[meteorite-list] Fw: Re: - "witness" to July 6 Fireball PA

From: MeteorHntr at aol.com <MeteorHntr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 03:37:36 EDT
Message-ID: <be1.5e934b2b.3786f840_at_aol.com>

Hey All,

Just for everyone's information, I personally think that if at least two
good video's can be found from two different locations, the intersection can
be found where the MD-PA bolide extinguished. That should be the heart of
the strewnfield.

My primary purpose in going ahead and talking with the media today was to
solicit people to check the recordings from the security cameras. There is
a tiny widow of opportunity to get the media to cooperate when making such
a request, then quickly all interest will be lost. If this ground was
easy to search (not massive amount of green, trees, grass, weeds, crops,
hills, rivers and such) it might be easy for a few people to search hundreds of
square miles in a short period of time. This is a fall that will need to
get the bulls eye identified real close or I am afraid it will be a lost
cause.

And I am not certain, but actually having some of the locals look, might
not be a bad thing. If because of some media exposure, some people start
looking down, it is a bad thing? A few thousand people taking a little time
to check out the ground might do better than a couple dozen professional
hunters could do in a few weeks time.

Once the heart of the potential area can be ascertained, then at least
there will be a shot that something might be found.

There is always a risk when dealing with the media that things will be
misconstrued, but object number one is to find where the meteorites are.
Then, if and when that happens, we can worry about dealing with a land owner
that might find one and thinks it is worth more than it really is. I would
rather have a land owner look and find one and not want to sell it, than not
to look and not to find it, especially if it might be the first one.

I suppose when I was pressed I could have said "Meteorites are worth
$1/g." But then I run the risk that someone will accuse me of trying to steal
meteorites for too little. I could say "Meteorites are worth $100/g. then if
someone find ones, and I only offer a fraction of that for it, then I am
accused of over stating what they are worth. I could say "I don't know
what meteorites are worth" and I would have looked like a fool, since as a
"professional" I probably should know what meteorites are worth.

I told both reporters that were there when I arrived tonight, that
meteorites can be very cheap, as low as $0.05/g while ultra rare meteorites, like
ones from the Moon, can be worth up around $1,000/g. Totally true
statements. Somehow Reuben squirmed out of not answering that question. Good for
him. I tried to qualify my statements when I made them, as I wanted to be
honest.

I am also keenly aware that fireball events like this have an opportunity
to attract new collectors to the market. In fact, while it is possible no
meteorites will be found here, I would bet some new collectors will be
found. Being honest and letting people know that there is a real collectors
market out there, I feel is a good thing.

I intentionally stayed away from saying "I will pay $10,000 for the first
pound recovered" or anything like that, and stayed on focus that I was
looking for more footage from various areas to do the triangulation. I made no
offer to buy any meteorites if someone else found them, just that I was on
the hunt myself.

I know I can't make everyone happy, but I am doing what I think I need to
do to locate the strewnfield in this particular case.

Steve Arnold
of "Meteorite Men"



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Received on Thu 09 Jul 2009 03:37:36 AM PDT