[meteorite-list] Stop thieves! Meteorite marauders of Norway!

[Michael Mazur]

I tried sending this a couple of days ago but it never made it to the 
list. Here goes again,


Aug. 11th the University of Oslo published the following article on 
their website.

http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=30585&del=uniforum 
<http://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/avis.woa/wa/visArtikkel?id=30585&del=uniforum>

Nice pictures of the rock but I felt that the commentary was a bit over 
the top so I've translated it for your reading pleasure. It looks like 
there is a steep road to climb for meteorite hunters and collectors in 
Norway. There aren't many of us but I'd like to think that we're not 
thieves who don't care about science as is implied by the article. If 
you disagree with Elen's proposal, maybe a gentle note explaining how 
you think meteorite collectors and dealers can and do help science would 
be a good idea. Not that I suggested it of course.

Enjoy.

Be aware that I may have missed a few norwegian words but I think that I 
got it right for the most part.
___________________________________________________________________

Private meteorite hunters have come to Norway to find and sell pieces of 
the meteorite that fell down over Østfold on July 14^th to international 
collectors. Director of the Natural History Museum (University of Oslo) 
seeks a precise law in order to stop 'meteorite theives'.

By Yngve Vogt

International meteorite hunters have been tempted by the summer's rare 
meteorite fall in Østfold. They hunt after pieces of the meteorite and 
can earn 10,000's of Kroner (>1,500USD) by selling to the highest 
bidder. Today, there are no legal regulations that can prevent this.

To this day, three pieces of the Østfold meteorite have been found. 
International buyers stand in queue. This afternoon, the highest offer 
was 150,000 Kroner (~25,000USD) for a piece that came down in a yard 
while the family was on vacation.

- This a very high amount for the Natural History, says director of the 
Natural History Museum, Elen Roaldset. She seeks, therefore, a precise 
law that will make it so that pieces of meteorites will not be sold to 
private collectors, but will be owned by the state and will be useful to 
research.

- There is big commercial interest in meteorites. In the Moss area there 
are rumours that meteorite hunters have come from near and far. Several 
meteorite hunters have already come from America and Germany. As long as 
there are no laws, it is very tempting for them to sell meteorite 
material to the highest bidders and to international collectors. Then 
the meteorites disappear out of the country. This means that one can not 
do groundbreaking scientific research. It is via meteorites that we have 
the possibility to gather knowledge about the formation of the earth and 
the solar system, points out Elen Roaldset.

The meteorite that fell over Østfold on the 14^th of July of this year 
is the 14^th meteorite that has fallen in Norway since the Natural 
History Museum started registering (falls). The meteorite in Østfold, 
according to Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, very rare and the fifth 
meteorite of its type. The last time that a comparable meteorite fell, 
was in Russia in 1937.

Each time a new meteorite is found, the meteorite must be registered and 
approved by an international commission.

Wishes clear rules
The problem with private meteorite hunters happened already when the 
78.67kg Finnmarken meteorite fell over Alta in 1902. Then many 
collectors appeared and sold pieces of the meteorite to other lands. 
Then geology professor W.C. Brøgger, who later became the university's 
rector, wrote already about the need for a meteorite law in 1903.

Elen Roaldset seeks now norwegian regulations that will be just as 
strict as those around the finds of old cultural treasures.

- A law is needed that takes care of fossils and the type of object that 
fell over Moss, and that can (protect) the scientific interests of 
mankind. This law ought to be comparable to the cultural properties law 
that takes care of viking treasures, says Elen Roaldset.

She points out that todays laws are imprecise. The problem is the 
commercial value that causes problems between finders, property owners, 
and the state.

- What happens if a valuable object falls down on private property? Does 
the mountain (presumably mining) law or the property law apply?

Danish meteorite law
Denmark has solved the legal problem by introducing a law that meteorite 
finds are property of the state. Also Canada has introduced a comparable 
law (not strictly true of course).

The danish bill secures the most important natural history finds for the 
danish public.

The danish museum law says that objects shall be turned over to the 
state when they are found in Denmark after January 1990. If the state 
wishes to keep one of these objects, the finder or owner of the object 
will get a reward. The size of the reward is dependent on the scientific 
or display value and how good care the collector has taken care of the 
object.

Hearing statement
The Natural History Museum sent in August of last year a 'hearing 
statement' to the environment department about the draft of the new law 
about nature, landscape, and biological diversity, also called the new 
nature diversity law.

