Comments (0) Over the past few months, I’ve fallen behind on keeping my collection page updated with photos of my new pieces. So, today I got caught up on everything! I’m happy to now own micros of Nakhla and Almahata Sita. Also, there are some other goodies like Vigarano and NWA 2999. These meteorites are not for sale.
On March 5th, 1960, the Gao-Guenie meteorite fell in Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). For many years, “Gao” and “Guenie” were thought to be two separate meteorite falls. This confusion continued for many years, until research in the 1990’s confirmed that Gao/Guenie meteorites were in fact from a single fall.
Gao-Guenie is classified as a H5 ordinary chondrite. It’s a relatively inexpensive meteorite, considering that it’s a witnessed fall from a country without many meteorites. At the moment, I don’t have any of this meteorite for sale myself. But, to mark this occasion, here are some photos of an impressive Gao-Guenie meteorite I sold last year:
Recently on the Meteorite Mailing List, there has been an interesting discussion about labeling meteorite specimens. I usually don’t post on the mailing list (I’m more of a lurker), but this is an interesting topic to me.
First, for those readers who don’t know what I’m talking about, the discussion regards this sort of labeling – painting numbers on meteorites so they can still be properly identified many years later. This is more than just a tool to assist with forgetfulness – it’s so future collectors can identify our meteorites after we’re gone. Many collectors are in favor of this sort of labeling, but I’m not so sure.
It seems to me that even if we paint numbers on our specimens, their identification still relies on whether or not our documentation accompanies them. A number #47.02A doesn’t mean anything to future generations unless there is a catalog to indicate what it means. And if all of this is going to rely on a paper/digital catalog, then why bother painting numbers on them at all? I think a catalog with detailed photos can do the job just as well without harming the aesthetics of the piece.
I imagine a future collector trying to identify an unlabeled 5.5g meteorite from a known collection. They look in the paper/digital catalog, sorted by weight, and find the photos of any 5.5g pieces. Then they can quickly identify the specimen without having a number painted on 25% of the surface.
I guess what I’m saying is that digital cameras make documenting our collections easier than ever before – so let’s take advantage of this! Documenting a collection with photos is fun, too. Painted ID numbers may have served a purpose in the past, but I don’t see the need for them anymore. I mean, come on. Really?
As a side note, I do wonder if maybe specimens should still have a “mark” to indicate whose collection/catalog they belonged to. This mark could be smaller and less obtrusive than a full ID number would be. Maybe something like the owner’s initials would suffice. I just don’t see the point of individual ID numbers painted on everything when it’s so easy to take photos nowadays.
I added 32 more meteorites to my eBay store tonight, and there are some unique ones. Here are the some of the highlights:
Of course, you can always just visit my store to view all of the items! There are a total of 90 meteorites for sale right now.
I’ve been gone for over a month now, but I’m back! I just brought my online store back online, and I’ll be updating it soon with some more goodies. Thanks for your patience!
I received the following unsolicited email today from someone trying to sell me something:
Hello !Let me proudly presents the most anorthositic rich outstanding one of a kind Lunar meteorite ever seen in history, a real attractive eye-catcher dream from Highland of Moon, with beautiful and absolutly freshest dark FUSION CRUST !!! ( 48gram )Much more photos, 48gram extreme Lunar anorthosite meteorite !!!Best Wishes /// Göran Lindfors
There were about 20 images attached to this email, and they all looked suspect to me. Some of them vaguely resembled a lunar meteorite, but none of them looked genuine. My personal opinion is that they look like a mixture of rock, coated with some sort of substance and then blowtorched. Within a matter of seconds, I knew that I wouldn’t be purchasing anything from this seller.
It’s also worth pointing out that in my years of meteorite collecting, I had never heard of this seller or this 48g lunar meteorite. Meteorite collectors are smart, and most of us know to look for lab classification and subsequent publication in the Meteoritical Bulletin – especially for something as important as a lunar meteorite. So, certainly someone wouldn’t ignore all that and try to sell a fake, right? Intrigued, I decided to do a google search of their name. This is what comes up. I found the 4th search result (here) to be particularly illuminating.
So, are they fake? Well, I’m not in any position to definitively say that. However, I can say with certainty that I will not be doing business with this person. I would also like to recommend that everyone be very careful about offers like this. Always do your research!
As mentioned in my previous blog posts, my eBay store is now closed for the holidays. Recent purchases will still ship on time, but I will not be able to sell anything else for a while.
I estimate that the store will return around January 20th. Thanks for your understanding!
This is just a quick heads up – my eBay store will be closed from approximately December 15th until January 15th. This is due to two trips I am taking in quick succession of each other (one personal and one business). I will have limited email access during that time. Thanks for your understanding! If there is anything in my store you’ve been thinking about purchasing, you may want to do it before this break.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t added any meteorites to my eBay store lately. I’m in a bit of a hiatus. I’m still shipping out packages on time, but I haven’t had the time to list anything new.
When time frees up, I have some small pieces of Zagami (Martian meteorite) to add to the store. I also have pieces of Ozona, Tsarev, and 100g unclassified NWA lots. And then there are a variety of odds and ends that I need to list to replace recently sold items.
There is one more thing to give an update on. About a month ago, I announced that I was going to begin donating 10% of some sales to the Humane Society. Afterwards, I realized that it wasn’t feasible for me to do this on all items, as I had originally wanted. Still, many of my eBay items have this donation in place, and the donation has been $55.91 so far. I can’t afford to do this much every month, but I will make it my goal to always have some donation items in the store.
Here’s a big one I added to my store today – a 257 gram Gao-Guenie meteorite. This meteorite from Burkina Faso (formerlly Upper Volta) was a witnessed fall on March 5th, 1960. Originally, “Gao” and “Guenie” were considered two separate meteorite falls. This confusion continued for many years, until research in the 1990’s confirmed that Gao/Guenie meteorites were in fact from a single fall. This piece is a large, impressive fragment with good fusion crust. Check out the photos below.
For more information, click this link to view this item in my eBay store.
Update: this item is sold!
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