[meteorite-list] Large Tissint donated to the NHM....!

From: Gary Fujihara <fujmon_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:01:52 -1000
Message-ID: <BEAAC6CB-BEBC-4266-8C8A-545C4530AC1D_at_mac.com>

Indeed Graham, an extraordinary specimen of the Tissint martian fall. Your piece seems to have many different surfaces and textures with primary and secondary fusion crust. The transparent, flowlined fusion crust on the leading edge reminds me of Puerto Lapice. The glossy black fusion crust on the other surfaces and huge olivine phenocrysts, maskelynite and glassy melt pockets revealed on the fractured surface are simply delicious! (and yes, I did taste a bit of Tissint).

gary

On Feb 8, 2012, at 8:55 AM, Graham Ensor wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>
> No Mike this is not a cut or polished face....that is the natural
> leading face of this fragment (which is what attracted me to the
> piece)....it has an amazing transparent glassy fusion crust with flow
> lines (look at the top edge)....you can see right through it to the
> matrix, maskelynite and olivines....it then flows over the lipped edge
> to a thicker black more opaque crust with more flow lines and
> characteristic texture. This fragment broke a couple of times on the
> way down and one other face is only lightly sprayed with fusion crust
> just from the direction of the leading edge and then the last
> fragmentation was in cold flight or on the ground revealing one face
> showing just the interior matrix....tells a nice story about it's
> meeting with planet Earth :-)
>
> I love pieces that tell stories....especially when they are from Mars ;-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Graham
>
> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 6:34 PM, Galactic Stone & Ironworks
> <meteoritemike at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Graham and List,
>>
>> What a fine Tissint cut you have. Is that cut face polished? It
>> looks like it in the photo. Nice photos. Thanks for sharing them.
>> The best Martian is one that inspires minds and newbies, and these
>> donated or outreach specimens achieve that goal. :)
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> MikeG
>>
>> --
>> *************************************************
>> Galactic Stone & Ironworks - Meteorites & Amber (Michael Gilmer)
>>
>> Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
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>>
>> On 2/8/12, Graham Ensor <graham.ensor at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Wonderful news.....it is such an important fall and deserves it's
>>> place in the NHM collection. It should attract lots of interest and
>>> promote meteoritics well if the reaction of the public is anything to
>>> go by when I exhibited my 21g sample of Tissint for the Stargazing
>>> Live events at the Long Eaton Academy and at Oxford University, dept.
>>> of Astrophysics a couple of weeks ago.
>>>
>>> http://www.derbyastronomy.org/StargazingLive2012LongEaton.htm
>>>
>>> http://mpole2011.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/bbc-stargazing-live-2012/
>>>
>>> Here's hoping the BIMS group can organize a group visit when it goes
>>> on public display.....any indications when that might happen?
>>>
>>> Can't wait to see what the scientific studies reveal.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Graham
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 5:35 PM, Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>> Congratulations to The Natural History Museum on a fine acquisition. I am
>>>> pleased to see that a large piece of Tissint (pronounced like peasant with
>>>> a "T" instead of a "P") will be preserved and displayed publicly. Thank
>>>> you, Caroline for clarifying the museum's position on falls/finds from
>>>> this region.
>>>>
>>>> Kindest Regards,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Adam
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: Caroline Smith <caroline.smith at nhm.ac.uk>
>>>> To: Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com>
>>>> Cc: Adam <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 8, 2012 9:14 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Large Tissint donated to the NHM....!
>>>>
>>>> Adam
>>>>
>>>> Thank you for your kind words. The Museum is delighted to have acquired
>>>> such an important specimen, both for science and our 4.8M visitors/year to
>>>> enjoy.
>>>>
>>>> To clarify there is no 'politics' involved here. The Museum has a policy
>>>> (derived from UK and international museum policies and standards) that we
>>>> cannot acquire meteorites with unclear provenance i.e. NWA meteorites,
>>>> owing to the issues of potential illicit or illegal movement across
>>>> borders where permits are required for export and/or specimen movement.
>>>>
>>>> With the Tissint meteorite this is NOT the case as it is a
>>>> well-provenanced specimen from Morocco, which as you know, is a country
>>>> which does not require permits to export meteorite specimens.
>>>>
>>>> I hope this clarifies things.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Caroline
>>>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>>>
>>>> Dr Caroline Smith
>>>> Curator of Meteorites and Aurora Fellow
>>>> Department of Mineralogy
>>>> The Natural History Museum
>>>> Cromwell Road
>>>> London
>>>> SW7 5BD
>>>>
>>>> On 8 Feb 2012, at 17:02, "Adam Hupe" <raremeteorites at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> It is great to see that major museums are setting politics aside and
>>>>> waking up to the fact that most of the world's best specimens are coming
>>>>> out of NWA these days.
>>>>>
>>>>> Kind Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Adam
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Gary Fujihara
Big Kahuna Meteorites (IMCA#1693)
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Received on Wed 08 Feb 2012 02:01:52 PM PST