest of a half kilo stone they came from--THAT was to DIE for.
>
> About this time major dealer wars arose (and I don't mean price wars)
> over named vs numbered meteorites-- whether or not they were worthy of
> even dealing with. The lay community rose up advocating a boycott
> against the lowly nomad who brought us these treasures because these
> "Camel Operators" didn't subscribe to the professional standards of
> recording collection data. When there were quiet times, a subtle
> serendipity was emerging. Those missing numbers started showing up but
> they weren't the commonly known classifications Angrites? Urelites?
> Rumuruti ? What is an "R" chondrite? I had just got used to calling
> them L and LL instead of Bronzites and Amphoterites. CH's CR's CK's--
> oodles of Subclasses of Carbonaceous Stones. Whole new branches of
> collecting fervor happened in the span of a few months. We actually
> discussed meteorite science for a while as the classification reports
> made it to the list and not just shuttered away in the annals of the
> Meteoritical Bulletin(MAPS). When we didn't think it could get any
> better... A Shergot-what? From Mars? DAG 400 is from the moo? Some is
> for sale? . Not just a egg-sized stone in Bob Haag's vault? Well...I can
> afford a few molecules! Well these first planetary stones were far
> from cheap. The lay collector begged for just a crumb as if it were a
> holy relic. At first the hand me downs were specks from the cutting
> process and the fact that they were petrologically insignificant didn't
> phase us. ANY piece of Mars or the Moon was to DIE for.
>
> Again many of us who had more money than sense paid any price to have
> one or both of these in our possession. Somewhere after planetary
> material was available is was "collection" was secondary to
> "possession". Myself I stopped updating my collection database-I was
> far too busy passing out bids on eBay. Somewhere my field searches lost
> out to my computer searches... The weekly announcement of new kinds of
> meteorites continues to this day. I haven't decided what to call this
> collection--Mini Micro, Planetary, Exotics, Rare?
>
> As they mounted up over the last several years of course I added current
> falls to my area of collecting and names like Peekskill, Zag, Bilanga,
> Portales Valley, Thuathe, Ourique entered my collection under the
> "Contemporary" category. in the "Classic" Category I have been able to
> add material such as Ibutra, Acapulco, Luotolax, etc. owing to the
> institutional trading that exchanges classic, famous, or unusual
> material new unusually African material.
>
> In the new century, eBay granted us a category all to our own hobby.
> NWA's became so available that labs wouldn't classify them if they were
> common material. Many were never bothered to number. Adding a kilo stone
> or iron center piece was within reach of most collectors now. Before
> joining the list even, a newcomer who was already into artifact and
> fossil sales got the bug and eventually became the Sam Walton of NWA's,
> Right? Dean. Even before meteorites arrived on eBay a the redheaded
> step child called Tektites kept a low interest but remarkably steady
> companion. One of my abiding favorite categories is "Natural
> Glass"mixing the Darwin and Lybian glasses with the Moldivites,
> Bedasites, Australites, etc. The rise in field collection from known
> impact sites gave rise to Impacties which frequently rival meteorites in
> price and beauty. I combine them in the related category of
> "Glass/Impacta" which I am sure will make Anne grin. A Georgiasite is
> still to DIE for.
>
> In the final category of "Support" I invested in all the books I could
> get,library photocopies of the books I couldn't buy, a couple
> microscopes, and a slew of thin sections. I put together a rudimentary
> database to catalog my collection. I have an internet bookmark file on
> meteorites and tektites to DIE for.
>
> An investment? hardly. In retrospect I overpaid for many items but,
> many you would have to "overpay" me to buy me out. My micromount
> collection remains a valuable identification too. I'll likely die with
> it, before it goes off to a minor college's geology department. I may
> some day divest the more exotic pieces. I may assemble and sell a
> mounted collection in Walter Branch fashion. I relish the impacta which
> was witness to untold catastrophe. Today my advice to any collector and
> geology department would be to buy up all the NWA's you can find a place
> to store. The easy pickings are about over. Interest in meteorites
> will grow more broadly due to the advent of internet accessibility and
> the fantastic science yet to be discovered . To assemble a comparable
> collection 5 years from now will cost me 5-10 times what I have outlaid
> to date. Today you can assemble and enjoy a collection of any size
> which you will be able to relish.
>
> The way I see it, the name men label these travelers from across time
> and space based on the happenstance of their terminal orbit is a flash
> in the pan compared to the magnificence of their bringing us directly in
> touch with that which existed almost literally before time. I consider
> myself in the succession of those who knew those that made meteorites a
> science and I have my role to play even if it is to evangelize or just
> be in the rooting section for those doing the hard science and the hard
> hunting..those who along with the lay collector are collectively moving
> the science ever forward while moving our understanding ever backward
> into time.
>
> The final category costs me nothing to assemble, and may be the most
> understated and undervalued of what I can claim. I've had 10 years of
> comradere with fellow collectors and kindred spirits, without whom the
> joy of sharing ideas could not have been...
>
> Warmest Regards,
> Elton
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Tue 21 Oct 2003 05:13:45 PM PDT