[meteorite-list] AD: METEORITE CLASSIFICATION SERVICE

[stan .]

>The samples would be available
>for the future experiments that anyone might conceive - rather than sitting
>lost in some dusty drawer...or in a membrane box, decaying away on 
>someone's
>desk.

Quite the contrary to this notion I feel that private collectors CAN and DO 
serve to protect the science that lies trapped in meteorites. I cant speak 
for all collectors (although i know othes who do this) but just this week I 
recived a request from a lab in europe for samples of material in my 
collection and I'll probably get around to sending them out after the 
weekend. I even offered to look for specific material they want that I dont 
have but may be able to aquire. My problem with this whole issue is reading 
articles like this:

"Save the space rocks! The meteorites are vanishing and if something isn't 
done soon, most of Earth's rare space rocks could be gone in a lifetime or 
so says the University of Arizona's Southwest Meteorite Center, a newly 
founded organization created to combat what a UA scientist and a private 
meteorite collector identify as part of the problem: collectors. Samples 
that have fallen over millions of years are being found and collected over 
just a few decades. Dealers are buying meteorites at prices the scientific 
community cannot match and cutting them into small pieces for sale to 
bidders in a flooded market. In an attempt to save the space stones from 
becoming slivers, the SWMC will offer collectors, dealers and enthusiasts a 
fair price to obtain part of the vanishing meteorite legacy." 
http://uanews.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/UANews.woa/24/wa/SRStoryDetails?ArticleID=12216

That sounds pretty darn anti-private collection and pretty darn pro-'soak up 
whatever we can' to me.

essentially all unusual meteorites get classified. that means type specimins 
of all the 'good stuff' are being curated already, protecting the scientific 
legacy. the only thing 'new' about the SWMC is an organization trying to 
raise major funds to aquire major chunks of what is avalible to the public - 
above and beyond the simple curation of type specimins.