[meteorite-list] Gebel Kamil

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:35:03 -0800
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=99NWq8xunaSBw8LqrVZtu3_TatQm+Xhz4qiP0_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello Richard, Greg, All,

To date an estimated 2-3 tonnes of shrapnel fragments have been
recovered, ranging in weight from a few grams to 35 kilograms. One
regmaglypted individual was found, weighing 83kg. It was discovered
and retained by the scientific expedition that first explored the
crater, so all that will be available for the likes of us are pieces
of shrapnel produced by the violent destruction of the main mass when
it produced the crater.

some have asserted that it is illegal to export meteorites from Egypt
without approval from the state. I looked into the issue, and, as
best I can tell, this is entirely untrue. It seems as though the
academics involved in the discovery and exploration of the crater
decided to attempt to apply the Egyptian antiquities law that refers
specifically to man-made/cultural artifacts - to meteorites. In light
of that fact, I believe that all of the specimens exported legal, at
least until Egypt passes a law that acutally prohibits the export of
minerals specimens and/or meteorites.

See here: http://www.cprinst.org/cultural-heritage-legislation-in-egypt

Since there are no clear laws pertaining to meteorites, the real
question is whether or not a meteorite can be said to have "cultural
value."
If we break this idea down, the real question we need to ask pertains
to the definition of what can be termed "cultural."

To my kowledge, at least in Egypt, 'law 117' has never been applied to
objects that were not human artifacts. (Never.)
The scientists working on the meteorite claimed that export permits
were required for meteorites because, "Everything which is found in
the Egyptian soil is property of the government." (Tarek Hussein,
former president of Egypt's Academy of Scientific Research and
Technology)

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/213262-Deep-impact-market-the-race-to-acquire-meteorites

While this claim may be correct in the sense that objects on the
public land of any country belong to the federal or state government
with jurisdiction over the given land, if there are no export laws
pertaining to a given resource, it is not illegal to export it.

For a perfect example, note that all meteorites found on public and
BLM land in the US technically belong to the US government. Since
there are no US laws pertaining to the export of US meteorites, and
the government does not enforce their ownership of any of these
meteorites (with one historic exception), it is generally viewed as
legal to export meteorites from the US -- even those found on public
land.

Regards,
Jason

On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 6:17 AM, Greg Catterton
<star_wars_collector at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Prices are interesting with the meteorite. I do know that most of the material on the market is "stolen" and should not be sold. Egypt does not allow the export of meteorites and last I read, only about 2kg was approved for export.
> Its a nice meteorite, but should be considered illegal just like Berduc and others that come from countries with harsh export laws.
>
> Greg Catterton
> www.wanderingstarmeteorites.com
> IMCA member 4682
> On Ebay: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/wanderingstarmeteorites
> On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WanderingStarMeteorites
>
>
> --- On Fri, 3/11/11, Richard Montgomery <rickmont at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> From: Richard Montgomery <rickmont at earthlink.net>
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Gebel Kamil
>> To: "'Meteorite-list List'" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Date: Friday, March 11, 2011, 9:13 PM
>> Hello List.? Taking a breath for
>> a minute following the disaster in Japan, for welcome
>> relief? (yet God bless them please).... I'll ask about
>> this since I've been wondering for a while since the crater
>> was announced:
>>
>> Do we yet have an estimated TKW of Gebel Kamil?? Also,
>> those first images of the couple (I've only seen two) of
>> complete regmaglypted individuals are somewhere unknown to
>> me, but wow!!? Which reflects on my next query...what
>> other 'individual-shrapnel' occurance events to we know of?
>>
>> I'm fortunate to own a few nice sand-blasted pieces, as
>> many of us are.? The auction prices seem low to me.
>>
>> Just curious, and wondering.
>>
>> -Richard Montgomery
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>
>
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Received on Sat 12 Mar 2011 04:35:03 PM PST