[meteorite-list] NWA 869

[AL Mitterling]

Hi Jeff and all,

I think that Dean Bessey was the first to introduce this meteorite to 
the collecting community (3 years ago last Feb.?). I still have 
specimens that I bought from him at the time. I thought that Dean was 
going to have this classified at the time I bought it but might have 
been a misunderstanding on my part. I would be more than willing to 
submit a substantial piece in order to get it in the bulletins.

I understand the total known weight is somewhere between 1,000 kg and 
2,000 kg. I myself have a large stone of this fall weighing 18.5 kg and 
know of other large stones some weighing more than my piece (which was 
suppose to be the main mass) and some weighing less. I need to get with 
those people to see if I can list their specimens for the record.

The Moroccans were also selling this after Dean introduced it and sold 
quite a bit of material. I think that other specimens have been paired 
but don't know the details of this.

L4 to L6 seems to be the range this is classified in. Probably because 
we are looking at such a large amount of material, we might be seeing 
variations in classification of the material. I hope my information 
helps and that others will offer information.

--AL Mitterling