[meteorite-list] Stop thieves! The meteorite marauders of Norway.

From: Michael Mazur <mjmazur_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Aug 14 10:46:38 2006
Message-ID: <cbdefd770608111511m28e5165fj216ecb76910bc2cb_at_mail.gmail.com>

Today the University of Oslo published the following article on their
website.

http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=30585&del=uniforum

Nice pictures of the rock but I felt that the commentary was a bit over the
top so I've translated it for your reading pleasure. It looks like there is
a steep road to climb for meteorite hunters and collectors in Norway. There
aren't many of us but I'd like to think that we're not thieves who don't
care about science as is implied by the article. If you disagree with Elen's
proposal, maybe a gentle note explaining how you think meteorite collectors
and dealers can and do help science would be a good idea. Not that I
suggested it of course.

Enjoy.

Be aware that I may have missed a few norwegian words but I think that I got
it right for the most part.
___________________________________________________________________

Private meteorite hunters have come to Norway to find and sell pieces of the
meteorite that fell down over ?stfold on July 14th to international
collectors. Director of the Natural History Museum (University of Oslo)
seeks a precise law in order to stop 'meteorite theives'.

By Yngve Vogt

International meteorite hunters have been tempted by the summer's rare
meteorite fall in ?stfold. They hunt after pieces of the meteorite and can
earn 10,000's of Kroner (>1,500USD) by selling to the highest bidder. Today,
there are no legal regulations that can prevent this.

To this day, three pieces of the ?stfold meteorite have been found.
International buyers stand in queue. This afternoon, the highest offer was
150,000 Kroner (~25,000USD) for a piece that came down in a yard while the
family was on vacation.

- This a very high amount for the Natural History, says director of the
Natural History Museum, Elen Roaldset. She seeks, therefore, a precise law
that will make it so that pieces of meteorites will not be sold to private
collectors, but will be owned by the state and will be useful to research.

- There is big commercial interest in meteorites. In the Moss area there are
rumours that meteorite hunters have come from near and far. Several
meteorite hunters have already come from America and Germany. As long as
there are no laws, it is very tempting for them to sell meteorite material
to the highest bidders and to international collectors. Then the meteorites
disappear out of the country. This means that one can not do groundbreaking
scientific research. It is via meteorites that we have the possibility to
gather knowledge about the formation of the earth and the solar system,
points out Elen Roaldset.

The meteorite that fell over ?stfold on the 14th of July of this year is the
14th meteorite that has fallen in Norway since the Natural History Museum
started registering (falls). The meteorite in ?stfold, according to Knut
J?rgen R?ed ?degaard, very rare and the fifth meteorite of its type. The
last time that a comparable meteorite fell, was in Russia in 1937.

Each time a new meteorite is found, the meteorite must be registered and
approved by an international commission.

Wishes clear rules
The problem with private meteorite hunters happened already when the
78.67kgFinnmarken meteorite fell over Alta in 1902. Then many
collectors appeared
and sold pieces of the meteorite to other lands. Then geology professor W.C.
Br?gger, who later became the university's rector, wrote already about the
need for a meteorite law in 1903.

Elen Roaldset seeks now norwegian regulations that will be just as strict as
those around the finds of old cultural treasures.

- A law is needed that takes care of fossils and the type of object that
fell over Moss, and that can (protect) the scientific interests of mankind.
This law ought to be comparable to the cultural properties law that takes
care of viking treasures, says Elen Roaldset.

She points out that todays laws are imprecise. The problem is the commercial
value that causes problems between finders, property owners, and the state.

- What happens if a valuable object falls down on private property? Does the
mountain (presumably mining) law or the property law apply?

Danish meteorite law
Denmark has solved the legal problem by introducing a law that meteorite
finds are property of the state. Also Canada has introduced a comparable law
(not strictly true of course).

The danish bill secures the most important natural history finds for the
danish public.

The danish museum law says that objects shall be turned over to the state
when they are found in Denmark after January 1990. If the state wishes to
keep one of these objects, the finder or owner of the object will get a
reward. The size of the reward is dependent on the scientific or display
value and how good care the collector has taken care of the object.

Hearing statement
The Natural History Museum sent in August of last year a 'hearing statement'
to the environment department about the draft of the new law about nature,
landscape, and biological diversity, also called the new nature diversity
law.

