[meteorite-list] Man Who Found Kansas Meteorite Looks For Buyer

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Dec 12 14:32:37 2005
Message-ID: <200512121931.jBCJV4j16111_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.hutchnews.com/news/regional/stories/meteor121005.html1

Man who found meteorite looks for buyer for 'King of the Pallasites'
By Tim Vandenack
The Hutchinson News
December 10, 2005

The massive stone and iron meteorite found on a Kiowa County farm in
October is generating plenty of buzz among experts in the arena.

"It's definitely the best American find in a long time," said Bob Haag,
a meteorite hunter and trader from Tucson, Ariz., known as the Meteorite
Man. "It's like, wow."

Now, Steve Arnold, the meteorite hunter who found the 1,430-pound rock,
hopes that notoriety translates into a buyer.

He's contacted the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson,
the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the National
Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., to gauge their possible
interest. Failing that, he might try to sell it at auction.

Whatever the case, it's been a whirlwind ever since he dug down into
Allen Binford's farm Oct. 16 and found the brown and orange meteorite,
which measures about 3 feet across and is rounded across the top.

"There's been a lot of congratulations, a lot of 'wow,' " said Arnold,
who is still in Kiowa County, continuing his search for more rocks.
"It's been exciting. It really has."

Dave Alexander, an astronomy professor at Wichita State University, said
such finds occur only once every decade or two and that word of Arnold's
discovery has spread like wildfire through the meteorite community. The
Kiowa County rock is the third-largest stony iron, or pallasite,
meteorite ever found on Earth and the largest ever in North America.

"Anytime anything of that size gets discovered, it gets attention by
people interested in meteorites," Alexander said.

But size isn't the only distinguishing factor. Pallasite meteorites,
Alexander noted, only account for 1.3 percent of all meteorite finds.
The vast majority are stone.

"It's a million-dollar meteorite," Haag said. "It's a success story of a
treasure hunter who went out and tried."

Arnold, who grew up in Kansas but later moved to Arkansas, traveled
specifically to Kiowa County because of the history of meteorites there.
About 2,000 years ago or more, the Brenham meteorite fall left space
rocks scattered throughout east-central Kiowa County, including the
monster Arnold found and another 1,000-pounder at the Big Well museum in
Greensburg, the Kiowa County seat.

Since the big discovery, Arnold has purchased a home in Greensburg and
plans to spend perhaps a couple more years scouring the Kiowa County
soil for rocks. He's already found another 16-pound specimen, among others.

But the main focus in the near term will be peddling the big one, which
he's dubbed the King of the Pallasites.

Though meteorite hunters sometimes cut up their finds and sell them in
bits and pieces, Arnold hopes to sell his as is.

Alexander said Brenham rocks can fetch $5 to $15 per gram among
enthusiasts, which would suggest a multimillion-dollar windfall for
Arnold's rock, which weighs in at 643,500 grams. But Arnold hopes to
sell his rock in one piece, which reduces the potential pool of buyers
and probably the likely price.

Still, Alexander suspects the meteorite could fetch $1 million, and
Arnold continues the search for buyers in earnest. The rock, currently
being stored in San Antonio, will travel to Arizona in late January and
be put on display at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, a major deal for
enthusiasts.

"It's kind of a matter of waiting to see who steps up," Arnold said.
Received on Mon 12 Dec 2005 02:31:04 PM PST