[meteorite-list] Unclassified NWAs: What's the attraction?

From: Walter Branch <waltbranch_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:52:31 -0500
Message-ID: <006801c8554c$49cc4b60$6101a8c0_at_BranchFamily>

Hi Bob,

>Do people buy them because they are cheap,

Yes, some do.

>because they are a mystery,

Yes, some do.

>or for some other reason?

Yes, some may want to create a diorama-like strewn field for display
purposes. I have sometimes thought of doing this.

Some (myself included) have bought them to give away to kids at various
functions.

I recently had a country crock container about filled with cheap NWA
material that I gave away to boy scouts after they looked at the moon
through my scope. Of course, being at night in a campground, some boys lost
theirs in the grass so I would just reach in and hand them another.

Some buy cheap NWA material to practice with, when they are first learning
to cut meteorite material.

Some buy them for re-sale, possibly thinking a huge mark-up will make them a
lot of money.

>If someone else gets one classified,

Few will bother to even attempt to get an NWA classified unless they first
have cut a window into it and discovered what may be an achondrite.

Hope this helps,

-Walter Branch.

________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Loeffler" <bobl at peaktopeak.com>
To: <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 1:07 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Unclassified NWAs: What's the attraction?


> Hi all,
>
> I've seen on some websites that dealers are selling unclassified NWAs.
> Maybe it's because I'm such a newbie, but I don't understand why anyone
> would want to buy them, especially if they look like just a typical
> ordinary
> chondrite or iron? It's just a space rock that was found somewhere in NWA
> (not a specific place) and isn't even classified yet, so you don't know if
> it's an H, L, LL, etc. Do people buy them because they are cheap, or
> because they are a mystery, or for some other reason? If someone else
> gets
> one classified, you have no way to know if the one you just bought is
> paired
> with it, or another one or is unpaired. There is no record, so no way to
> find out later.
>
> I'm sorry if this has been talked about on this list before. I've been
> lurking for only a couple months and hadn't seen it mentioned.
>
> Thanks for any feedback!
>
> Regards,
>
> Bob
>
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Received on Sat 12 Jan 2008 01:52:31 PM PST