[meteorite-list] Piece of Willamette Meteorite to be Auctioned

From: Rob Wesel <rob_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:27:13 -0700
Message-ID: <003801c7f88f$342721a0$b7201418_at_windows9bb74fe>

"As a tribe, we do not participate in such sales and auctions," Taylor said
Thursday. "We view them with dismay."

This is from the spokesperson for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

If you had one of my most sacred cultural artifacts and were about to see it
lost, tucked away or diced up, I would breach protocol "just this once".

Think they don't have the bankroll for a $1.4M rock? Think again. Tomonowos
is well within their reach, has been for years.

http://www.spirit-mountain.com/events/

To use Paul's observation:

My guess would be that the consensus of the archaeologists and
anthropologists, whom I knew, would be that the feelings of a typical
member of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde towards
auctioning off this piece of the Willamette Meteorite would be
equivalent what a Roman Catholic would feel if someone had
obtained possession of a large piece of artwork from the Sistine
Chapel and was auctioning it off at either Southby's or Christie's.

They'd be pissed but "the church" wouldn't let it go to a collector unless
it served some purpose to do so.

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde seem content to "watch in dismay"
(insert: heads thrown back, dorsom of hand to forehead) and squawk from
within their 90,000 sq/ft casino, currently under expansion construction,
where no room is less than $104 any time of year.

I hope this is Pitts' last piece, the broohaha over this meteorite is tired
and old.

Rob Wesel
http://www.nakhladogmeteorites.com
Received on Sun 16 Sep 2007 02:27:13 PM PDT