[meteorite-list] What got you into meteorites?

From: Greg Stanley <stanleygregr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:45:28 -0700
Message-ID: <SNT117-W114D20CC0684C087FDD6E9D21C0_at_phx.gbl>

 
Greg/List:
 
How did I get into meteorites?
 
It perhaps started way back in the ?70?s when a good friend of mine who was a mineral enthusiast got a job at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, and I remember him telling me that diamonds (carbon) had been found in iron meteorites; Wow? I thought that was very interesting. It also was about the same time I was writing a research paper (for English class) on the theory that a large meteor crashed on earth, resulting in the extinction of the dinosaurs? very fun to write and I think I received an ?A?.
 
Years later after many years of fossil and mineral collecting on the east coast, I began to read about meteorites and I remember seeing ?The Meteorite Man,? Mr. Bob Haag on TV and in a few publications. Later I moved to Austin, TX pursuing an engineering degree and began to do more research on how to buy meteorites - It was the early 1990?s and there were few dealers and I also was living on a limited income. I do remember looking in the TX desert and I also looked for Tektites (never found any) throughout the ?90?s.
  
Then in 1997, I was driving to California for a summer internship and I went to the Meteorite Crater in Arizona. It was during this drive across the country, when I stopped at a roadside stand and bought a small ~25 gram Canyon Diablo meteorite; I still have it today. The next year I bought a second Canyon Diablo, which is 225 grams.
 
After graduating from the University of Texas, I got a job in Bakersfield and began hunting the deserts there and found my first meteorite (a 15.8 gram chondrite) in 2006. Since then I have found many more and I read about the different varieties of meteorites when ever I have free time.
 
I have collected fossils and minerals since I was a boy, but I think meteorites are so unique and out of this world, that they have become my primary focus of my mineral collection.
 
Everyone,
 
Enjoy Hunting and happy 40th anniversary (July 20th) of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
 
 
Greg S.

 

> Date: Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:24:06 -0700
> From: star_wars_collector at yahoo.com
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: [meteorite-list] What got you into meteorites?
>
>
> Why am I into meteorites?
>
> I started off as a sci fi fan, and a major Star Wars collector (AKA, a nerd)
> A friend of mine that owns a local rock and mineral store came across a meteorite for me and I picked it up.
> I then ventured onto the internet in search of information about it and discovered I could buy Campo crystals rather cheap... I was using tumbled earth rocks as a method to teach my daughter math and thought meteorites would be a neat way to help her learn to do math.
>
> The first person I bought from - Bob C. was really nice and I ended up buying alot of Campo individuals, a really nice half gram martian from him and other really nice meteorites - from there, my collection suddenly took on a life of its own.
>
> When I purchased my first Lunar (Dhofar 910) from Adam Hupe, I quickly saw that for me to grow my collection like I wanted (Im not that big into micros) I would need to buy in bulk to get better prices. I started searching around to see who could give me good deals for buying in bulk... In turn I went around to local shops such as comic book and rock/mineral stores and shows trying to sell the extra material.
>
> For me, meteorites were/are not really a money thing, but a way that allows me to offer a method of teaching that is "neat" for my daughter and also allows me to actually touch, smell and better understand space, where we came from and where we are going. What is more cool then holding a piece of the moon?
>
> We always see sensational hollywood movies such as Armageddon, Deep Impact etc... Meteorites allow us to actually hold what the blockbuster movies are all about - Meteorites!
>
> In the 3 years we have been involved with this "hobby" my daughter has now expressed a major interest in being a "meteorite scientist" when she grows up!
> At 7 years old, she can tell you what makes achondrites and chondrites different, she can go into detail about Irons and Pallasites and alot of other really cool stuff I wish I would have known at 7 years old.
> She is now also a collector also.
>
> So, while meteorites for us started off simply as a way to teach math to my little girl, we both have since learned a great deal and they have given me and her valuable time together doing something we both enjoy.
>
> Thats what got us into meteorites - a simple gift and a thought of a neat teaching tool!
>
> Greg C.
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Received on Sun 19 Jul 2009 02:45:28 PM PDT