[meteorite-list] Questions regarding Unclassified meteorite sales

From: Mark Rexburg <mark377835_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Nov 6 10:41:20 2005
Message-ID: <BAY20-F2EAEB65C4F3FF022F3CEFD7620_at_phx.gbl>

Dude you need to wake up to the reality of Northwest Africa. There are not
enough labs on earth to classify every stone found. Just look at the
backlog of Antartic meteorites. It took nearly 10 years to discover that
ALH84001 was Martain.

Mark



>From: "Kevin Forbes" <vk3ukf_at_hotmail.com>
>To: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Questions regarding Unclassified meteorite
>sales
>Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2005 02:35:16 +1100
>
>
>
>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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>
>
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Received on Sun 06 Nov 2005 10:41:18 AM PST