[meteorite-list] US Dealers Pictures on www.starhunter.tw ??

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 12:57:32 -0500
Message-ID: <e51421550912050957g122e9e3cp31706e3521ff1a41_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Paul and List,

Wow, good eye and nice catch!

What a strange website. Maybe it's just me, or the culture barrier,
but the Rex character seems more like a sideshow promoter than a
seller of meteorites and rare materials. I don't say that as a bad
thing - I just mean that it looks and feels very different than any
meteorite website I have seen.

I didn't wade through the entirety of the listings, but some of them
seem a little dubious - like this offering : Iron Meteorite1.96kg(IAB)
like the head of an alien (Item No.?S000045)

http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=11&pp=A

I've never seen an iron meteorite with this kind of weathering pattern
or any pattern like this caused by natural processes. The specimen
looks altered to me. The listing does not explicitly state the
specimen is in a natural state, so it's not being misrepresented
per-se, but it does seem questionable.

Many of the specimens also lack important details - like the name of
the find/fall or any petrologic data. A photo is presented and the
piece is stated as "pallasite" without any mention of what exact
pallasite it is - http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=159&pp=A

Much of that "meteorite jewelry" recalls the dubious pieces we see for
sale on eBay frequently - the carved crosses, Buddhas, and other
figures.

Example - http://www.starhunter.tw/e/detail.asp?pno=3868&pp=B#

An unclassified CV3 embedded in a trinket-like resin star. (*ugh* -
don't get me started again on this tacky practice)

Who analyzed it and determined it is a CV3? How can we tell, since
the piece is so small and permanently embedded in resin?

Maybe it's just the English language version of the site with these
issues - I have seen sites like this where the different versions for
various languages are not consistent - so maybe the native language
version has more detailed information?

I did notice that he is offering Martin and Stefan's Moon Rock
displays, so at least those specimens are authentic.

Best regards and clear skies,

MikeG

PS - there is also a copy of Eric Twelker's meteorite type chart here -

http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside3.asp?p1no=3



On 12/5/09, Paul Harris <paul at meteorite.com> wrote:
> Dear Geoff, Eric, and List,
>
> I received an email from the Taiwan Meteorite Company
> http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside.asp requesting a Banner Ad and in
> reviewing their site I see what appears to be images from Eric Twelker
> and Geoff Notkin's sites. They may have others as well but I have not
> searched their whole site. Two of the pages are listed below.
>
> http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside2.asp?p1no=2&p2no=0
> http://www.starhunter.tw/e/inside2.asp?p1no=5&p2no=0
>
> To Eric, Geoff and any other dealer, please let me know if you have
> allowed this company to use your photos.
>
> Thank you very much,
>
> Paul
>
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-- 
.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Florida, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
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Received on Sat 05 Dec 2009 12:57:32 PM PST