[meteorite-list] 787, 869, 904

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Nov 25 17:51:30 2004
Message-ID: <20041125225127.43482.qmail_at_web12305.mail.yahoo.com>

You know, you can wish all you want that you dont have
a lot of NWA869 pairings (And I am using NWA869
because thats my number and its the most commonly
accepted name for this HUGE fall - Even the moroccans
refer to it as NWA869) but like the boggy creek
martian rainforest, wishing wont make it happen. And
saying that it has to be definatively paired by some
scientist is taking advantage of the well known fact
that scientists are unable to pair thousands of
meteorites scientifically. If you buy 100 kilos of
NWA869 (Which, as you all know, I have done once or
twice) and if there are 2 or 3 kilos of other stuff
mixed in they show up like a sore thumb. This
meteorite is very easy to recogonize. Take a look at
this photo:
http://www.meteoriteshop.com/ebay/nwa869samples.jpg
The Hupes do a very good job at polishing their
specimens (Way better than I do) so the shine is not
on my photos like on theirs but if my scan doesnt
convince you that NWA869 is very brecciated then
nothing well. Look at all the inclusions. Look at the
big black spot in the upper piece.
What NWA904 is, is a NWA869 specimen that has all of
high points mixed together in one stone. Only maybe 1
in 10 pieces has the black spots. I wish that I had a
better piece that looks more like NWA904 by itself but
those pieces always sell very quickly and dont come up
that often and I always try and sell anything that I
have fast and dont put the same effort into making the
specimens pretty like teh hupes does. But most of the
things in NWA904 are in one of the specimens in my
photo.
As far as saying that it is unofficial because it is
not in the bulletin well, so what? Alan Rubin
classified a piece as L4 and then asked for another
piece from the same stone and called it an L5. Rubin
got two different classifications from samples taken
from the same stone. The meteorite has so much stuff
in it that it has some interest among scientists and
rather than take Rubins L5 classification (Taken from
a L5 part of a non brecciated section of this
meteorite - you cant get everything in this meteorite
showing in a 20 gram sample so what do you expect from
a classification taken from one thin section) I have
agreed to send michael zolonsky at JSC a more
representative section of NWA869 than what Rubin was
given. Unfortunately Mr Zolonsky must be away or
something as I have been unable to contact him for
well over a month now (Jeff, do you know when he will
be back?).
As you all know getting classifications is very slow
at the best of times (I am 3 years or more now waiting
on NWA300 and NWA304 for example from the russian
academy of sciences).
So the fact that one of the most exciting and
interesting common chodrites from NWA (Not to mention
easily the most talked about on this list over the
past couple of years) is slow getting published in the
bulletin is not surprising and it certainly dont in
any way lessen the excitement this meteorite has
caused. It certainly dont make recogonizing it any
more hard or easy.
But as we have said NWA904 is a very specific stone
and only that stone can be called NWA904. But NWA904
is nothing more than a particularly nice meteorite
paired with NWA869. And since it is so nice probably
worth a premium over more "Normal" pieces of NWA869.
But like the boggy creek people, you can bury your
head in the sand like the osterich, but taking
advantage of the fact that no scientist will
scientifically pair 10,000 stones in ones marketing
wont make something true. They are all NWA869s. You
may wish otherwise because you want something more
rare but thats what they are. This is possibly the
most brecciated meteorite ever found.
Sincerely
DEAN
PS: I After writing all of that I cannot resist a
sales pitch to everybody (Nothing - not even
information is free). I have HUNDREDS of NWA869s
listed on my AZTECFEAST ebay user id so buy your
stones now.
 


                
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Received on Thu 25 Nov 2004 05:51:27 PM PST