[meteorite-list] Bonhams Auction Issue

From: Adam Hupe <raremeteorites_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 17:29:30 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <666728.10272.qm_at_web30703.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Dear List Members,

I have been receiving disturbing emails and phone calls about a specimen entered in the Bonhams' Natural History Auction. The piece in question is lot #1124. The 90.6 gram weight of this single rock claimed to be NWA 4880 outweighs the entire Total Known Weight of NWA 4880 entered in the Meteoritical Bulletin. I appreciate IMCA members and scientists reporting this to me but this is not my stone and I do not want to engage in pairing issues which are up to scientists to determine, not me.

No, I did not add more stones to the NWA 4880 designation as some are accusing. This stone is not NWA 4880 and I did not provide it to the seller or Bonhams. I was sold out long ago on this material and this piece did not come from the Hupe Collection. Please direct your complaints to Bonhams as this is not my auction. This issue is between perspective buyers and the seller of this stone and not me so please direct your inquiries elsewhere.

Here is a link to the auction in question:
http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=USA&screen=lotdetailsNoFlash&iSaleItemNo=4147630&iSaleNo=16155&iSaleSectionNo=1

Here is the meteoritical bulletin entry:
http://tin.er.usgs.gov/meteor/metbull.php?code=45804

I am not trying to start something here, just making it clear that this stone did not come from my collection and is not NWA 4880 as I handled every genuine piece of this material as did the scientists who studied it.

Best Regards,

Adam
Received on Mon 01 Dec 2008 08:29:30 PM PST