[meteorite-list] Questions regarding Unclassified meteorite sales

From: Kevin Forbes <vk3ukf_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Nov 6 10:35:19 2005
Message-ID: <BAY113-F10DE79CE96AE7633C8AE1699620_at_phx.gbl>

G'day list, my feelings on unclassified NWA's.
This repsents the ultimate rape of science.
What can be told about an unclassified NWA.
In short, nothing, apart from, I think it is a meteorite and I think it came
from somewhere in Nth West Africa.
You wouldn't know if it was part of a large or small fall, since no details
on it's find location are noted.
You wouldn't know if you had a highly altered chondrite or an achondrite.
The nation where the item was found has also lost part of its own national
treasure as an undocumented theft.
Meteorites provide an insight to the wonders of our universe, and all
information should be documented. These items are generally sliced up and
sold before they are ever ( and in most cases never studuied ) studied by
anyone anywhere. Think of all the lost knowledge humanity as a whole is
suffering because of this. Think of all of the thousands of kilos of stones
that may unlock some secret of the universe or our solar systems formation,
that will never ever come to light because they sit on a shelf at a
collectors home, never to be studied. Shame world, shame.
Should a NWA be studied and found to be an insight to something, can we go
and get more of it. NO, we have no idea of where it came from or how much of
it made land fall.
For example.,
What is the Lat. and Lon. the specimen was found at? Unknown.
What is the country of origin? Unknown.
Who found it? Unknown.
When was it found? Unknown.
What was the total mass of the fall? Unkown.
What is the area of material distribution? (Fall ellipse). Unknown.

I collect the occasional unclassified NWA with the intention of forwarding
them to the correct places and people to study, they may take as much of the
specimen as they deem neccesary.
It is akin to an archealogical site being robbed of its items with no regard
to the location, depth, age, pieces that go with this or that, and just sold
to the first bod that comes along, Here ya are mate, some ancient treasure.
I currently have several kilos. Not an awful lot. I'd buy all of them if I
had enough folding stuff, but I'd rather get some nice studied material,
read about it all and ponder the sample in front of me, and learn to
identify the various specifics as studied.

The individual nomads that collect these stones in the desert are only
thinking of themselves.
How much food they can get with the money, or weapons they might buy. They
are not interested in science or their countries national treasures or
heritage.

What can you tell me about an unclassified NWA?

Cheers, Kevin, VK3UKF.

>On Sat, 5 Nov 2005 22:03:31 -0800 (PST), Pat Brown <radio_ranch_at_yahoo.com>
>wrote:
>
> >Will some of you share your thoughts on why
> >unclassified meteorite sales are discouraged?
> >
>
>I haven't really heard of the sales being "discouraged". All I know of is
>a very few dealers
>spreading sour grapes about what the NWA rush has done to their high
>prices. ("The market is in
>ruin" and "NWAs support terrorists" being two claims that come to mind).
>
> >I have collected meteorites for about 10 years now and
> >have purchased some unclassified NWA meteorites from
> >sellers on eBay. The 500 to 1000 gram meteorites are
> >selling at attractive prices. Is the practice of
>
>It looks like uncut unclassifed NWAs in non-reserve auctions are tending to
>go for less than 5 cents
>per gram now.
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Received on Sun 06 Nov 2005 10:35:16 AM PST