[meteorite-list] Brenham Story Follow-Up

[Notkin]

Dear Listees:

Good follow-up article in today's "Hutchinson News" on Steve's Brenham 
find, including quotes from our own Bob Haag.

Enjoy,

Geoff N.


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http://www.hutchnews.com/news/regional/stories/meteor121005.html


Man who found meteorite looks for buyer for 'King of the Pallasites'

By Tim Vandenack

The Hutchinson News

The massive stone and iron meteorite found on a Kiowa County farm in 
October is generating plenty of buzz among experts in the arena.

"It's definitely the best American find in a long time," said Bob Haag, 
a meteorite hunter and trader from Tucson, Ariz., known as the 
Meteorite Man. "It's like, wow."

Now, Steve Arnold, the meteorite hunter who found the 1,430-pound rock, 
hopes that notoriety translates into a buyer.

He's contacted the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, 
the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the 
National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., to gauge their 
possible interest. Failing that, he might try to sell it at auction.

Whatever the case, it's been a whirlwind ever since he dug down into 
Allen Binford's farm Oct. 16 and found the brown and orange meteorite, 
which measures about 3 feet across and is rounded across the top.

"There's been a lot of congratulations, a lot of 'wow,' " said Arnold, 
who is still in Kiowa County, continuing his search for more rocks. 
"It's been exciting. It really has."

Dave Alexander, an astronomy professor at Wichita State University, 
said such finds occur only once every decade or two and that word of 
Arnold's discovery has spread like wildfire through the meteorite 
community. The Kiowa County rock is the third-largest stony iron, or 
pallasite, meteorite ever found on Earth and the largest ever in North 
America.

"Anytime anything of that size gets discovered, it gets attention by 
people interested in meteorites," Alexander said.

But size isn't the only distinguishing factor. Pallasite meteorites, 
Alexander noted, only account for 1.3 percent of all meteorite finds. 
The vast majority are stone.

"It's a million-dollar meteorite," Haag said. "It's a success story of 
a treasure hunter who went out and tried."

Arnold, who grew up in Kansas but later moved to Arkansas, traveled 
specifically to Kiowa County because of the history of meteorites 
there. About 2,000 years ago or more, the Brenham meteorite fall left 
space rocks scattered throughout east-central Kiowa County, including 
the monster Arnold found and another 1,000-pounder at the Big Well 
museum in Greensburg, the Kiowa County seat.

Since the big discovery, Arnold has purchased a home in Greensburg and 
plans to spend perhaps a couple more years scouring the Kiowa County 
soil for rocks. He's already found another 16-pound specimen, among 
others.

But the main focus in the near term will be peddling the big one, which 
he's dubbed the King of the Pallasites.

Though meteorite hunters sometimes cut up their finds and sell them in 
bits and pieces, Arnold hopes to sell his as is.

Alexander said Brenham rocks can fetch $5 to $15 per gram among 
enthusiasts, which would suggest a multimillion-dollar windfall for 
Arnold's rock, which weighs in at 643,500 grams. But Arnold hopes to 
sell his rock in one piece, which reduces the potential pool of buyers 
and probably the likely price.

Still, Alexander suspects the meteorite could fetch $1 million, and 
Arnold continues the search for buyers in earnest. The rock, currently 
being stored in San Antonio, will travel to Arizona in late January and 
be put on display at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, a major deal for 
enthusiasts.

"It's kind of a matter of waiting to see who steps up," Arnold said.