[meteorite-list] Moroccan Influence or Pairings

From: PolandMET <marcin_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:19:27 +0100
Message-ID: <004601c81b19$067cbe70$0300000a_at_polandmezrd5i9>

> Hi Dirk and List,
>
> A lot of the pairing problems originate directly from the Moroccan
> dealers. Case in point, the Martian material paired to NWA 2975. They
> distributed the material inmasse during the Ensisheim Show to a lot of
> people. If the original Moroccan dealers (Aziz Habibi and Mohamed Sabai)
> waited and submitted a full type sample, received an NWA number, then the
> could have offered it under a single correct number.

But Greg how this will help ? Maybe next 30-40-50g could be classified
together but still the other 500g sit in Morocco in 10 different hands.
This should have a sense if I can send for example 2g and thin section to
the same lab for pairing and get also the same NWA2975 number. But for this
noone give me permision :)
But this could be reasonable point for fixing multi-number mess. This will
not work for all stones becouse some we cant pair by "eye" but some other
unique material we can paired with other stones for sure.
I know this is difficult and propably this multi number situation make less
problems than combine many stones from many persons underd one number to
fixing real TKW.

> Another example of which I am directly aware of is a 5 or 6 kilo single
> stone ureilite I received a sample from, had analyzed, and then personally
> saw while in Morocco last year. I was not interested in it due to price
> and let it go. Next time I saw it again was at the Tucson Show where it
> had been smashed into a half dozen pieces by a Moroccan and offered to
> several US dealers/collectors. That stone was a beautifully clean and
> shaped ureilite, what a waste!

ahh, You are personaly responsible for this disaster :) (ok, dont take it
serious)

> The more the Moroccans get involved in direct sales to collectors, I feel
> they need to abide by the NomCom rules and moral high standards of what
> meteorite science and collecting is all about. Unfortunately, most
> Moroccans consider these "stones" as a meal ticket. In some cases, like
> the nomads who actually find them, this is the case, but once they arrive
> in Morocco's "dealership row", there are no excuses since they often send
> samples to us and some scientists for analysis.

Yep, I also sometimes see stons broken into smaller specimens or fragment
with broken surfaces. I think they crust bigger stones to make them more
easy to store, sale or/and transport.
What we can do ? Explain them what they doing wrong and dont buy
ugly/destroyed meteorites.
I remember that I meet poor man who wanted to show me bag full of fresh
Benguerirs. Nice complete crusted specimens together in one black plastic
bag. Just a horror. Specimens damage their crust from each other on every
move. When I told him that he just destroyed his nice specimens and his high
price he immediatelly pack every specimen separately into news paper. This
was still not to late to save this fresh specimens. I hope he remember my
lesson.

CU all in Munichhhhhhhhhhh....................................

-----[ MARCIN CIMALA ]-----[ I.M.C.A.#3667 ]-----
http://www.Meteoryty.pl marcin(at)meteoryty.pl
http://www.PolandMET.com marcin(at)meteorite.pl
http://www.Gao-Guenie.com GSM +48(607)535 195
--------[ Member of Polish Meteoritical Society ]--------
Received on Tue 30 Oct 2007 01:19:27 PM PDT