AW: [meteorite-list] RE: Ad ebay meteorites

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Nov 4 11:00:06 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F9Gy9tCx1Dy3ri0001339a_at_hotmail.com>

Hello Jorn, Martin and list,

Jorn wrote, "Regarding the ongoing discussion on Dhofar vs. NWA pairings: to
me, the pairing
situation with NWA is a bit like it is with some places in Antarctica -
hundreds
of meteorite pieces were picked up in glacial morains..."

I was not making an NWA vs Dhofar case. I do not think I brought up NWA in
my e-mails, but rather was commenting on meteorites in high collection
areas. In the case of NWA, they are not all "collected" there...but rather
purchased. My comment was pretty simple. That one can not assume that they
have a Dhofar "main mass" that is not paired with another Dhofar "main
mass", because it has a different number. As I also stated, I do not see
this as a problem. I think most understand that "main mass" refers to the
largest piece of that number. I do agree this is somewhat confusing at
times. But it gets confusing outside of high collection areas at times as
well.

Examples from my own collection. I have the Veevers "main mass". I think
most would not call this the main mass, as it is quite obvious the original
meteorite, that formed the crater, was much larger.

Another unusual, is Matteo's Tessera in my collection. Lets ignore the
history for a moment and consider the main mass issue only. I have the
largest piece from the largest stone, which happens to be the smaller then
the largest complete stone currently. Is this a main mass? I think not.

We must understand that main mass is more of a collector and curator term
then a scientific term.

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
www.meteoritearticles.com
Received on Thu 04 Nov 2004 10:59:56 AM PST