[meteorite-list] another Kem-Kem

From: Zelimir Gabelica <Zelimir.Gabelica_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:54:34 +0100
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20080128182638.027d1490_at_pop.univ-mulhouse.fr>

Hi Jeff, Dean, Bernd,

I totally agree with Jeff: Kem-Kem was another current name for meteorites
found when the Sahara rush started.
Here is another exemple:

I purchased in 1998 from Michel Franco, the main mass of "Kem-Kem", a
nicely oriented black-crusted cut individual weighing 942.5 g, though a
"simple" L6 (tkw = 1088 g).
He said that he proposed that name but without guarantee it be accepted. It
was because he found it at Kem-Kem plateau (a vast area, see maps). Michel
felt that this name, at the time original, just could sound well....

Some time later, Michel kindly notified me that "my Kem-Kem" received a
strange name....NWA 052 !
I presume that at that time, the NWA rush just started, as suggested by the
low number.

Later, I jumped to the Met. Bull. to look for more info about NWA 052 and,
indeed, it is noted that "Kem-Kem" is a pseudonym of that meteroite.

I don't know whether more NWA's did also receive that same pseudo but it
could be worth a search through the Met. Bull. database.

I take this opportunity to underline the high professionalism and honesty
of Michel who is known for long to take care of his customers by informing
them with all the follow-up of the meteorites he uses to find and sell.

G'night,

Zelimir


17:54 27/01/2008 +1100, Jeff Kuyken a ?crit :
>G'day Dean,
>
>Yeah that rings a bell. I remember Kem Kem stuff all over ebay back in 2001.
>I think the whole NWA numbering system was just being done sometime around
>then too. I think most of the Kem Kem material was just another name for
>Unclassified NWA. ;-)
>
>Cheers,
>
>Jeff
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: dean bessey
>To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 7:36 AM
>Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] TKW help -- Kem Kem??
>
>
>In 2000 (Might be 1999 or 2001, I cant remember
>exactly) this was in BNWA (Before NWA) ex meteorite
>dealer Michael Casper bought 300 kilos of meteorites
>(300 kilos was a massive amount of meteorites at a
>time when even weathered unclassified meteorites were
>getting $3 a gram on ebay) that he was told was found
>in the Kem Kem plain near the algerian border. I
>bought some from this 300 kilo bunch (As did a lot of
>other dealers and meteorites named "Kem Kem" was
>showing up on ebay).
>After seeing it in person I realized that this was a
>very large number of strewnfields all mixed together
>that Casper was selling. At around the same time the
>meteoritical society was trying to decide how to
>retain as much information as possible on all the
>meteorites that were just being sold with no
>particular pattern in morocco. Jeff Grossman in
>particular went on a "fact finding" mission asking
>dealers selling NWAs (They werent called NWAs back
>then) what was happening and the best way to
>accumulate as much info as possible on all of these
>mixed meteorites (I remember him asking me if the
>moroccans were cutting them up before selling them).
>It soon became obvious that TKW and GPS coordinates
>would not be known and it was decided by the met
>society that the best way to deal with the less than
>ideal (but nevertheless present) situation was to
>create the NWA system that we all now all know and
>love.
>I dont know of anything other than this 300 kilos was
>ever sold as Kem Kem. However, there are a lot of
>NWA's that originally were a part of Caspers 300 kilos
>of "Kem Kem". Bernd mentions a 14 gram eucrite and my
>very own historical meteorite NWA001 originally came
>from this 300 kilos of "Kem Kem". There are lots more
>for sure as this "Kem Kem" was a very mixed group of
>meteorites and at that time we all were under the
>misguided notion that all meteorites from NWA would
>eventually be classified (Wither they actually all
>came from the Kem Kem plain or not is another matter
>and will probably never be known).
>Thats my Kem Kem memories anyway
>Cheers
>DEAN
>www.meteoriteshop.com
>AMUNRE on ebay

Prof. Zelimir Gabelica
Universit? de Haute Alsace
ENSCMu, Lab. GSEC,
3, Rue A. Werner,
F-68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France
Tel: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 94
Fax: +33 (0)3 89 33 68 15
Received on Mon 28 Jan 2008 01:54:34 PM PST