I often take for granted that the general public out there may indeed want to buy a little piece of the solar system, but are so completely overwhelmed by such a task that it seems impossible. If you are one of those people, or have never even considered owning a chunk of asteroid, I am here today to give you a few helpful pointers about giving some money in exchange for an authentic, and hopefully worthwhile meteorite purchase.
The meteorite collectors business has grown dramatically in the past twenty years. The result is that meteorite prices have inflated tremendously. This has had the unintended consequence of making rare meteorites difficult to acquire for scientific study. However, rare meteorites do make it into academic study because they increase in value when they are confirmed by a handful of academic institutions, like
ASU Center for Meteorite Studies, in exchange for a small piece of the meteorite for study.
Is collecting meteorites a bad thing for science? Yes and no.
Collecting meteorites is bad for science on first glance because it takes them out of circulation. If a space rock is sitting on a collector’s shelf until he dies, scientists are unable to get their mitts on it for their work, which, by the way, often involves cutting and destructive testing. However, there is the strong argument that collectors are meteorite enthusiasts – they strongly care about the study of meteorites and want to show their collection off to anyone who is interested. This kind of outreach could be a route to inspiring young students to study science and other related fields. Also, consider that the great majority of the meteorites that are available to collectors are well studied and very little insight could be gained from them. Back on the Con category, I understand there is some very real concern that meteorite collectors in places like Northwest Africa could have ties to terrorist and genocide supporting groups.
So, it is your choice. My advice is to buy a common meteorite, maybe one that was not picked up and sold by Al Qaeda. Then, learn everything you can about that meteorite and show it off to everyone. Avoid the rare and expensive ones because these are the meteorites scientists need to see.
What is the best place to get a meteorite? –
Ebay
I have spent a lot of time and effort hunting for the best deal on a meteorite. Unless you are willing to get a flight to Morocco, or spend days trudging around the seedy alleyways of Tucson Gem and Mineral show, your best bet to find a reasonable price and amazing selection of meteorites is on ebay. But you need to know a few things to avoid buying a meteowrong.
First thing…most meteowrongs are sold by folks who think their item is worth ten times its weight in gold or that it has some kind of devine power. The price to purchase an item worth its weight in gold or one that is blessed by the spirits is probably going to be outside your spending range. Avoid the meteorite listings that involve an aura or instructions from a deity that lead them to find the meteorite in their back yard – they usually also want a billion dollars for them.
Here is an example of a guy who found some terrestrial breccia and thinks he’s got a lunar meteorite. Note the crazy rambling. You can buy it now for $662,800.00.
Possible USA match to Dhofar lunar meteorite breccias !
See at bottom: 7 point checklist in favor of this stone. People are baffled, people are drooling, people are mad! Offers into the hundreds from around the world. 13,000 views, up to 50 watchers. This incredible claim to be USA-L1 survives now a year on eBay because whether or not the finder is an idiot or lucky or entirely something else, THIS STONE HAS GOT WHAT IT TAKES. Any weaker claim would have been shot down in flames within 3 months. I only hope to remember where I found it and get MORE.
Weight: 16.57 grams (remaining weight after test cut), Size: 34x20x18 mm (widest dimensions). "USA-L1"
Broken fragment, pyramid-shaped. Hard, clastic, fused as one stone. Absolutely vivid color. Three lithologies: (a) larger tan clasts; (b) porcelain-white clasts; (c) smaller slightly bluish white clasts. At the top they are floating in a black void, lightly tinted of lavender (it is this ubiquitous quality of color in the matched Dhofars that can be found most auspicious in this specimen); this seems to shift to a tan matrix on the far wall of this "pyramid". Plus the clasts have triangular, rhombic, square, pentagonal and hexagonal faces showing. Also showing wavy flow-lines on one side, crust smoothed away. An overall tendancy of orange hues could mean it sat in a hematite/limonite-rich terrestrial environment after falling.
I found this in my rock collection, stuff from about 15-20 years ago. I’ve strained to recall where I got it, but it is just a stray from one of my 3 trips in the 90’s, all in the US, but unfortunately all thrown into one box. I do know that none of these trips were to breccia fields, I was hunting artifacts at the time. It may have been in Texas.
It has an UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE to a few Dhofars, wouldn’t you say?!?
This stone has a very faint magnetic spot near that beautiful top clast! (N40 magnet found it; one photo shows it barely holding there). Of course, NO BRECCIAS from earth look like this. They have much more gravity to their order than this.
This colorful pyramid could be a parent-body match to a large group of paired meteorites found in Dhofar, Oman. Specifically: (DHO) 303, 305, 306, 307, 309, 310, 311, 489, 730, 731, 908, 909, 911, 950, 1085.
These kinds of meteorites would be super rare because of the forces at work to make them, other impacts many years apart being preserved here and there in the solar system, or in this case the moon. They show this utter chaos of lithology and a total snapshot of time (or several times). But mostly they are rare because upon arrival to earth they were preserved correctly in a deposition environment that was mostly dry - or else they'd be dust by now. That is one good reason lunars have never been found in the USA before.
I would be fascinated to find that this fell at the same time as the Dhofars 360,000 years ago, and was preserved on this side of the world in it’s own way. It will take tests, many tests.
