[meteorite-list] New Nevada Meteorite on Ebay

From: ken newton <magellon_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Jul 12 15:53:01 2004
Message-ID: <40F2E9D4.5020009_at_earthlink.net>

Bob and List,
Actually the seller (Mr. Szep) was immediately contacted by IMCA on
7-09-2004.

 I informed Mr. Szep that I had spoken with the original finder (Mr. Yocum)
 last October when this material appear on ebay last year. Mr. Yocum
told me that
 Alan Rubin and others had inspected his samples of this 'Nevada
strewnfield.'
 Mr. Yocum reported that Alan Rubin had told him it was 'slag and contained
no nickel'. Mr. Yocum did not believe Alan Rubin because "how else
could these huge pieces have wound up in the middle of nowhere?"
After informing Mr. Szep of these things. Mr Szep again asked me
 for my opinion on his photos. I also have a sample of this material
sent me
by Mr. Yocum. I gave Mr. Szep my observations as to why I felt the
material is
slag and I suggested he have NEMS verify. I provided NEMS contact
 information and details.

I cannot explain why Mr. Szep has not closed this auction.
I.M.C.A's interest in this matter is unfinished.

Thanks,
Ken Newton
http://www.imca.cc

 

Robert Verish wrote:

>If now one else will speak up, I guess I'll have to
>say it...
>
>I find this whole Nevada-meteor-wrong-auction-thing as
>being potentially very embarrassing to the meteorite
>community.
>
>This problem-auction was first brought up on the
>IMCA-List, but nothing more was said about it.
>Nothing more was mentioned about how the seller of
>this auction of this untested, misidentified material
>was actually an IMCA member! Nothing more was posted
>about how assistance should be lent to the seller in
>this matter before any bigger problems arise.
>
>Now there's a discussion on this List, but instead,
>the issue is centered on "trying to determine the ID"
>of this rock that is clearly a desert varnished iron
>ore. But there's a bigger problem here. The seller
>isn't some inexperienced rockhound/prospector trying
>to sell on eBay some iron ore that he has confused
>with being a meteorite. The seller is ONE OF US!
>
>The problem is that the entire meteorite community can
>suffer a black-eye over an incident like this. How
>this problem gets handled will be crucial to the
>reputation of the IMCA, if not all collectors in
>general.
>
>There are a number of questions that still need to be
>answered, and some of you have already been trying to
>get those answers. But I'm not going to raise those
>questions here on this List. I feel these questions
>should be raised and discussed on the IMCA-List, where
>it was first raised, and where it properly belongs.
>
>Bob V.
>
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>
Received on Mon 12 Jul 2004 03:43:16 PM PDT