[meteorite-list] South Pole Meteorite????????????

From: Mike Bandli <fuzzfoot_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:22:52 +0000
Message-ID: <101420081722.5831.48F4D56B000D87CB000016C722007354469B01010096969A00_at_comcast.net>

I completely agree with Jason here. This type of weathering is typical of Antarctic/Ice meteorites. I checked the story behind the Antarctic vessel and it is true. The Hero now resides in Newport, Oregon - the same location as the seller and was sold as surplus many years ago. If the story is true, the buyer needs to do some serious research and find out why this material was left behind, which is the part of the story that doesn't make any sense.

I actually tried bidding on it, figuring the detective work might be intriguing and Newport isn't too far from me. It was probably worth the gamble. I look forward to hearing more about this story and what may come out of it. The material looks similar to 76009. Many kilos were recovered and some pieces were taken by helicopter pilots as souvenirs. The new owner has a lot of detective work to do.

This crazy story reminds me of another sloppy/unbelievable auction from a few years ago. It was a purported hatch decal removed from the Apollo 13 capsule after flight. The auction story seemed absurd and was a sloppy listing. It was also listed at a penny with no reserve. To make a long story short, it turned out to be the actual decal, which was removed when the Apollo 13 capsule was lifted out of the sea and was removed by one of the recovery ship workers. The buyer of that decal rolled the dice and got an unbelievable bargain and piece of history.

Best,

Mike Bandli

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Jason Utas" <meteoritekid at gmail.com>
> Hola Darren, All,
> The story may be crazy, but that meteorite shows weathering exemplary
> of Antarctic meteorites. Note the thin cracks - almost certainly
> lined with evaporites, hence the white lining. Also note the fresh
> exterior and weathered interior. Bassikounou? Nothing like it. More
> like Antarctic material, to be frank, which, other than ice-blasting,
> typically shows little-to-no external weathering and varying degrees
> of internal oxidation.
> It is a crazy story, but, to be frank, it's either a fresh stone from
> a salty terrestrial environment that's been laying around for a very
> short time in very wet conditions, or it is, in fact, from an ice
> field (somewhere). I've never seen such weathering features on a
> meteorite from...anywhere else. Have a look at those pictorial
> catalogs of Antarctic meteorites if you don't believe me - you'll see
> what I mean.
> Regards,
> Jason
>
> On Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 12:13 AM, Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net> wrote:
> > On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:27:56 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> >>Here is a link to a "South Pole Meteorite"
> >>The story sounds kinda lame to me.
> >>http://cgi.ebay.com/H-Class-Chondrite-Meteor-VERY-BIG-Found-At-South-Pole_W0QQ
> itemZ180298547302QQihZ008QQcategoryZ3239QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZ
> >
> > Story is crazy, but meteorite looks nice. Whaddya think, Bassikounou?
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Received on Tue 14 Oct 2008 01:22:52 PM PDT