[meteorite-list] Don't delay, order today! - Suspect Auction-Suspect ID@!

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:31:57 -0700
Message-ID: <93aaac890803312131y570303a8l6323ac99955d95ae_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello Elton, All,
Hardly; I just think it's stupid to rule any sample out completely
without a lab analysis.
There's no single feature on the stone being auctioned that would
suggest that it is not, in fact, a fresh mesosiderite individual, and
seeing as I am as qualified as you, if not better, to tell, I don't
see how you can realistically argue.
...Or am I right:

http://www.meteoriteguy.com/catalog/dong-ujimqin/520.9.htm

The only slag that I've known to contain olivine was Seymchan, and
there's some debate as to whether that was actually waste, or, in
fact, a synthetic meteorite look-alike meant to confuse buyers.
The fact that the stone contains olivine means that either:

1) Someone went out of their way to purchase pieces of yellowish
olivine, and put it in some slag to fool potential buyers. Possible I
suppose, but this seems unlikely.

2) A synthetic replacement such as glass could have been used, but the
crystals pictured were not of a typical bottle colour, so some special
source must have been used...or maybe they mixed brown and green?
Either way, you're not looking at the typical scammer if they did take
the trouble to figure out the colour that the olivine should have
been. Furthermore, if they'd taken the time/trouble to figure out as
much about meteorites, they would likely have figured out that their
stone wouldn't sell on ebay as-listed. But I might be overestimating
the seller. Or maybe slag typically contains large yellow-orange
crystals...no.

3) (Your suggestion here.)

4) It is a meteorite.

Honestly, Elton, have a look at that picture for yourself. The stones
are very similar in texture, though the ebay stone appears as bit more
oddly shaped. That said, the stone pictured on Michael Farmer's page
is a fragment, and the stone on ebay appeared to be a complete,
ablated individual. I assume that ablation would sculpt such a
heterogeneous stone admirably.
Jason

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 8:10 PM, Mr EMan <mstreman53 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ha ha Funny... the Rorschach-Shroom Techinque of meteorite
> identification...Down to confirming orange olivine crystals-- in a
> mesosiderite no less--and fresh? It is fresh from the slag pile!
>
> I've got petrified frog poop that looks more like a meteorite then
> this.
>
> Pleeease...this is an early April One-0 post, Right?
>
> Eman
> --- Jason Utas <meteoritekid at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Olah All,
> > Looks like a fresh mesosiderite. I know, the shape is odd - but have
> > a look at fresh pieces of that Chinese mesosiderite fall Dong Umjim
> > Qui...or however it's spelled...they look rather similar to this,
> > though by the look of the orange crystals clearly visible on the
> > surface of this stone, this one has more olivine in it.
>
>
> > That said, it could also be an unusual piece of slag,<==gudanzer
>
> and I don't
> > feel like betting $1k on such a strange piece from a questionable
> > location...if I had more money, I might think otherwise.
> > Regards,
> > Jason
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 8:18 AM, Michael Murray
> > <mmurray at montrose.net> wrote:
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120236513887
>
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Tue 01 Apr 2008 12:31:57 AM PDT