The Natural History Museum points out that the current laws don't take 
into account the geological diversity. The property rights to natural 
history objects is of large scientific value and it is a 'special 
problem that property rights to meteorites is not regulated by the laws.

Elen Roaldset says that it is thanks to well-meaning people, that it has 
been possible to have the last three meteorites in the museum's collection.

As long as a law is needed, she has just the possibility to tempt 
meteorite hunters with recognition and a finders fee.

- We can offer finders that the meteorites is saved for posterity and we 
can say in the display who has found it. Also we can pay a finders fee.

Important scientifically
For researchers, it means a lot to have as many pieces of the meteorite 
as possible. From studying the size of the pieces and how they met the 
earth, one can say more about where the meteorite came from.

The problem is that one of the three pieces, that was found from the 
meteorite in Moss, has already been sent out of the country.

Meteoritten over Moss er sannsynligvis karbonholdig. Elen Roaldset 
påpeker at denne typen meteoritter er av stor vitenskapelig betydning og 
det vil være spesielt interessant å undersøke om den har organiske 
forbindelser.

The meteorite over Moss is possibly carbon-bearing. Elen Roaldset points 
out that these types of meteorites are of large scientific meaning and 
it will especially interesting to research whether it has organic compounds.

*Stort!*
Astrokjendis Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard ved Universitetet i Oslo sier at 
meteorittnedslaget setter Norge på kartet internasjonalt.

Big!
Astro celebrity, Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaar with the University of Oslo 
says that the meteorite fall puts Norway on the international map.

- This is the first meteorite that has hit a roof in Europe since 1989. 
And the first time such a meteorite has fallen since 1937. And, it is 
the first time that more than two meteorite pieces have been found from 
a meteorite fall in norwegian history. This means that there are 
hundreds of pieces that will not be found. The meteorite is a holy 
object for us at the University of Oslo. It can help us explain life on 
Earth. Meteorites are an important goldmine on Earth for us astronomers. 
It is there that geologists and astronomers meet, says Knut Jørgen Røed 
Ødegaard.

- The meteorite is 4.6 billion years old a little bit older than Earth. 
The meteorite is composed of material from the when the solar system was 
being formed. The meteorite is not the left over bits from a planet 
explosion, but the pieces that became asteroids and then broke when the 
asteroids crashed into each other, says Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard.

Dependent on amateurs
Elen Roaldset applauds Knut Jørgen's 'mediablast' around the meteorite 
fall in Østfold. Without this mediablast the workers, who were to repair 
the hole in the roof of the warehouse, would not have realized that the 
stone in the hole was a meteorite. The discovered the stone when it 
began to pour rain in the warehouse after a terrible rainstorm. Then 
they thought about the meteorite posters and the announcement that the 
Natural History Museum had run in the Moss Avis.

Norgesgruppen turned the meteorite over to the University of Oslo 
yesterday afternoon.

The University of Oslo has now gotten large response from eager 
'Østfolders'. Together with meteorite hunter and amateur geologist 
Morten Bilet, Knut Jørgen has, in the past days, visited daily five to 
ten residents that have inquired about a possible meteorite find.

Elen Roaldset is also very happy that amateur geologists hunt for 
meteorites.

- We don't have enough people that can do it. So we are solely dependent 
on amateur geologists. But it is hugely important that these meteorite 
pieces come to our collection and be researched. We make models of them 
before we take out small pieces from the meteorite and research them. We 
then do isotopic analyses and chemical and mineralogical research, says 
Elen Roaldset.

The rush to look
Knut Jørgen asks urgently that people look for meteorite fragments now.

- When the frost comes, the meteorite pieces with deteriorate. So look 
now, in yards and on roofs! You will recognize the meteorite as it is 
black, light gray inside, and a little bit magnetic. If you find such a 
piece, phone myself or the Natural History Museum. Morten Bilet and I 
drive out whenever all day, says Knut Jørgen who apologizes that 
meteorite collectors have come to the country just to grab their own 
pieces.

- It is horrible and crazy that on sells meteorites internationally when 
they are not registered. It is a fight to find the rest of the meteorite 
bits. All are working together except two men. They've run away with the 
pieces.

All the same, Knut Jørgen doesn't wish to see new laws for meteorites.

A law can destroy meteorite searching. If a law comes, there is no 
reason to look. What one needs is a payment system, asserts Knut Jørgen.



-- 
Michael Mazur
Vigdelsvegen 523
4054 Tjelta
Norway