[meteorite-list] RE: NWA & Saharan meteorites

From: Alexander Seidel <ase_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:42:01 2004
Message-ID: <3A69CF53.ABBA8F10_at_planet-interkom.de>

Matt Morgan wrote:
>
> Hi Michael and Ron:
> I see your point, clearly. Am I a madman?? You know me Michael. Maybe I was
> generalizing too much, but for me, as I said, the common stoff (on the Ebay
> strewn field as Ron put it) holds no appeal whatsoever. Same as the severly
> weathered material, I'd rather own a small Gao or Juancheng for a bit more
> in price. One thing I really do miss about NWAs and such are the stories.
> I've yet to hear about one that was used as an anvil or a doorstop for a
> jail. To me that is part of the mystique, its the lineage of a meteorite,
> commonly overlooked by collectors. You don't have that with the desert
> meteorites. I own only a handfull of NWAs, had one classified myself, but
> they are beginning to lose their place in my collection. Granted the rare
> ones fill holes for odd classes, but they will be replaced as soon as I can
> with a fall or non-Saharan find. They don't hold their value either $$.
> Meteorite snobbery? Maybe...probably. But that is what sets all of us apart
> and makes collecting so damn fun. Thanks for the discussion! Time to go cut
> a new H3!! (not from the Sahara :)

As a collector I can only and sincerely agree to Mattīs point here.
There has been kind of a "revolution" to meteorite trading over the past
few years, which first came along all of a sudden with the new internet
services for anyone who once used to be happy with "only" snail mail
offers from one of the preferred suppliers, and it came, in a second
step, by virtue of those hot desert meteorites from the Sahara which are
now offered to the market - some of them luckily classified and with
locations, but the bulk of it, most recently, unclassified and without
any given location.

I have seen collectorīs opinions about that change, and I have also seen
dealerīs opinions change, the latter changes being most considerable, in
a sense that some of them who once used to describe anything that came
out of the Sahara as being "crap" now have changed their minds to praise
these stones for other obvious reasons. I do not have to judge on this,
but anyway, it is an observation.

Thinking of collectors new to the field, the trivial phrase comes to
mind: "a meteorite is a meteorite!". This, of course, is not only true
to newcomers, who just purchase their first small NWA xxx, may be on
Ebay, and get the kick out of it, but still is true for us oldtimers who
are never ending to be amazed by those old stones who have to tell us
such a lot. The newbie may hold a new stone in his hand, which he just
payed a few bucks for, and he may be thrilled by the fact that he has
"the real stuff from outer space" in his hand. But isnīt it even more
thrilling to have a known earthly history of what you have? This is
where I very well understand Mattīs arguments, and where I see them to
be my very own ones when it comes to care for my own collection. Itīs
not the (average) NWA xxx which adds to the thrill, itīs the other
stones with a "real" name to them.

Just a thought,
Alex

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Received on Sat 20 Jan 2001 12:48:03 PM PST