[meteorite-list] NWA meteorites, TO BE OR NOT TO BE?

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2010 02:59:56 +0200
Message-ID: <00e901cb4970$ff12ad50$fd3807f0$_at_de>

Hi Shawn,

I meant it totally seriously. Even I handling daily meteorites, and probably
because of my simple mind, have to do such visualizations from time to time,
and I wanted to express only, that for many if not most collectors (incl.
researchers),it really doesn't matter that much,
whether a meteorite is found in Sahara, Antarctica, USA or Burundi.

The meteorites from Sahara and especially the NWA are, were and will have
been always the most important source of meteoritic material of all times.

As that collecting hobby is about meteorites, why one shouldn't collect them
too?

You know, meteorites can tell to the collectors two stories.
One story is their Earthly story.
Their story how they felt, who owned them before, sometimes some curious
circumstances how they were found or how they felt, who has parts of them,
in which museums are parts of them, in how many books was written something
about them, were some scientific recoveries made for the first time on
them... etc.
This story is interesting for the collector, who likes historic meteorites
or pedigree specimens most.

The other story is,
what they have to tell us about the worlds out there, the solar system, how
sun, planets, Earth, life has formed.
For this story there it isn't important whether the stone bears a name or a
NWA-number.
Those meteorites are interesting for collectors with a fascination more for
space, science, the material itself.

I'd say, from my experience most collectors collect both kinds of
meteorites.


You're 8 months around - meteorite collecting exist for 200 years now.
("old timers" - guess I am a kind of, 30 years ago I purchased my first
one).
When I was young, pretty and full of hopes, I had the permanent choice of
only 300 different meteorites/locations. Most of them very laborious to get
into the collection, most of them available and/or affordable only in
bogey-sizes. Those roadbed-style chondrites, which you as collector get now
from NWA-wonderland ad libitum, they came at my times from Texas, Kansas,
New Mexico.. and they had cost not 30 nor 50$ but 1000 or 2000$ a kg.


Go just 10 years back. Something like a howardite, which you find sometimes
here offered on the list or on ebay at 5$/g - the people had to pay 400$ a
gram for it. And you had from the rare types almost nothing to choose from.
Acapulcoite? You're choice was simple. Monument Draw or Acapulco. One 800$,
the other 1200$/g - and not 30$.

NWA enabled me, that today I can have in my cupboard the complete asteroid
belt, as far as it is known today.

All types of rocks, all types of asteroids.
And now I can choose, even within the different classes, (sometimes even
within the parent body!)
as rare as they might be.

Now I can afford it! And I can afford it in sizes, that I don't need any
longer a magnifier and a lot of fantasy to imagine, that the pinpoint of
speck really could be a piece of the meteorite, I only know from books.
I even can collect now meteorite types, which weren't known to exist before.
Yes, Shawn, I even can have in my collection a variety of different rocks
from Planet Mars!
And I don't have to sell home and hearth anymore for getting a
fingernail-sized piece of that in my hands, what the heroes of my childhood
Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins brought back from up there!
Now Jane & John and everyone can afford a small piece of Moon.

Indeed Shawn, when I was in Tucson, the kilogram of cheese (and I mean
cheese, that kind with taste) in the supermarket was more expensive than a
kilogram of space rocks on the show! Of course it is a perversion,
but also extremely fantastic, isn't it?

----------

That means NWA to me, that means NWA to many collectors.
To science they mean more, there the NWAs are of outstanding importance.

10 years NWA lasts now, that immense gain of meteoritic wealth, knowledge
and also passion for the collecting people.
If collectors and scientists don't care and that hysteria with that
laws-insanity continues,
it will take only 10 years more and the NWAs will fully have disappeared
again.
(And then, one of your questions will be obsolete, because then we all will
have to pay again the bitter and cruel prices for them like 10 and 20 years
ago.)

Best!
Martin





-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Shawn
Alan
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 1. September 2010 01:26
An: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: [meteorite-list] NWA meteorites, TO BE OR NOT TO BE?

Hi Martin and Listers,

Wow I want what ever your taking and so does my fingers. Any whos thank you
for sharing your thoughts Martin and telling me I can answer some of my
questions myself.

WOW I forgot that the List was a place to talk about meteorites and ask
questions. My bad, I must be at the wrong Meteorite List.... I bet I got
phished. Dang, I need a new virus protection program :)~

Back to NWA meteorites, I find it interesting that there isn't much write
ups about them. So from a person that has only been around..... mmmmmm lets
say 8 months, I think it was a good time to say something about this?topic
and see what some of the old timers thought about NWA meteorites.

And lastly I hope a meteorite doesn't care where it lands, but from a
collectors stand point, we do care, and from a science stand point, they
care as well, cause if they didn't then I wouldn't see why the need for
strewn fields or coordinates of where the meteorites are?recovered from.

Shawn Alan
IMCA1633
eBaystore
http://shop.ebay.com/photophlow/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p
4340
Received on Tue 31 Aug 2010 08:59:56 PM PDT