[meteorite-list] UA Scientist and Private Collector Form Center to Save Meteorites

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Feb 1 14:05:42 2006
Message-ID: <200602011903.k11J3j723832_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

UA SCIENTIST AND PRIVATE COLLECTOR FORM CENTER TO SAVE METEORITES
>From Lori Stiles, University Communications, 520-621-1877
Wednesday, February 01, 2006


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Contact Information
Dante Lauretta 520-626-1138 lauretta_at_lpl.arizona.edu
Marvin Killgore 520-626-1294 killgore_at_lpl.arizona.edu

Related Web site
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/swmc/

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EDITORS NOTE: Killgore and Lauretta are available for interviews at the SWMC
display and information room, Room 121, InnSuites Hotel (intersection of St.
Mary's Road and Granada Ave., Tucson)
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The world's meteorites are vanishing.

If something isn't done soon, most of Earth's rare space rocks could be
gone in a lifetime.

This particularly alarms scientists who want to study meteorites -- rocks
from outer space ranging in size from microscopic particles to boulders
weighing tons -- because the extraterrestrial rocks can help them unlock the
secrets of our solar system's history and, possibly, the origins of life.

Part of the problem is that meteorites are being collected at a record
pace. Specimens that have fallen over millions of years are being harvested
in places like Africa's Sahara Desert in a few decades. Commercial dealers
are buying these space rocks at prices the scientific community can't match
and cutting them into small pieces for sale to bidders in a flooded market.

But it doesn't have to end this way, say a meteorite collector and a
university scientist. They are organizing a new center to save the
irreplaceable solar system treasure for future generations.

"The whole point of what we're doing is to prevent people from cutting
every rare meteorite into tiny, little pieces," said Marvin Killgore of
Payson, Ariz., one of the world's foremost private collectors of meteorites.

Killgore and Dante Lauretta, of The University of Arizona Lunar and
Planetary Laboratory (LPL), have founded the UA Southwest Meteorite Center
(SWMC), which will preserve the space rocks through an alternative marketing
strategy designed to benefit meteorite collectors dealers and enthusiasts,
while preserving the resource for scientists who need meteorites for
research and educational activities.

SWMC will offer collectors, dealers, owners and amateur enthusiasts a fair
price for part of the vanishing meteorite legacy. In some cases, this will
allow collectors who've spent their lives cherishing meteorites to preserve
their collections after they die. Their heirs can sell collections to SWMC
at a fair price, and the collections will be preserved in their names.

SWMC will curate meteorites to the highest standards, Lauretta said. Staff
will document each meteorite, adding the information to a comprehensive
database that will be available to the public.

"By taking the characteristics of each meteorite and putting it into the
database, we will be able to tell the dealer or finder that the UA center
will pay this much per gram of the specimen," Killgore said. "And after UA
buys some, or all, of the meteorite for the public repository, everybody in
the market will know just how much of the material is still left for sale."

That benefits the seller because it's easier to get top dollar for the rest
of the meteorite when people know exactly what it is and how much of it is
still on the market, Killgore explained. "What this center basically does is
control the market situation and at the same time puts away some of the
meteorite for future generations."

Until now, there has been no organization that could rapidly and accurately
classify meteorites for collectors. In the past, meteorite enthusiasts have
waited months or years for their samples to be scientifically analyzed
because researchers have been overloaded with too many meteorites to
identify and classify. As a result, many frustrated collectors and dealers
have sidestepped the scientific community when naming and distributing their
specimens.

Lauretta and Killgore, who was recently named curator of meteorites at LPL,
say the goal is to develop SWMC as a world-class meteorite repository that
will house one of the world's largest collections for research and public
education.

Anyone who collects or owns meteorites can bring them to the new non-profit
center for identification, classification, and possible sale.

Lauretta, SWMC director, and Killgore have started raising funds to acquire
and preserve meteorites and are promoting the new center this week through
the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. This annual event draws meteorite
enthusiasts and other gem and mineral collectors from around the world.

Killgore, who has collected meteorites for the past 16 years, has loaned a
significant part of his world-class collection to SWMC to jumpstart the
center's efforts. His collection is valued at about $5 million, weighs 3,328
kilograms (about 7,340 pounds), and comes from about 900 locations in 37
countries.

LPL Director Michael Drake provided initial, first-year funding to pay
salaries and provide physical space in LPL's Phoenix Mission Science
Operation Center, 1415 N. Sixth Ave., Tucson. SWMC will become self-funding
after a year, Drake said.

Donations to SWMC are tax deductible and will fund an endowment for
purchasing meteorite specimens; support meteorite classification, analysis
and curation; fund undergraduate and graduate student scholarships; and
enable center staff to build a premier meteorite exhibit for research and
public display.

Those who donate $500 or more will receive a limited edition gift that
includes a sample of pallasite -- one of the world's rarest, most
sought-after type of meteorite -- suspended in acrylic. Pallasites account
for only about one percent of all known meteorites. They are prized not just
for the beauty of their gem-quality olivine, or peridot, captured in a
nickel-iron matrix. The stony-iron meteorites are prized because they come
from the core-mantle boundary of a disrupted minor planet in the ancient
solar system.

Donations should be sent to: University of Arizona Foundation/SWMC, 1415 N.
6th Ave., Tucson, AZ 85705

Killgore and Lauretta started SWMC's initial information and fund-raising
activities this week to coincide with the 52nd Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral
Show. SWMC events for the next two weeks include:

    o Jan. 28 - Feb. 11 -- SWMC displays, exhibits and information.
Room 121 of the InnSuites Hotel, 475 N. Granada Ave.


    o Feb. 4 -- UA-sponsored talks on SWMC and how meteorites are
classified and authenticated. VFW Hall, 1150 N. Beverly (north of Speedway,
between Swan & Craycroft). At 6 p.m., prior to the Michael Blood Meteorite
Auction. Speakers include Killgore, Lauretta, Linda Welzenbach, of the
Smithsonian Institution, and Harold Connolly, of the New York Museum of
Natural History.

    o Feb. 9 - 12 ? SWMC information booth, with meteorite exhibits and
displays. Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church
Ave., in the upstairs gallery.

    o Meteorite raffle ? Raffle tickets for a 30-pound, iron meteorite
are available for $10 each from SWMC staff.

For more information on SWMC, visit the center's web site at
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/ or phone 520-626-5638.
Received on Wed 01 Feb 2006 02:03:45 PM PST