[meteorite-list] What do you think of that?

From: Jerry A. Wallace <jwal2000_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:04 2004
Message-ID: <400D725B.8000307_at_swbell.net>

Bernhard "Rendelius" Rems wrote:

> http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2219315732&category=3239
> <http://cgi.ebay.at/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2219315732&category=3239>
>
> Kind regards,
>
> *Bernhard “/Rendelius”/ Rems*
>

Well, Bernhard, I had the same initial reaction to the pictures that
Dave F. did; it sure
looked like some Sikhote Alin schrapnel.

But aside from that, judging from their eBay ad text description, it
appears that there
are none of the standard descriptors nor expected phrases present in the
ad that would
lend credibility to their claim of having found a meteorite, with one
exception which I
will expand on below.

Some descriptors and/or phrases that should be present in an ad that
would help ensure
authenticity are:

* ... burned down the barn, the store, the outhouse, etc.

* ... frightened- Mama, the horse, the goat, the pig, etc.

* ... killed the cow, the dog, the mailman, etc.

* ... too hot to touch for three days.

* ... set the field, the woods, Charlie, etc., on fire.

* ... glowed real bright green, red, blue, etc., all night.

* ... melted the shovel, pick, car, cat, etc.

* ... picked that little sucker up out of the bottom of the ten foot
deep crater that it made.

There are, of course, any number of other descriptor/phrases that lend
virtually
infallible authenticity to what would otherwise be 'questionable
meteorites'. But
the ones above will give a good start to novices unfamiliar with what to
look for
in the eBay ads.

The one item in the eBay ad description that had a ring of truth to it
was the
mention that it was found only twenty minutes after falling.

I can easily imagine the following scenario (you'll have to excuse me
for not
illustrating this with people from the towns of Palencia and León in
Spain; I
have to go with what I'm familiar with):

<Zeb and Luke are rocking on the front porch of their shack high in the
Ozark
mountains, in the cool of the evening, imbibing their nightly refreshment.
NOTE: Setting not important- same thing can and does happen anywhere in
the world.>

ZEB: "Looky thar, Luke, a shootin' star!"

LUKE: "Yep. Shore nuff, Zeb, 'nother one o' them rascals."

ZEB: "Looks like it landed jes' over that hill yonder. Let's go git that
sucker."

LUKE: "Alrighty. I'll jes' grab the jug to take along. Nice night fer a
stroll ennyhow"

<Down the road and behind the hill twenty minutes later.>

ZEB: "Yep. Thar she lies, Luke. Rat thar in the smack dab middle o' the
trail."

LUKE: "Wal, whatcha wanna do with this one, Zeb?"

ZEB: "Wal, I reckin we can do what we done with all them others, Luke.
Let's
take 'er back to the shack, take some o' them deegital pichers of it and
git the little sucker listed on eBay as quick as we can."

LUKE: "Sounds like a plan to me, Zeb. Can always use that extree money these
thangs bring in. Need 'nother snort?"

ZEB: "Yup."

[With apologies to Arkansas Steve Arnold and other Southerners likely to
take offense.]

West Texas Jerry

> **
>
Received on Tue 20 Jan 2004 01:24:27 PM PST