[meteorite-list] Re: Amgala

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:11 2004
Message-ID: <035901c41c3b$f152cc40$ad971018_at_attbi.com>

Hi List,

Several members have been inquiring to why Amgala is being held down, in
other words why is it not being promoted? Since a lot of collectors are
asking questions we will explain the most current status.

The reason we put Amgala on the market ahead of classification was, we were
simply trying to recoup some of our sizable costs in chasing this fall down.
We sold enough to cover logistics and lab fees so we decided to stockpile
roughly half of the fall until the laboratories can give us a solid
classification. Since the stone is heterogeneous we submitted three samples
to get the most accurate classification. At first we did not observe any
type 3 chondrules and later discovered they were hidden by shock or not
visible in the pieces we cut. Other interesting clasts were discovered when
we cut some of the fragments. It looks like it will classify as an H3.X and
is possibly a very rare polymict breccia. We knew it was a breccia but were
not sure what type. We are no longer in a rush to sell and will wait for
final classification before making it available again in sizable
assortments. We will however run a few specimens on ebay each week until
our supply is exhausted or the material is traded. NAU is excited about
this new fall so we will allow them the time to complete their studies.

Another reason is that Amgala has a very low TKW of only about 10 Kg and
only consists of a couple hundred examples found so far. An institution has
expressed an interest in trading for all that we are not keeping in our
collection. We are looking seriously at the proposed trade but will wait
for final classification before proceeding one way or the other. We will
update when more test results are available.

All the best,

Adam and Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
Team LunarRock
IMCA 2185
Received on Tue 06 Apr 2004 09:02:03 PM PDT