[meteorite-list] RFS Picture of the Day - Walter's 1.58 gram Zagami

From: bernd.pauli at paulinet.de <bernd.pauli_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: 04 Jan 2008 22:54:17 UT
Message-ID: <DIIE.000000A3000024F4_at_paulinet.de>

Hello Walter, Michael Johnson and List,

That's a really beautiful Zagami slice! Mine is "only" about one third as
large but it brings back memories from times long since gone. My 0.5-gr
Zagami platelet comes from Rolf B?hler and it was my very first Martian
back in 1994. It was way too expensive to purchase 13 years ago but luck
was on my side at that Meteorite Exhibition in Switzerland. Rolf had just
begun to offer "Meteorite watches" and both the entire case and the dial
plate had been made from Gibeon material. He needed two manuals, one
written in English and another written in French. I translated the German
text into English and into French and instead of accepting money for these
translations I asked him if I could get this beautiful Zagami platelet.

Well, he agreed and I had obtained my very first Martian meteorite. How thrilled
and excited I was on my 300-km drive back home ... a piece from Mars, a piece
from the red planet that I had observed so often in my 8-inch Celestron!

Years later, a thin section followed from Michael Blood and what a blast
that was when I first beheld all those colorful augite crystals under crossed
polars!

My latest two additions to my Martian suite are a beautiful shergottite with
remnant fusion crust from Marcin Cimala, ... one of those beauties that are
probably paired: NWA 2975 - NWA 2986 - NWA 4766 - NWA 4857- NWA 4783
and Dean's unclassified Martians W451-W480 and a stunning piece I obtained
from Jim Strope (NWA 2986) which shows a vesicular black glass vein traversing
the entire slice + vesicular glass pockets.

It was on EBay and, well, I was sweating for fear of someone else outbidding
me. Again, luck was on my side and I can hardly await the arrival of that exotic
Martian beauty!

Shergottitically
Yours,

Bernd
Received on Fri 04 Jan 2008 05:54:17 PM PST