[meteorite-list] Weston

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:05:38 -0500
Message-ID: <020d01c7e1fd$0ea04b30$1051e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Darren, List,

    The NHM Catalogue of Meteorites says:

"After the appearance of a fireball (traveling from
N to S), and detonations, a shower of several stones
fell over an area about 10 miles in length. The total
weight was estimated at 330 lb .(149.7 kg) and the
largest stone, which broke into fragments, at 200 lb.
(90.7 kg), B. Silliman & J.L. Kingsley (1809, 1869)."

    It further lists 3220.4 grams (3.22 kg) in fourteen
institutional collections. Does this mean that 330 lb.
were collected of which the location of only 50 lbs.
is known? Known by whom? The biggest piece listed
by the NHM Catalogue is 1200 grams at ASU in Tempe.

    I assume your source is Yale's Peabody Museum:
http://www.yale.edu/peabody/collections/met/met_weston.html
which has the 16,571 gram piece (36.5 lbs.). Apparently,
the NHM does not recognize Yale University as an institution,
or the Peabody as a collection, or something similarly twitty.
Or perhaps Yale is not "known" to the NHM.

    The 7 lbs. that are listed by the NHM, subtracted from the
remaining 14 lbs., leaves 7 lbs., or less than 3200 grams, in the
hands of private collectors, assuming this kind of arithmetic is
correct, which it likely isn't. The key word is "known." The
article says 50 lbs. are "known." Known by whom? Known in
what time frame? 40 years ago? In a world where the British
Museum does not know about Yale University, what does
"known" mean?

    With an old fall, there may be (are) collected pieces whose
present owner does not know what they are. Almost two centuries
for pieces to diffuse through collections allows for a lot of spread.
And there were 330 lbs. to start with (Yale says 350 lbs.). It's
still on the planet... somewhere.


Sterling K. Webb
--------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Darren Garrison" <cynapse at charter.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2007 6:38 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Weston


Any estimates of how much of Weston is in private collections? I read one
source saying only around 50 lbs are known, around 36 pounds in one mass.
So if
accurate that would obviously leave only around 14 pounds for other museums
and
private collectors.
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Received on Sat 18 Aug 2007 09:05:38 PM PDT