Meteorites

[TerryC]

I would caution anyone about taking their meteorites to a University. My fiancee' found a large rare earth meteorite out in Washington State and he was offered about $35,000 for it. It weighed about 25 plus lbs. He took it to the Univ of Wash to get it looked at so he could ascertain value. Months later after repeated phone calls etc from him to the Univ about picking it back up he went over in person to retrieve his meteorite. They told him it was a rare earth type so rare and valuable that a private person should not have it because it was too valuable to science. He had to call his attorney and file a lawsuit agains't them.

When they finally got to court they were just as arrogant to the judge about it. He asked their attorney's if they still had the meteorite and they hesitated then finally said they had some of it. So the judge said to bring it up to the bench so he could look at it. They produced a small thin rectangular piece of it and said that was all that was left. They had cut it up into samples and shared it around with a bunch of other universities. Then they produced paperwork where they had forged my fiancee's signature on a box on their receipt that said it was OK to basically cut pieces off of it. The judge was not amused. He finally awarded my fiancee' more than the original offer and his attorney has a judgment agains't the univ of WA but they won't pay so they have put a lien on some of the univ property in case they ever try to sell but long story short he is probably never going to see a dime from that great find.

So beware the University if you think you have a rare one.

Moral of the story... SEND A PIECE.... to the university. The size of a walnut is enough. (thanks for the story, Dixie! ) TTC

 

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[Tuberale]

I might be able to help, Dixiegal. Send me a personal message. What you have described so far is totally illegal *IF* the stone was found on private land.

BTW, many rarer meteorites selling for $10,000/lb. Some varieties for much more than that.

 

[bman3725]

Reading old posts i ran across this, great info Tuberale and stickman i have read a lot on this it is neat to say the least.

 

[on the hunt]

Hello I was wondering if any of you guys could tell me if this could be a Meteorite? It is not Magnetic and looks like no other rock that I have ever seen. Thanks

 

[on the hunt]

Here is another one I found in the same general area. I have never seen anything that even looks close to these's in the area that I live in.

 

[BayRockMan]

It's rare, but meteorites can indeed have holes in their internal structure. Terms used to describe these include vesicles, vugs, and vacuoles. For some pictures of meteorites with vesicles, see vesicles & amygdules 2

 

[hvacker]

That's not the first time stories like Dixiegal told have been out there. Universities can swallow up most anything because there is no one supervising much of anything. Just imagine being in the geology dept. and thinking "I think I'll send a piece of this to Aukaknock U to see what Amos thinks" At Universities nothing belongs to anyone. Few answer to anyone.
What's needed is a private company where a fee can be paid and results tested. The problem is many don't want to pay and think a University won't cost them anything. Like paying a lawyer, sometimes it's worth it.
By the time lawyers are paid to sue the school all you have is a slice.
I know from personal knowledge the Natural History Museum here has a slab cutter and a great meteorite collection.

 

[hvacker]

BTW I'm going back to Glorietta NM soon and if I'm lucky and find one the last place I'll take it is to a place of higher learning.