The price-setting is as it should be for a truly anomalous stone from the United States of America, that can for now visually pair with the Dhofar set.
****You will find no better match through images to this stone than a Dhofar lunar. Also, you will not find any visual match to a terrestrial stone, ever. If you do I'd love to see it, and please be certain. But first, does it have a magnetic spot?****
I tried artificial light, but as you can see sunlight was by far the best way to go for photographing. Very important because comparing clasts is key in this particular case.
All I can say is go back and look at your rock collections!
Maybe it is a very important find. I invite you to Google "Dhofar 908" images.
NO SHIPPING. PICK UP ONLY.
A jeweler who has dealt in rarities for 40 years said "it is a crowned jewel". I just also realized that there have been 40 offers automatically declined. The highest: $400, $300, and $50 twice, by different people around the world.
And once again, firmly favorable to the argument that this is the first USA lunar meteorite:
1) There are no rounded clasts, as with lunar meteorites.
2) There are no rusty clasts, only a rust-haloed clast; as occurs in some Dhofar lunar meteorites.
3) The matrix to clast hardness is exact. Shearing this material creates continuous fracture relief, as is the case with lunars.
4) This material does seem to scratch some glass with great force applied, and not all glass, and not without damage to itself. Earth breccias would easily scratch all glass.
5) This material has a magnetic spot or spots. Earth breccias do not. Lunar breccias have varying degrees of magnetic attraction to a magnet, from medium to practically none. And in certain spots.
6) There is a remnant of flow lines on one side, wavy lines with crust long gone, as is the case in some Dhofar lunar meteorite fractions. The specimen in this listing has a side with these wavy lines.
7) The specimen in question has among the most visually matchable characteristics to the Dhofar set that any meteorite could have to another, and by looking at a photograph and by way of these tests.
Otherwise, if you simply type “meteorite” into ebay, most of the listings you find are actually meteorites or tektites.
Typical pitfalls
Tektites
Tektites are pieces of glass that are formed when a meteorite impact melts the rock it hits and ejects it away from the crater. Are they associated with Meteoritics? Yes. Are they meteorites? No. These things are usually cheaper than meteorites and can be difficult to tell from the real thing. Beware and read those listings carefully.
Rusty irons
Some iron meteorites rust and some don’t. Sometimes a seller tries to etch an iron meteorite with chemicals that cause the meteorite to rust over time. You don’t know until it happens, but keep your eye open for any rust spots before you buy. I have about two hundred dollars spent on pallasites and irons and all but one are well on their way to turning into a red stain on my shelf.
Unclassified meteorites
This is a potential pitfall, not a guaranteed one. Be aware that the meteorites you buy are all probably meteorites, but the detailed history of the meteorite, the pedigree of these inexpensive meteorites is all but unknown. Even meteorites that have a pedigree, maybe a little plaque, card or some paperwork, are still somewhat questionable because every bit of a meteorite cannot be classified – the meteorites in a strewnfield are all assumed to from the same fall, which historically has not always proven true. If you give up the idea that this meteorite is absolutely an NWA4734 or a Campo Del Cielo, then you are left with an undeniable meteorite with a unique texture and composition to wonder over in the comfort of your home. And if you expect a meteorite with a known pedigree, talk to the seller and trace it back to the meteorite discoverer and the original classification. This is a great research project for most ebay meteorites!
Big, small, cut or uncut? Where do I start?
Meteorite buying becomes obsessive after a while. You start buying a reasonable $10 Campo crystal and a $15 NWA 869. Then you go after that somewhat expensive pallasite, and buy some lunar breccia dust, and a crumble of a martian meteorite. Then you get the hankering to get a big etched Muonionalusta slab. Pretty soon you are spending a few thousand dollars on a single, 1Kg plus main mass from Texas and another 4k on a 45 lb rough Campo to carve into a sword blade. Just make sure your money is well spent, you don’t forget keeping up good storage conditions, and you keep track of the labels.
Here is my modest, happy collection. There is one spectacular Campo slab that is about a pound in weight, but it is rusting away in shame because I made a poor choice. The stony meteorites are holding up well.
Where else to go
There are a few alternatives to going on Ebay. There are a number of online vendors. If you want to pay a premium, go fund the History Channel’s
Meteorite Men, Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold, by buying one of their pieces.
All of the major hits on google look they are selling legitimate meteorites.
Another practical alternative is actually going to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show around February of every year. We had good luck trolling the booths and hotel rooms outside of the actual show. There were even shady foreigners who would take you out to the parking lot and show you their “special collection” in the trunk of their rental cars. We also found a number of opportunities to buy meteorites in bulk, which often involves a discount if one were willing to clean the meteorites up. It was a lot of fun! The prices were higher than Ebay, but you had the opportunity to look, hold, smell and lick the merchandise and also there was the chance to look the seller in the eye to see if he was being disingenuous.
My final suggestion is to actually build the contacts up to buy a flat of unclassified NWA meteorites. I don’t know who to contact, but I have seen random occasional opportunities pass by to spend a thousand bucks on thirty pounds of stony meteorites picked up by desert nomads in Algeria. Who knows what you would find!
