[meteorite-list] Collecting Habits

From: j.divelbiss_at_att.net <j.divelbiss_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:28:33 2004
Message-ID: <102220030036.26102.3d9_at_att.net>

Walter, Elton, Martin and others:

Great threads are often difficult to maintain momentum with each additional
post, let alone improve on, so I enter this message with trepidation.

I began collecting about 4 to 5 years ago, not exactly sure when. My first
purchases were from Mike Farmer buying 3 individuals: an Allende at about
$10/g, Gao at $4/g, and Sikhote Alin at $3/g...with Mike throwing in a small
Henbury for free since it was first time...a virgin collector! I was the
first guy I knew to actually own rocks from space. I had studied meteorites
and their pricing for about a year on the internet before hand...led into it
by finding a number of very nice meteorwrongs during some rockhounding times
at lunch. Both M.Casper and B. Haag looked at them...and the experiences of
dealing with them were at two ends of the spectrum. Michael worked with me
but in the end had little patience for my questions/issues, while Bob made a
personal phone call to me at work to tell me what I had (old slag), but
encouraged his new "amigo" to go out and look for meteorites, and to become a
collector of these special rocks. That one call put me over the edge...and
quite frankly I knew very little about the Meteorite Man at that time. I have
never spoken to him since, but one day I hope to thank him for his
encouragement. We should all be such ambassadors...I really was touched by
his short message of enthusiasm for meteorites. So a year later or less I was
an owner of a few.

Once I started collecting it didn't take long for me to recognize that the
Morrocan meteorites were starting to make an impact. I was not a list member
but read a view posts on occasion about how these desert rocks were junk and
going to ruin everything. I started to buy them anyway from Ebay, and from
others including our own Ed Moore from Maine. Then the rush of Ebay beauties
came from all over, and in particular I focused my buying on the new guy on
the block...Eduardo, who bought most of Casper's material. Eduardo can tell
you I have a number of the pieces he put on Ebay early in his selling...now
those were some good old days for me.

Since then pricing has dropped dramatically for many name falls/finds like
Gao, SA, and Allende, and the onslaught of type specimens made it convenient
for me to become a type collector, with most being micromounts including many
duplicates that I will one day pair down. What I noticed in the last two
years or so is that I'm buying a lot less specimens, but my price per
purchase has gone up significantly. I'm buying bigger, better and rarer
stuff, which I think is the normal trend from what I understand. I'm still
into types and visually appealing pieces...though I have yet to find a real
niche. I have stones for the most part because the east coast is rough on the
irons and pallasites.

I have yet to get the history bug, or to have to have the ones with stories
as being must buys...that day may yet to come. Hammerstones, etc.

I'm proud of my collection and have shared it with several classrooms at my
boys schools. I hope to do more in that realm.

My dreams and wonderings along Walter's line of thought is "What do these
different types look like in space, before they are ripped apart and scorched
by our atmosphere, followed by the weathering affects on the ground". I
believe they are very pure looking out in space with colors of black, and
white, yellowish tan, mottled, a "painted" look for some breccias, shiny (if
lighted) metal-steel looking, etc....I think we would be surprised by the
range of colors and looks!

Maybe a NASA or private mission in our lifetime will be to go out and grab a
few for study. Now that would be cool. I'm waiting for that day!! Until
then...

