[meteorite-list] New "NEVADA METEORITE"

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jul 30 16:32:52 2004
Message-ID: <20040730203250.65581.qmail_at_web12308.mail.yahoo.com>

Here in Canada we have our own version of "Tucson". It
is the Bancroft mineral show which is canadas largest
mineral show and its a 4 day show this weekend. (But
before you come remember that I havent gone in about
five years and while it is only a 2 1/2 hour drive
from me I likely wont go again for another 5 years).
The show was mostly small mineral specimens and a bit
of jewellery and things - and pretty much everything
at prices at least 10 times tucson prices.
One dealer had about 35 meteorite specimens - grossly
overpriced allende ($50 or so a gram), Sikhote alin
and Gibeon ($7 or $8 or more a gram).
But another dealer had a meteorite that was a "new
northern nevada fall". So four hours ago I got to see
this new "Meteorite" in person for the first time.
And this is so obviously not a meteorite. It is a
typical wind blown desert rock similar to what you see
tons of if hunting the atacama desert. Anybody with
the tiniest amount of meteorite knowledge wouldent
think that this is a meteorite. You might pick it up
if it was in the desert if your magnet attracted to it
(Because anything that attracts a magnet when you are
meteorite hunting requires a second look). But you
would quickly discount it. It just plain dont look
like any known meteorite even to the naked eye.
I told the dealer (Whom I never met before) that this
is not a meteorite and he was adament that it was a
meteorite and when I asked "Why do you think it is a
meteorite" he said because thats what meteorites are
like, it was tested at some lab in the United States
and a well known respected meteorite dealer delivered
it to him personally at the show (Although he wouldent
tell me who it was). Everything else on his table was
things like quartz crystals, labradorite specimens, a
couple fossil fish ect. Nothing of any great value and
nothing else remotely meteorite related. The guy
obviously had no idea what a meteorite looked like but
was very irritated that somebody would tell him that
it was not a meteorite. 25 pounds for $750 (About
US$600). It will be sad if some unknowing new
collector gets ripped of because some show dealer dont
care to learn about the stuff that he is selling. It
would have to be a new collector because if he wasnt
extremily new he would quickly realize that this was
not a meteorite.
So now that I have seen this in person I can confirm
that there is no chance that this is a meteorite (Not
that you couldent confirm that from a picture anyway).
This should be a lesson to a lot of list members who
think that ebay is the only place where fake
meteorites are sold. Ebay is probably the safest place
to buy meteorites (And thats partly because of the
IMCA and this list getting out information to buyers)
but shows are a serious problem also. I am obviously
playing with statistics here but it is correct to say
that at canadas largest mineral show this weekend a
full 50% of dealers selling meteorites are selling
fake meteorites.
Cheers
DEAN
 


                
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Received on Fri 30 Jul 2004 04:32:49 PM PDT