[meteorite-list] Stop thieves! Meteorite marauders of Norway!

From: Michael Mazur <mjmazur_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Aug 13 04:53:30 2006
Message-ID: <44DEE884.4080805_at_gmail.com>

I tried sending this a couple of days ago but it never made it to the
list. Here goes again,


Aug. 11th the University of Oslo published the following article on
their website.

http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=30585&del=uniforum
<http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=30585&del=uniforum>

Nice pictures of the rock but I felt that the commentary was a bit over
the top so I've translated it for your reading pleasure. It looks like
there is a steep road to climb for meteorite hunters and collectors in
Norway. There aren't many of us but I'd like to think that we're not
thieves who don't care about science as is implied by the article. If
you disagree with Elen's proposal, maybe a gentle note explaining how
you think meteorite collectors and dealers can and do help science would
be a good idea. Not that I suggested it of course.

Enjoy.

Be aware that I may have missed a few norwegian words but I think that I
got it right for the most part.
___________________________________________________________________

Private meteorite hunters have come to Norway to find and sell pieces of
the meteorite that fell down over ?stfold on July 14^th to international
collectors. Director of the Natural History Museum (University of Oslo)
seeks a precise law in order to stop 'meteorite theives'.

By Yngve Vogt

International meteorite hunters have been tempted by the summer's rare
meteorite fall in ?stfold. They hunt after pieces of the meteorite and
can earn 10,000's of Kroner (>1,500USD) by selling to the highest
bidder. Today, there are no legal regulations that can prevent this.

To this day, three pieces of the ?stfold meteorite have been found.
International buyers stand in queue. This afternoon, the highest offer
was 150,000 Kroner (~25,000USD) for a piece that came down in a yard
while the family was on vacation.

- This a very high amount for the Natural History, says director of the
Natural History Museum, Elen Roaldset. She seeks, therefore, a precise
law that will make it so that pieces of meteorites will not be sold to
private collectors, but will be owned by the state and will be useful to
research.

- There is big commercial interest in meteorites. In the Moss area there
are rumours that meteorite hunters have come from near and far. Several
meteorite hunters have already come from America and Germany. As long as
there are no laws, it is very tempting for them to sell meteorite
material to the highest bidders and to international collectors. Then
the meteorites disappear out of the country. This means that one can not
do groundbreaking scientific research. It is via meteorites that we have
the possibility to gather knowledge about the formation of the earth and
the solar system, points out Elen Roaldset.

The meteorite that fell over ?stfold on the 14^th of July of this year
is the 14^th meteorite that has fallen in Norway since the Natural
History Museum started registering (falls). The meteorite in ?stfold,
according to Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaard, very rare and the fifth
meteorite of its type. The last time that a comparable meteorite fell,
was in Russia in 1937.

Each time a new meteorite is found, the meteorite must be registered and
approved by an international commission.

Wishes clear rules
The problem with private meteorite hunters happened already when the
78.67kg Finnmarken meteorite fell over Alta in 1902. Then many
collectors appeared and sold pieces of the meteorite to other lands.
Then geology professor W.C. Br?gger, who later became the university's
rector, wrote already about the need for a meteorite law in 1903.

Elen Roaldset seeks now norwegian regulations that will be just as
strict as those around the finds of old cultural treasures.

- A law is needed that takes care of fossils and the type of object that
fell over Moss, and that can (protect) the scientific interests of
mankind. This law ought to be comparable to the cultural properties law
that takes care of viking treasures, says Elen Roaldset.

She points out that todays laws are imprecise. The problem is the
commercial value that causes problems between finders, property owners,
and the state.

- What happens if a valuable object falls down on private property? Does
the mountain (presumably mining) law or the property law apply?

Danish meteorite law
Denmark has solved the legal problem by introducing a law that meteorite
finds are property of the state. Also Canada has introduced a comparable
law (not strictly true of course).

The danish bill secures the most important natural history finds for the
danish public.

The danish museum law says that objects shall be turned over to the
state when they are found in Denmark after January 1990. If the state
wishes to keep one of these objects, the finder or owner of the object
will get a reward. The size of the reward is dependent on the scientific
or display value and how good care the collector has taken care of the
object.

Hearing statement
The Natural History Museum sent in August of last year a 'hearing
statement' to the environment department about the draft of the new law
about nature, landscape, and biological diversity, also called the new
nature diversity law.

