[meteorite-list] doubtful material related to Berlin fireball

[Dr. Svend Buhl]

Hi list,

some of the German members of this list might have noticed there has been a fireball sighting in the Berlin area in February. The event lasted for about five seconds and has also been recorded by a camera of the European Fireball Network.

There have been a couple of newspaper and TV-reports since then featuring scientists claiming that the entire 200 kg mass has vaporized during descent according to their calculations. Other reports showed various self declared meteorite hunters combing the terrain for cosmic booty, one of them equipped with a rather professional magnetometer, but none of them has claimed any finds in public yet.

Anyhow, since there has been no official confirmation regarding recovered material of this fall I wonder about the nature of this material:  

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=44608&item=6164417570&rd=1

The seller claims to offer material of the -  recent year 2005 Berlin fal l- which  - has been tested by scientific institutions - as he states in his description. 

This is only one of several doubtful meteorite offers currently online in German ebay. Another seller offers a large piece of a meteorite from Rissani which is obviously not a meteorite, but rather a piece of magnetite-rich basalt. This auction has already found a bidder. 

I know that none of the reputable German sellers known to this list are involved in the cases mentioned above. But since I neglected German ebay for a couple of months, I wonder if I just stepped on single exceptions or if I missed a general trend. I f so, I might consider to invest in a sophisticated meteorwrong collection ...

cheers
Svend

www.niger-meteorite-recon.de

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