[meteorite-list] Texas meteorite find ...possible hoax.

From: Jerry A. Wallace <jwal2000_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:44:41 -0500
Message-ID: <48B092D9.8000403_at_swbell.net>

Hi Sonny,

Thanks for the "heads up" on this (find?).

Being very familiar with Texas caliche and limestone, I am curious as to
how
the finder cleaned the sample so well. Everyone around here knows that
anything that has been entrapped in a caliche and/or limestone deposit
sticks
to the object worse than bubble gum sticks to the bottom of a boot on a hot
day.

Did the finder mention if perhaps he had dunked the iron in an acid bath?

That's a quick and easy way to clean the limestone off, but a terrible
way to
preserve an iron.

Just curious because it sure looks cleaner than picks and brushes would
get it.
However, the silicate inclusions and coarse crystals appear to make it a
slam
dunk to be an old iron. Now if you can just nail down where it's really
from.

Best regards,

Jerry Wallace
Odessa, Texas



wahlperry at aol.com wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I recently answered an ad regarding a meteorite for sale that was
> found in Texas. I have included a portion of the email below.
>
>> Thanks for your reply on the meteor. Here are some additional details
> on it:
>
>> I am an amateur fossil hunter and I was searching a river-bed in
> central Texas, outside This river bed I was searching within is the
> Lower Cretaceous-
>> Glen Rose formation, well known for its ammonites, grastropods and
> other shell fossils. It is a soft to hard limestone group and is
> stratified into various layers. There are no known layers of metals
> >such as irons, ingenious or other metamorphic type minerals within
> this outcrop of Texas. During my hunt I ran across a dark, rust
> colored "stone" sticking outside of the side bank at about two >feet
> above my head. Was very much out of place as this was a tan-light
> brown colored limestone layer. Started to pull it out, but had to pick
> it out. It was very heavy and was rusted. Was pretty >excited about it
> and had my suspension it was a meteor.
>
>> Researched on the subject and ran a few objective analyses on it. It
> is highly magnetic, has nickle content, shows fusion crust, one spot
> has very bright silver underneath the rusting and weighs in >at 14.2
> lbs. Consulted a couple of Geo-Techs and they agree it is a meteor. I
> have attached photos of the ammonites I found within the same layer to
> give you an idea >of the type of limestone and fossils found in that
> formation.
>
>
> After a lengthy phone conversation I agreed to his asking price. With
> the agreement; before his receiving payment I would request to cut and
> etch a small slice of the suspected meteorite. From the pictures it
> looked very much like a weathered Campo or Nantan. I expressed my
> concern that many of the Iron meteorites that are turning up today for
> sale are meteorites that were purchased and being misrepresented as a
> new find. Also it would be tough to find anyone to classify it if it
> resembled a Campo or Nantan .The finder assured me that this was a new
> find and another small piece was found above this location that
> resembled the meteorite. I thought to myself this can't be true, I
> better call up my hunting partner and reserve plane tickets now before
> Steve Arnold or Ruben find out! Just kidding ! This is when things
> started to get strange. The finder called a few times expressing
> concerns about the value of the meteorite, increased interest from
> potential buyers, etc. I was also forwarded a email from a person
> wanting to purchase the meteorite. The strange thing about the email
> it sounded like my previous phone call with the finder but the name
> was different and now the person expressing concern about the
> meteorite was working with a large University in meteorite studies. At
> this point I was starting to doubt any of this was true . I decided to
> contact the University and was surprised to find out that they never
> had worked with or heard of this person.
>
> I still thought that this could be true and waited for the meteorite
> to arrive ! I received a phone call from the finder the day before the
> meteorite was to arrive expressing ebay prices and possibly not
> wanting to sell the meteorite . From the prices on Ebay this could be
> worth thousands of dollars! Yeh right! Finding someone to classify it
> and all the time involved, you could make Millions!
>
> When I opened the box I could see rust fragments inside the bag that
> was protecting the meteorite. Still anything is possible! Lying in a
> limestone formation for millions of yeras that was once the bottom of
> the ocean. I wonder if that deep sea fishing pole I dropped over the
> side of the boat last year will last that long?
>
> After cutting and etching the meteorite. it appears to be a Coarse
> Octahedrite with silicate inclusions.
>
> I really can not prove that he did not find this meteorite or if it is
> a Campo or Nantan. The purpose of this post is to help anyone who may
> come across this meteorite. I placed a few pictures of the meteorite
> and cut face on my web page.
>
> Thanks,
> Sonny
>
> http://www.nevadameteorites.com/id33.htm
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Sat 23 Aug 2008 06:44:41 PM PDT