Thanx for reading one guy's story/dream,

John

> Hi Martin and List,
>
> >I would like to hear more of what you imagine took >place before the formal
> discovery
>
> As happens all too often these days, I put my little one to bed last night
> and fell asleep before she did. Looks like no more late night ebay sniping
> for me (he, he :-)
>
> Anyway, back to meteorites.
>
> After having run the gamut of everything from "one specimen of every
> find/fall" to "I quit this hobby" I think I have settled on a few collecting
> specialties (1) micromounts of rare and common material (2) micromounts from
> Georgia (the State, that is) and moderate sized pieces that are
> aesthetically pleasing to me (mostly the old guard ala Elton's post).
>
> In keeping with all the above, I really like just plain old common
> chondrites and octahedrites, particularly ones with stories like Beaver,
> Valera, Plainview, Claxton, Canyon Diablo, Park Forest, etc. I have come to
> appreciate the human story side to meteorites after I came to the
> realization that (1) I would have to learn the science of meteoritics on my
> own and (2) sometimes that is boring and tedious and I hate tedium.
>
> So, back to your original question...
>
> Martin (and anyone else who has made it thus far), indulge me for the next
> few paragraphs and think of what I am about to say as an amalgamation of
> meteorites in general, not a specific find or fall (and I realize I am
> making all sorts of grammatical errors such as incorrect verb agreement but
> like Indiana Jones, I am making this up as I go).
>
> BTW, the Raiders trilogy came out of DVD today - yea!
>
> Picture a rock in space, just soaking up cosmic ray tracks and being
> bombarded by the solar wind for untold millennia. For whatever reason, it's
> orbital path happens to cross that of the Earth and for a few short seconds,
> as measured by humans, it becomes a meteorite. It lands somewhere,
> anywhere. It really doesn't matter where.
>
> Just think of all it has "witnessed," and eventually become a part of. Sort
> of like a naturally occurring obelisk (ala, Arthur C. Clarke). The coming
> and going of huge sheets of ice over the land, the extinction of entire
> species, mass migration of humans, perhaps even the development of the
> hominid species (okay I am stretching it here, but you get the point). And
> all the while this was occurring, the rock from space just well, sat there,
> on the ground. Seasons, and years, came and went. Perhaps the first human
> to even lay eyes on the rock gave it little attention. Perhaps they stubbed
> there toe on it. Eventually, maybe it was given a second glance but not a
> second thought, but eventually maybe one of our ancestors gave it a second
> thought and thought of a way to use the rock as an implement of some sort.
> A tool. A mortar, an "anvil" a weight, whatever. This rock (and others)
> suddenly has value. Not scientific value but practical, pragmatic,
> help-me-meet-the-daily-struggle value.
>
> Meteorites began to take on practical value to humans.
>
> Meanwhile some of these rocks begin to take on symbolic meaning. Not just
> as tools but as objects to be revered. They are placed in burial mounds and
> passed from one generation to the next. Through the middle ages and
> pre-industrial eras, "common" people knew what "scientists" could not
> accept - these rocks fell from the sky and thus were special. Eventually the
> scientists would come around to the "common" man's way of thinking.
>
> Meteorites begin to take on meanings in terms of science and religion.
>
> Eventually, someone hit upon the idea of collecting these rocks because they
> were so special. Others did too. Specimens were traded, bought, sold,
> maybe even bartered.
>
> Meteorites began to take on financial value to humans.
>
> And all the while this change is occurring, more rocks are falling, and
> continue to fall.
>
> I could go on with other scenarios but, you get the idea. So, in my highly
> romantized view, the lowly single meteorite represents and has become
> involved in, much of human history, a history which is still being written.
> They really are messengers from space but much more than a simple messenger,
> they have become part of the message, as befits our understanding of them at
> any given time in our history.
>
> So that little slice from that single stone represents a lot of human
> history to me.
>
> Besides, it's really neat to hold something from space that is 4.5 billion
> years old! I will never get a chance to go up to space but in a very real
> way, space has come to me - and it's sitting here on my desk!
>
> Okay, now I have not lost all my senses and I have not been drinking (though
> a Bud would sound good about now).
>
> One last thing. What I really like most about meteorites is when you show
> one to someone who has never seen one, and LET THEM HOLD IT, you can almost
> see much of what I wrote in the paragraphs above in their eyes. They don't
> know it and you might not be conscious of it yourself (unless you think like
> I do, which admittedly is sort of strange). I gave a meteorite to a nine
> year old this morning - a micromount of Delaware to be precise - and I could
> see it in his eyes.
>
> Well, I see my wife and daughter are back from dance class now, so...
>
> Meteoritically Yours,
>
> -Walter
>
> ------------------------------------------
> www.branchmeteorites.com
> Walter Branch, Ph.D.
> Branch Meteorites
> PO Box 60492
> Savannah, GA 31420
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <martinh_at_isu.edu>
> To: <Mikestockj_at_aol.com>
> Cc: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 11:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Collecting Habits
>
>
> > Hi Mike and Walter,
> >
> > Probably the more odd of all my esoteric collecting strands is my
> arrowhead collection. I have a set of irons from different locations that
> resemble Native American arrowheads. I have S-A, Taza, Canyon Diablo,
> Henbury, Mundrabillia, Boxhole, Gibeon, and maybe a couple a couple others.
> Some require a touch more imagination then others, but their forms are
> surprisingly similar.
> >
> > Any other esoteric collecting strands out there? Actually, I know their
> are because others have told me about them. It would be nice if you shared
> them with the group. I know the Hupe' brothers collect main masses of
> planetary meteorites, but for those of us mere mortals, even an alphabetical
> collection is impressive.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Martin
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Mikestockj_at_aol.com
> > Date: Monday, October 20, 2003 5:07 pm
> > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Collecting Habits
> >
> > > Hi Walter
> > > I have a nice collection of falls. What makes it interesting is
> > > they must be
> > > whole and w
> > eigh around 5 grams and be 80+% crusted. I currently
> > > have 12 pieces
> > > plus a gorgeous Camel Donga (it's almost a fall). PF of course is
> > > the newest.
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Mike Jensen
> > > Bill Jensen
> > > Jensen Meteorites
> > > 16730 E Ada PL
> > > Aurora, CO 80017-3137
> > > 303-337-4361
> > > Web Site: Jensen Meteorites
> > >
> >
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > Meteorite-list mailing list
> > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> > http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
> >
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
> http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Tue 21 Oct 2003 08:36:04 PM PDT