[meteorite-list] Meteorite Substitution- What if...

[Darren Garrison]

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 16:22:51 -0800 (PST), you wrote:

>   What is to stop someone from buying a nicer, low
>weathered, unclassified NWA meteorite and
>claiming/submitting it for analyzation and naming as a
>find from a local desert- say in the western US?

I'd say, so what if they do?  I agree there is SOME value in knowing WHERE a meteorite landed-- an
idea of the total mass, an idea of the orbit-- but those are two of the least important, most
cosmetic and incidental aspects of the meteorite.  The main scientific value lies in the contents of
the stone itself.  So I would say that just about the only harm that would be done would be to the
wallets of the collecters trying to get stones from specific locations.