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

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 03:26:22 +0100
Message-ID: <000b01cbc4dc$16b17950$44146bf0$_at_de>

Hi Carl,

That isn't the question, because:

In most states of laws,
the transfer of ownership can only happen, if a person acquires a thing from a person, who was the rightful owner before.
So it's not the question of import laws, if the sample of Honduras was stolen.
Or whether a sample can be authenticated to be from the Apollo missions.

Neither your strange manager, if his supposed Apollo piece is real, if he received it not officially from the government of the United States, even not if the president himself had given it to him, is an owner,
neither the ebay-clown is an owner, if an NASA-employee "unofficially" as he writes had given an Apollo sample to that other guy because he got a daughter. (Hey how many workers were occupied with the Apollo project and how many of them became father... I guess, we have to send a lot of astronauts more to the Moon, if they all should get a piece).

And come on, Carl,
None of us could even think about selling a REAL rock from Moon,
if we hadn't something better to state, than... yah a friend of mine got once something from another friend, who was once working there and there, and from this working place he unofficially took something, and now, I showed it to someone, who said, oh it's from Moon. And because I'm so modest, I ask not 10k$ but only 5k$ from you and ebay is the right place to offer it.
Good morning!

Ridiculous.

And btw. I guess there is no long-term-meteorite-dealer on this list, who hadn't received yet offers from various sides to buy "authentic" Apollo and Luna-material.

In these old movies from the 1930ies, the jerks sell always the Brooklyn bridge to stupid immigrants...

But quiet now,
I have to make the purchase of my lifetime now.

"This meteorite containing iron might be from Diablo Crater in Arizona. http://www.meteorite.com/meteor_crater/
most likely contains Iron 92%, Nickel 7.1%, Cobalt .50%, Gallium 80 ppm,* Germanium 320ppm, Iridium 2ppm, Platinum 8ppm.results may vary or be none-existent item may contain unknown minerals
the meteorite has weird cracks which most likely took place outside the solar system"

Yah if the seller says so, it must be the real McCoy,
He asks only $751,200.00 for that cool piece of 1 inch diameter.

Or shall I maybe take that first U.S.-Lunar?
The description sounds more convincing:

"I found this in my rock collection, stuff from about 15-20 years ago. I?ve strained to recall where I got it, but it is just a stray from one of my 3 trips in the 90?s, all in the US, but unfortunately all thrown into one box. I do know that none of these trips were to breccia fields, I was hunting artifacts at the time. It may have been in Texas.

It has an UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE to a few Dhofars, wouldn?t you say?!?

This stone has a very faint magnetic spot near that beautiful top clast! (N40 magnet found it; one photo shows it barely holding there). Of course, NO BRECCIAS from earth look like this. They have much more gravity to their order than this."

And:

"The price-setting is as it should be for a truly anomalous stone from the United States of America, that can for now visually pair with the Dhofar set."

Right so. It has 17 grams and costs only 0,75 million $.

Ooooh, the Campell County Gillette meteorite is reduced this week, from 150k$ to only 111k$.

"This thing is huge and weighs probably close to 60 pounds. It is approximately 18" wide, 8" high, and 12" across. My late father found it on the 160-acre homesteaded ranch near Gillette, Wyoming. The title to the property read the name of the Indian chief, the United States Government, and then his folk's name, seriously. Anyway, while wandering every acre in his youth, he found a cigar box full of original arrowheads. And some rattlesnake rattles. And this rock. It was part of a larger group of similar rocks, burrowed into the landscape. I do not know a meteorite from a parking-meter, so you experts help me out. What is this? How much is it worth? It remains unauthenticated and unclassified. Should I take it to the Colorado School of Mines? To whom?

It is priced arbitrarily, based on the show from the History Channel."


And RARE CERTIFIED MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MASS. METEORITE
DOCUMENTED AND CERTIFIED RARE METEORITE
Is getting cheaper every month, now only 11,600$.

"A FUSION CRUST OUTER PIECE OF THE "MARTHA'S VINEYARD METEORITE FALL". IT IS DOCUMENTED AND CERTIFIED AND IS INSURABLE. FOUND ON THE VINEYARD IN 2005 THIS PIECE CONTAINS 54 EARTH ELEMENTS AND HAS BEEN CERTIFIED BY A HARVARD MINERALOLOGIST. IT WOULD MAKE ONE OF THE RAREST AND MOST EXPENSIVE PAPERWEIGHTS OF EVER. A TEN PAGE CERTIFIED SUMMARY REPORT IS INCLUDED IN THE SALE. NOT SHOWN. WEIGHT 237 G, DENSITY 4.21"

That is more convincing than the Apollo rock description.


Good night!
Martin




-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: cdtucson at cox.net [mailto:cdtucson at cox.net]
Gesendet: Samstag, 5. Februar 2011 01:28
An: Martin Altmann; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Apollo Moon rock sample on eBay?

Martin,
Had you been following this thread you would know that their has yet to be a court case to determine whether a private individual may or may not legally own an Apollo lunar rock. Steve and Phil have both pointed out such cases where two different people have claimed to own and tried to sell their Lunar material. One lost the case on the basis of import laws and the other on the basis that they could not analysis the rock in resin so, they still got to keep their rock.
In addition I have personally seen yet another of these resin examples owned by a retired Raytheon manager. I have held it in my own hands. To bad I did not carry a camera at the time. But it does exist. It has also been stated that their are no records of these giveaways. Who knows how many of them are out there.
So, there is nothing plain and simple about it. Yet.
sorry.
Carl

--
Carl or Debbie Esparza
Meteoritemax

Received on Fri 04 Feb 2011 09:26:22 PM PST