[meteorite-list] Statesboro Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:11 2004
Message-ID: <200404051625.JAA10623_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/040504/LOC_meteorite.shtml

Mega-dollar meteorite

Bulloch County farmer holding out for big bucks for not-so-big
rock

By Robert Branch
Savannah Morning News
April 5, 2004

A prime piece of extraterrestrial real estate is for sale in Bulloch
County. The owner has already turned down an offer of $25,000
for it. But whoever buys it can't build a house on it or sell it for
commercial development because it's no bigger than the palm of
an adult human hand.

It's a meteorite, formed billions of years ago when the universe
was new, say scientists who have examined it. It is called the
Statesboro Meteorite because meteorites are typically named
for the nearest city, county or other geographic feature.

Farmer Harold Cannon unearthed the meteorite four years ago
while operating a bean picker in one of his fields. He said he
knew it was no ordinary rock when he picked it up.

Ultimately, he took the six-pound object to the department of
geology and geography at Georgia Southern University.

In order for a meteorite to be officially recognized by the
international scientific community, a "type specimen" of at
least 20 grams must be analyzed by a qualified curatorial facility.

GSU research scientist Michael Kelley sent samples of the
meteorite to the Smithsonian and a college in Pennsylvania.
Tests show it is a relatively common meteorite known as a
chondrite, made up of metals and stony minerals.

Kelley also sent a few grams to the Space Science Laboratory at
the University of California at Berkeley.

"Scientists there will carbon date the sample to see if they can
determine how long it has been on the surface of the Earth,"
Kelley said, adding they'll also study gases trapped in the
mineral grains to determine how long it traveled through space
before landing here.

Although scientists at GSU have made Cannon an offer for the
meteorite, it's currently for sale on eBay. Cannon said GSU
wouldn't meet his price.

"He said he wanted to try getting as much money as he can for
it," said Kelley "We certainly would like to have it in our
museum but we have a limited amount we would be able to offer
him."

Kelley wouldn't say what that amount is, but he said meteorites,
depending upon the type and quality, can sell for anywhere from
$3 to $8 per gram. Cannon's chondrite weighs 2,061 grams.

Cannon's Internet listing includes a description and photo of the
meteorite, along with a note from alerting bidders that he has
already turned down an offer for $25,000.

At last check the bids on the site hadn't exceeded $150.

Sometimes meteorites are broken up and the pieces sold, but
Cannon said he will sell his find whole. Fernbank Science Center
in Atlanta offered to buy a piece, but their price was too low for
Cannon.

Ed Albin, an astronomer at Fernbank, said the museum there has
sections of 23 meteorites that have been found in Georgia and
would like to have Cannon's.

"I'm not sure we have the funds to acquire a meteorite," Albin
said.

"The benefit of having it would be that it is a find that would be
kept in Georgia. One of the things I'm concerned about is that a
European or Asian collector could acquire it and it would leave
the country altogether."
Received on Mon 05 Apr 2004 12:25:49 PM PDT