[meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay?

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 13:56:16 +0100
Message-ID: <002e01cbc46a$ebda2270$c38e6750$_at_de>

Strange,

why such a stir on the list, when a person with zero references dumps a
piece of cat litter as Apollo sample on ebay?

Such stories are stone-old. Already in the 1980ies material was circulating,
where sellers claimed them to be Apollo stuff, with similar stories a la my
grandma had a romantic affair with a NASA-boss and he gave her a Moon rock
as present.
And every 3 years or so from Russia people go hawking with unidentifiable
grains, often fancy arranged in capsules or microscope slides, claiming they
would be from the Luna-probes. Usually garnished with papers from
institutes, nobody ever heard of, and garnished with similar stories, a la
Brezhnev in person gave it to my uncle, who was a high KGB-general for his
merits...
I'm tempted to pluck some hair from my head and to wallow it a little bit in
some butter, to put it on ebay as an Elvis-curl, if it's so easy to get your
attention.

Even the question is not interesting, whether the crumb is part of one of
the many stolen Goodwill-Rock-pieces, like from Malta, Romania or from half
Africa and Eastern-Europe,
cause nobody would be so stupid to use a public platform to try to sell it.

Dunno, a dozen postings - like it is so often - for a primitive fake auction
on ebay.

Here are so many on the list, permanently introducing new exciting and often
breathtaking REAL space matters, -
I guess, they would be glad, if they would get half that echo, those dirty
clowns usually get here, who are trying to commit fraud with their
self-found Martian, Lunar, Saturnian lumps from the dump in their backyards.


Just use on ebay the search tag: meteori* -rolex
Sort the result: Price highest first
And you will have on the first pages every day one, two dozen incredible
stupid fake auctions.

American Lunars, Texas meteorite at 0.75 million, Martha's Vineyard, Canyon
Diablo achondrites, Martian blood vessels, ooold Buddhist Mekong-iron carved
ritual crap....as it would be Dr.Terminus' playground.

And honestly, the worries about the so helpless and innocent victims... if
they are sooo extremely stupid?
I get everyday emails, from people I never heard of, who found out, that an
uncle of mine died, and that they urgently have to send 10 millions or so on
my bank account. Poor victims of political intrigues in China, Africa, Iraq,
who will transfer to me some few millions immediately, if I will help them.
Investors vom Arab and China countries, who recovered my biz and want to
give a couple of millions to play with, millions I win every day, from
lotteries I never took part. On average, if I would accept, my fortune would
grow each day with 52,000,000 USD. Pills I get offered, that I can reduce
parts of my body and other pills, who will enlarge other parts of my body...

...would anybody have mercy with me, if I would be so stupid to fall for
such stuff?

Two simple advices:

1.Such kind of ebay auctions - as soon as you see there written a "$" and a
figure larger than only "0"
- then it's fraud.
If the sum = 0 - then it's no fraud but naivete.

2. Whenever someone (with exception if the person is from Maghreb) contacts
you asking for your opinion, whether his find is a meteorite AND his first,
second or third question is: How much is it worth or where can I sell it.
- Don't answer, it's wasted time.


Best!
Martin

...hey I have a few rocks here, which are from Moon ;-)
Also sume, where geologists said, they are from Planet Mars.
Received on Fri 04 Feb 2011 07:56:16 AM PST