[meteorite-list] Nininger to Henderson, cc: Perry letter; Sept. 18, 1953

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Jun 27 17:38:43 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-DAV97JBVw9dEk000002ecd_at_hotmail.com>

(American Meteorite Museum Letterhead)
AMERICAN METEORITE MUSUEM
OPPOSITE METEOR CRATER ON HIGHWAY 66
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sedona, Arizona
September 18, 1953
Mr. E. P. Henderson
U.S. National Museum
Washington, D.C.

Dear Henderson:
Your letter to Perry has been forwarded to me so I'll answer it and send him a copy.
All of the points mentioned relative tot he possible relationship of this iron to Arispe had been given possible consideration before I wrote Perry about it. Obviously, we cannot be sure until a large section has been cut and studied. Even then, I doubt if we can be entirely certain because, as you know, there are several irons separated by continents and oceans which look so similar that no one could be certain of their identify if the locations form which they had some were unknown.
The new iron is a coarsest octahedrite (as indicated in the small sample examined), So is Arispe. But this is incomparably fresher looking than any known Arispe. It has a sizable remnants of fusion crust without rust stains and where the fusion crust is absent it shows practically no scale whatever. The raw bright metal shows in a score of places and the general surface characters are immediately recognized as different from Arispe.
I do not know this is not an Aripse iron but if it turns out to be such, then its importance is equally great as an example of variation in the rare and nature of weathering in iron meteorites of the same fall.
All of the Arispe irons came from an arid region. I visited the exact sites where several of the finds had been made on rocky crests and steep slops where there was so little soil that only cacti and ocotillo grow. Yet all of these irons that I have seen were devoid of fusion crust and heavily sealed.
We are not quite sure the location of this find but the man who brought it to me "from Arispe" and who apparently never thought of it being anything different from other Arispe irons, none of which he had seen, thought the location was about 20 miles east of Arispe. All of the other irons were found northwest of Arispe.
Please advise if you want it shipped and how,
Sincerely,
H.H. Nininger
NNH: AN
Please note change of address to: Sedona, Arizona
(Mark note: This letter was written by Nininger just a few days after moving to Sedona with his meteorites and into his new museum. Because of this Nininger "X"'d out the former location and mailing address on the top of the letterhead. This letter was in two pages, and it is interesting to note that Nininger used a non-letterhead paper for the second sheet. This is something that is and was typical, of Nininger, and is common practice, but since he was about to or in the process of creating a new letterhead you would think he might try to use up the old ones...and therefore would not have used a blank sheet for the second page. Or at least that is what I would have done.)


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