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

[Darren Garrison]

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 18:23:24 -0700, you wrote:

>Dear Darren;
>Yup, that's a real good point there on the wallet comment. My Rock 
>Springs is not for sale but if it was, it would be only at $50 a 
>gram....due to only a very limited amount.  
>So, how many L-6's from NWA go for  nothing?    
>Yes, ONLY the wallets of those who want from specific locations.....
>It would really be a mess if crooked meteorite people became active...

Yes, despite being a beginning collector, I feel that just about ALL of the value of meteorites is
in what science can learn about the early history of the solar system (and it's immediate
neighborhood) from them.  Collecting them is just an incentive to get those wiley Moroccans out in
the sand looking for meteorites that would not have been found if it were only shallow-pocketed
astronomers out doing research.  So, to me, the "value" of a meteorite isn't in WHERE it fell or HOW
MUCH of it fell, but what story a professional study of the meteorite can tell about the evolution
of the universe.  Wherther it fell in Utah or Uganda is just a matter of a tiny difference in it's
orbit, and has almost no impact on what can be learned from it.  So I would concider inaccurate find
locations for a real meteorite to be of very small concern for the true value of discovering
meteorites-- the science. 

Being able to own a chunck of one is just the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.