The Natural History Museum points out that the current laws don't take into
account the geological diversity. The property rights to natural history
objects is of large scientific value and it is a 'special problem that
property rights to meteorites is not regulated by the laws.

Elen Roaldset says that it is thanks to well-meaning people, that it has
been possible to have the last three meteorites in the museum's collection.

As long as a law is needed, she has just the possibility to tempt meteorite
hunters with recognition and a finders fee.

- We can offer finders that the meteorites is saved for posterity and we can
say in the display who has found it. Also we can pay a finders fee.

Important scientifically
For researchers, it means a lot to have as many pieces of the meteorite as
possible. From studying the size of the pieces and how they met the earth,
one can say more about where the meteorite came from.

The problem is that one of the three pieces, that was found from the
meteorite in Moss, has already been sent out of the country.

Meteoritten over Moss er sannsynligvis karbonholdig. Elen Roaldset p?peker
at denne typen meteoritter er av stor vitenskapelig betydning og det vil
v?re spesielt interessant ? unders?ke om den har organiske forbindelser.

The meteorite over Moss is possibly carbon-bearing. Elen Roaldset points out
that these types of meteorites are of large scientific meaning and it will
especially interesting to research whether it has organic compounds.

*Stort!*
Astrokjendis Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaard ved Universitetet i Oslo sier at
meteorittnedslaget setter Norge p? kartet internasjonalt.

Big!
Astro celebrity, Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaar with the University of Oslo says
that the meteorite fall puts Norway on the international map.

- This is the first meteorite that has hit a roof in Europe since 1989. And
the first time such a meteorite has fallen since 1937. And, it is the first
time that more than two meteorite pieces have been found from a meteorite
fall in norwegian history. This means that there are hundreds of pieces that
will not be found. The meteorite is a holy object for us at the University
of Oslo. It can help us explain life on Earth. Meteorites are an important
goldmine on Earth for us astronomers. It is there that geologists and
astronomers meet, says Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaard.

- The meteorite is 4.6 billion years old a little bit older than Earth. The
meteorite is composed of material from the when the solar system was being
formed. The meteorite is not the left over bits from a planet explosion, but
the pieces that became asteroids and then broke when the asteroids crashed
into each other, says Knut J?rgen R?ed ?degaard.

Dependent on amateurs
Elen Roaldset applauds Knut J?rgen's 'mediablast' around the meteorite fall
in ?stfold. Without this mediablast the workers, who were to repair the hole
in the roof of the warehouse, would not have realized that the stone in the
hole was a meteorite. The discovered the stone when it began to pour rain in
the warehouse after a terrible rainstorm. Then they thought about the
meteorite posters and the announcement that the Natural History Museum had
run in the Moss Avis.

Norgesgruppen turned the meteorite over to the University of Oslo yesterday
afternoon.

The University of Oslo has now gotten large response from eager
'?stfolders'. Together with meteorite hunter and amateur geologist Morten
Bilet, Knut J?rgen has, in the past days, visited daily five to ten
residents that have inquired about a possible meteorite find.

Elen Roaldset is also very happy that amateur geologists hunt for
meteorites.

- We don't have enough people that can do it. So we are solely dependent on
amateur geologists. But it is hugely important that these meteorite pieces
come to our collection and be researched. We make models of them before we
take out small pieces from the meteorite and research them. We then do
isotopic analyses and chemical and mineralogical research, says Elen
Roaldset.

The rush to look
Knut J?rgen asks urgently that people look for meteorite fragments now.

- When the frost comes, the meteorite pieces with deteriorate. So look now,
in yards and on roofs! You will recognize the meteorite as it is black,
light gray inside, and a little bit magnetic. If you find such a piece,
phone myself or the Natural History Museum. Morten Bilet and I drive out
whenever all day, says Knut J?rgen who apologizes that meteorite collectors
have come to the country just to grab their own pieces.

- It is horrible and crazy that on sells meteorites internationally when
they are not registered. It is a fight to find the rest of the meteorite
bits. All are working together except two men. They've run away with the
pieces.

All the same, Knut J?rgen doesn't wish to see new laws for meteorites.

A law can destroy meteorite searching. If a law comes, there is now reason
to look. What one needs is a payment system, asserts Knut J?rgen.

-- 
Michael Mazur
Vigdelsvegen 523
4054 Tjelta
Norway
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Received on Fri 11 Aug 2006 06:11:27 PM PDT