[meteorite-list] a reply to Hupe and Farmer

[Mark Rexburg]

As a relatively new collector I could be missing the point.  But, isn't true 
that a "rock" does not become a meteorite, (Lunar, Martian, or anything 
else), until a scientist says so and assigns a number or name?

If this is true, then it would be untruthful for anyone, especially a 
dealer, to say "I have a Lunar meteorite" until it has been verified.

Randy


>From: "Edwin Thompson" <etmeteorites at hotmail.com>
>To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>Subject: [meteorite-list] a reply to Hupe and Farmer
>Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 01:19:37 +0000
>
>
>
>Dear Mike Farmer and Adam Hupe.  Who made you two the hall monitors of 
>honesty and morals?  It seems odd to me that you both feel compelled to air 
>this issue in public without even so much as an effort to talk to me about 
>it in person first. Both of you were welcomed in my room in Tucson.  You 
>both saw the meteorites that I had on display. There were a large number of 
>wonderful achondrites on display in the two largest display cases.  Many of 
>them were on display without labels or prices because they are not
>yet classified.  Three of these beautiful specimens were displayed together 
>on the top shelf of the first case because they were most curious and 
>impressive.  I don’t know what these stones are as yet.  One stone 2 ½ 
>kilograms, is extremely fresh with beautiful black fusion crust.  I hope 
>that it may turn out to be a diogenite, but wow how cool would that be if 
>it did turn out to be an SNC! Well, all I can do is hope for now.  The 
>other large stone looks like a very fresh eucrite similar to Ibitira or 
>maybe a very fresh mare basalt, but there again, all I can do is wait for 
>the analysis. Got my fingers crossed on that one too. It weighs 1.5 kilos 
>roughly.  The third stone is the exciting one.  I told this story to a 
>number of friends in Tucson. When I showed the stone to Ted Bunch his 
>initial reaction was that it was probably labradorite. He said he thought 
>that it was terrestrial.  But in the sunlight in the parking lot with a 
>hand lense I pointed out the things I saw that made me feel that it was a 
>meteorite. It is a very strange weathered stone with no fusion crust, very 
>little metal in it and the color is a beautiful grey-blue with light 
>colored shock veins running through the matrix. I was insistent that this 
>was something special and weird but Dr. Bunch still felt that it was 
>terrestrial.  Later that week Ted Bunch called
>me, he was very excited.  He asked if I wanted to rush this stone through 
>the testing process. He hinted at planetary and he said that he thought we 
>might have a new aubrite! This was very exciting for me too as I have never 
>produced a new aubrite. Still I kept my enthusiasm in check. Then the next 
>day, Ann Sprague, the co-author of the book “Mercury” came by for a visit. 
>I told her that ten years ago Allan Rubin had asked me to keep an eye out 
>for the first potential Mercurian meteorite. When I asked Rubin and Warren 
>and Wasson what that might look like they gave a myriad of answers that 
>never really added up to anything concrete that I might use as the 
>standard. So here ten years later I asked Ann Sprague the same question. 
>Jim Gronewold and I both listened as the first words out of Ann’s mouth 
>were “well, first of all it should look a lot
>like Labradorite”. I could see Jim’s eyes get bigger as he looked at me. 
>Then she said,  “ and it should be extremely weathered and should only have 
>about 2 to 3% metal in it. Our eyes got even bigger as I walked over to 
>show her this weird specimen in the case. Then Ann and I took the stone out 
>to the parking lot with hand lense in tow to check out this stone.  Ann was 
>very excited as she said “ Of all the meteorites I have ever looked at, 
>this meteorite appears to look the most like what we might expect a 
>mercurian meteorite to look like”  You can imagine my excitement but still 
>I am waiting for the test results. Although I must say that I told this 
>story to hundreds of people. Ann Sprague asked me to have Ted Bunch contact 
>her because she would like to do
>testing on the stone at her lab as well. I am only hopeful that it turns 
>out to be an aubrite. There again, mercurian origin confirmation would 
>simply be a bonus.  But even with numbers of people who are already hopeful 
>of it being something new and exciting beating down the door to get a 
>piece, I have not commited to sell any of these three stones nor any of the 
>other amazing meteorites that were only on display in my room and not 
>priced or labeled and I have not promoted them, although it appears that 
>the competition has already done that for me.  It sounds like the Hupes may 
>know before I do what these beauties will turn out to be.  And as for 
>Farmer’s ranting and raving and dealer envy, I hate to stoop to your level 
>Farmer, but shut up and move to
>Panama. Wait, maybe the whole Panama thing was a joke or a lie or a sales 
>ploy.
>
> 
>
>Sincerely,  Edwin Thompson
>


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