The Natural History Museum points out that the current laws don't take
into account the geological diversity. The property rights to natural
history objects is of large scientific value and it is a 'special
problem that property rights to meteorites is not regulated by the laws.

Elen Roaldset says that it is thanks to well-meaning people, that it has
been possible to have the last three meteorites in the museum's collection.

As long as a law is needed, she has just the possibility to tempt
meteorite hunters with recognition and a finders fee.

- We can offer finders that the meteorites is saved for posterity and we
can say in the display who has found it. Also we can pay a finders fee.

Important scientifically
For researchers, it means a lot to have as many pieces of the meteorite
as possible. From studying the size of the pieces and how they met the
earth, one can say more about where the meteorite came from.

The problem is that one of the three pieces, that was found from the
meteorite in Moss, has already been sent out of the country.

Meteoritten over Moss er sannsynligvis karbonholdig. Elen Roaldset
p?peker at denne typen meteoritter er av stor vitenskapelig betydning og
det vil v?re spesielt interessant ? unders?ke om den har organiske
forbindelser.

The meteorite over Moss is possibly carbon-bearing. Elen Roaldset points
out that these types of meteorites are of large scientific meaning and
it will especially interesting to research whether it has organic compounds.

*Stort!*
Astrokjendis Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaard ved Universitetet i Oslo sier at
meteorittnedslaget setter Norge p? kartet internasjonalt.

Big!
Astro celebrity, Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaar with the University of Oslo
says that the meteorite fall puts Norway on the international map.

- This is the first meteorite that has hit a roof in Europe since 1989.
And the first time such a meteorite has fallen since 1937. And, it is
the first time that more than two meteorite pieces have been found from
a meteorite fall in norwegian history. This means that there are
hundreds of pieces that will not be found. The meteorite is a holy
object for us at the University of Oslo. It can help us explain life on
Earth. Meteorites are an important goldmine on Earth for us astronomers.
It is there that geologists and astronomers meet, says Knut J?rgen R?ed
?degaard.

- The meteorite is 4.6 billion years old a little bit older than Earth.
The meteorite is composed of material from the when the solar system was
being formed. The meteorite is not the left over bits from a planet
explosion, but the pieces that became asteroids and then broke when the
asteroids crashed into each other, says Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaard.

Dependent on amateurs
Elen Roaldset applauds Knut J?rgen's 'mediablast' around the meteorite
fall in ?stfold. Without this mediablast the workers, who were to repair
the hole in the roof of the warehouse, would not have realized that the
stone in the hole was a meteorite. The discovered the stone when it
began to pour rain in the warehouse after a terrible rainstorm. Then
they thought about the meteorite posters and the announcement that the
Natural History Museum had run in the Moss Avis.

Norgesgruppen turned the meteorite over to the University of Oslo
yesterday afternoon.

The University of Oslo has now gotten large response from eager
'?stfolders'. Together with meteorite hunter and amateur geologist
Morten Bilet, Knut J?rgen has, in the past days, visited daily five to
ten residents that have inquired about a possible meteorite find.

Elen Roaldset is also very happy that amateur geologists hunt for
meteorites.

- We don't have enough people that can do it. So we are solely dependent
on amateur geologists. But it is hugely important that these meteorite
pieces come to our collection and be researched. We make models of them
before we take out small pieces from the meteorite and research them. We
then do isotopic analyses and chemical and mineralogical research, says
Elen Roaldset.

The rush to look
Knut J?rgen asks urgently that people look for meteorite fragments now.

- When the frost comes, the meteorite pieces with deteriorate. So look
now, in yards and on roofs! You will recognize the meteorite as it is
black, light gray inside, and a little bit magnetic. If you find such a
piece, phone myself or the Natural History Museum. Morten Bilet and I
drive out whenever all day, says Knut J?rgen who apologizes that
meteorite collectors have come to the country just to grab their own
pieces.

- It is horrible and crazy that on sells meteorites internationally when
they are not registered. It is a fight to find the rest of the meteorite
bits. All are working together except two men. They've run away with the
pieces.

All the same, Knut J?rgen doesn't wish to see new laws for meteorites.

A law can destroy meteorite searching. If a law comes, there is no
reason to look. What one needs is a payment system, asserts Knut J?rgen.

-- 
Michael Mazur
Vigdelsvegen 523
4054 Tjelta
Norway

Received on Sun 13 Aug 2006 04:53:24 AM PDT