AW: [meteorite-list] Dhofar vs. NWA meteorites

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jun 8 10:13:39 2006
Message-ID: <004801c68af8$2bf24ce0$4f41fea9_at_name86d88d87e2>

Hi Bob,

I'd say,
the conditions - temperature, humidity, soil - are more harmful in Oman than
in Sahara
and of course it's also a matter of apperceptions.
>From the average weathered NWAs you won't find offered the true proportion
to the fresher NWAs, simply because the dealers have to pick out in Morocco
the nicer and fresher ones, because with the buying prices there and the
transportation costs is ,at the present prices, the collector is willing to
pay, no profit to gain.
Or only if one sells bulk quantities at minimum profits and quick returns,
but honestly there aren't so much sellers around, who like to spend their
lifetime in weighing heavy boxes, wrapping dozens of stones per hour and
spending whole afternoons at the post office
like our Dean... and in general even the supply of W3-4 dries out, so that
this kind of marketing is going to an end.
With Oman there we have a different situation, the expeditions are costly,
the stones have to be found, as one can't buy them there, hence every stone
is picked up.
But also here you can observe, that from the few fresh stones at the best
mass finds like for instance SaU 001 are offered, because at the moment Oman
meteorites despite their good documentation and the higher costs of
recovering, are paid by the collectors like NWAs.
That's also the reason, why you don't find offered so much ordinary
chondrites from Oman in general. With the costs of the expeditions, the
shipping out from Oman, the time and efforts spent for classification, it
makes no sense at these times to market the material. If you saw on ebay
e.g. cometshop selling classified OCs from Oman at 100-120$/kg, than they
sold it below their costs and only for a cash flow.
And also I still have a few hundredweights of Dhofar stones left in
commission, which I can't offer now for those reasons and where I have to
wait a little bit longer, until the "overhang" of desert material will phase
out, so that the prices will raise again.
Another more incidental factor may also be, that from NWA came a huge quite
nice fresh find, called NWA 869, with its perhaps 4 tons of stones.
If I remember back, 2 years (or was it three years ago) at the Munich show,
a third of all unclassified NWAs offered by the Moroccans were 869.

So we have two reasons:
The more harsh weathering conditions in Oman
and a economical one, that from the NWA one sees only the tip of the
iceberg's weathering scale, cause the more rotten stuff doesn't sell.

Buckleboo!
Martin


-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces_at_meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von Bob King
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 8. Juni 2006 04:05
An: meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: [meteorite-list] Dhofar vs. NWA meteorites

Hi all,
I've seen a good number of Dhofar and NWA common chondrites and
I've noticed that there are many among the Dhofars which exhibit highly
weathered interiors laced with rich, thread-like shock veins. These
veins seem to be far less common in NWA chondrites and I wonder
why. Can anyone shed light on this little mystery (for me)? Thank you!
Bob
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Received on Thu 08 Jun 2006 08:36:29 AM PDT