[meteorite-list] Coins on meteorites

From: Martin Altmann <Altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Sep 4 10:17:38 2005
Message-ID: <00ca01c5b15c$d927d0e0$5e6c9a54_at_9y6y40j>

Yes Alex, my words were to harsh.

On the other hand, everybody knows, that he stone is on public display since
the 80ies in the museum.
The few mentions of the stone in web, tell that the stone was proven to be a
meteorite, although no publications are available
and of course that statement has nothing to say.
And ihmo that somebody with an official backround should take a glimpse on
that stone, should have for the Meteoritical Society a higher priority than
to nod through the 2347th H5, especially as it costs almost not a thing.
Beside the chemical, petrological excellent knowledge the Met.Soc members
undoubtly own and that the research on that exotic matters has of course the
highest pertinance and importance, I think the subject meteorites per se is
so small, that the history of them should be of course part of it and that
in this case one even can't speak of a multidisciplinary endeavour.
It's funny - the stone molders in the museum at a tourist frequented place,
and on the other hand enormous efforts are done since decades to hunt
stones in Antarctica.
So instead to scold them I's better should beg them to go there. It's a
comfort, warm corner of the world. Very scenic, great classical monuments,
finds and archeological sites to visit, salubrious mediterranean cuisine,
easy and cheap accessible via Paphos airport
and finally you all could take a refreshing bath in the Sea after work.
Hence somewhat less stressing and more distractive, than to crawl around in
a cold tent on the
icy end of the world :-).

Sooo, let's do something constructive. Some of the classical coins depicting
meteorites, you'll find online here (there exist many others not listed
there).
http://www.coinarchives.com/a/

It's searchable and there are also coin descriptions on German, so search
for example for:
Paphos AND ston
Paphos AND stein

stone
stein
baetyl
baithyl
omphalos
meteorit
in combination with (AND) the four most popular localities.
Emesa
Emisa
Sidon
Seleukia
Seleukeia
Seleucia
Phoenik
Phoenic

will bring many results.

Another searchable coin database is
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/index.html

Much fun.

A poor picture of the stone in the museum, you find here (not that one with
the bird).
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/9854/PageAph.html

Another not better one here:
http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/blstone.htm

Some informations about newer excavations:
http://www.hist.unizh.ch/ag/paphos/project/index.html

Unfortunately I can't find anymore a more detailled report online.
Perhaps s.o. from Met.Soc may contact those archaelogists: Maier, N?f &
Wartburg ?

Here's the museum - so if you plan a holiday...

Sanctuary of Aphrodite - Palaipafos Museum
Kouklia village, 14 km (9 miles) east of Pafos
Tel: (06) 432180
Daily: 09:00-17:00 (Summer: 09:00-19:30)
Entrance fees: C?0,75

All the Best.
Martin


> By the way, on the other topic of the cultural heritage re coins and old
> tempel finds, I disagree with my dear collector friend Martin Altmann from
> Munich in his rather personal assessment about the intentions and goals of
> the Meteoritical Society, but on the other hand I, just like him, don?t
> understand why obviously nothing is done about these historically most
> important artifacts towards answering the very questions they raise.
>
> Dr. Grossman et al, your opinions on this would be welcome.
>
> Alex
> Berlin/Germany (..btw: also member of the MetSoc:-))
>
>
>
Received on Sun 04 Sep 2005 10:27:57 AM PDT