[meteorite-list] STILL not clear - Park Forest Meteorite, Winslow St. House

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Jan 29 17:22:42 2005
Message-ID: <3q1ov0lfqlooqdue5pbn4bjpnavd7vjhj6_at_4ax.com>

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 14:40:22 -0700, martinh_at_isu.edu wrote:

>
>Further, as the meteorite collector hones his or her collecting focus, the concept of rare type takes on specific meanings. For example if you
>collected particular locations, like US states, then the sole fall from New Jersey, even though an L6, would have enormous importance to you.
>Or if you were after your birthday fall, few others might share your excitement for a high TKW ordinary chondrite, and you would likely
>pay without hesitation an amount that might seem way out of line to other collectors (right Rob E.?)

Actually, I concidered buying for both of those options (location and birthday). Unfortunatly, both
options (South Carolina and November 25th) fell in the "more than I'm willing to pay" category.
South Carolina fall for sale= Bishopville aubrite and November 25th= Karoonda CK type-stone. I
wouldn't mind having a Georgia Tektite, either, being just a few miles from Georgia but again,
painfully rare (I know I'll never find one but I still wonder if any of the Georgia Tektite strewn
field might have reached as far as my location).

>On the other hand, when an H6 falls out of the sky in front of thousands of people, many with video cameras, then plows into the back of
>a Chevy Malibu, it becomes a ?rare type? in that it has many characteristics that set it apart from both other H6s and almost all other
>meteorites for that matter. An just think if you happen to be both a space buff and a collector of Chevy Malibu cars!

This brings up another thought that has crossed my mind often. It is just speculation and
philosophising, but concider the following:

Sooner or later, there is going to have to be (statisticly speaking) a significant fall in a
populated area that is going to kill people. Not some mass-killing Canyon Diablo or Chixilub size
object-- think of something the size of Sikhote-Alin or Campo del Celo fragmenting over a population
center. There would be a body count attatched to the fall.

I wonder what the collectability of that fall would (or will) be? Hopefully, nobody will be trying
to sell skull-fragment impactite, but will people be paying a premium for a "killer stone"? Will
people wanting to buy ANY part of the fall be concidered goulish? (As would be concidered someone
wanting a piece of the Challenger or Columbia "strewn field", which I confess I wouldn't object to
having).
Received on Sat 29 Jan 2005 05:20:37 PM PST