[meteorite-list] Amgala allegatons: fact or fancy?

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Aug 9 08:55:24 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F2cyyD8jbP6IoY0000d165_at_hotmail.com>

Hello Adam and list,

Adam wrote: "Let me make a quick clarification. 65% of what has been coming
out of Morocco lately...."

This clarification is much more believable, and honest, then your previous
comment. Where you pretty much said, everybody but yourself, has sold fake
Amgala. Some dealers in the past have played with the my meteorites are
better then your meteorites type of list campaign. This was kind of a step
or two below that.

"Some specimens have a dark litholgy Oxidation was found surrounding metal
deep inside cut pieces There was pink calcite in some fusion crust cracks
The crust on Zag is sometimes frothy on trailing edges None of the specimens
had a brown sheen on the exterior The metal distribution is somewhat
different"

I agree with you Adam that Amgala and Zag look different. The Amgala matrix
is pretty much two colors and Zag is kind of colorful. I have not seen
anything in the meteorite to suggest brecciation, as others have suggested,
my guess is H5. The crust on the two is quite a bit different, Amgala is
velvety, and like you mentioned Zag is kind of rough. I have an endcut of
Amgala that has a VERY fresh and very thin patchy secondary crust.
Something I have only seen on meteorites that were picked up right after
fall. All of the Zag that has been sold the last few years is more
weathered then the previous.....and a person would have had a hard time
buying 20 small fully crusted stones of Zag...when the Moroccans had more
the meteorite then they know what to do with. Most were fragments and water
damaged.

Adam continued, "I will not bring this subject up again since a few dealers
have a problem with it. Next time I will mind my own business and let the
buyers sort it out for themselves."

I think most of us appreciate and enjoy learning more information on the
meteorites in our collections. If you would have said something like,
"Dealers who are buying Amgala from Morocco should be careful because....",
or "I had something interesting happen to me..."

Rather when you make untrue statements such as "~65% of the dealers who
think they are selling the real McCoy are in error because they believe
their Moroccan supplier.", you should expect at least a couple of people to
e-mail you.

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
www.meteoritearticles.com
Received on Mon 09 Aug 2004 08:55:21 AM PDT