[meteorite-list] NWA 011 micro contest

[David Weir]

Hello List,

The basaltic meteorite NWA 011 was first available to the collecting 
community as mg-sized shavings from Serge Afanasiev in Tucson 2003. At 
that time I received a 1 mg specimen which is still displayed on my NWA 
011 webpage (http://meteoritestudies.com/protected_NWA011.HTM). In June 
of this year I was given a nice sized crusted specimen 560 times larger, 
now also displayed on my webpage. When I received this nice chunk there 
were three other smaller fragments that had been detached at some point 
in its history (now I sound like another list member). I had considered 
these pieces to be scientifically significant since they were so large 
in my perspective compared to my initial 1 mg specimen -- they weigh 40, 
51, and 72 mg. Now that there are several large paired stones from this 
fall I no longer consider these fragments to be of any significance 
except to my fellow collectors who have none.

Since I was kindly gifted these pieces, I am offering two of them to two 
lucky list members for no charge, and I will pay the shipping and 
include a 38mm membrane box container. The two faces of the first 
offering, the 0.051 g piece, with one side of fusion crust, is shown at 
the following link:

http://meteoritestudies.com/GIVE011.JPG

The second specimen I will give is the smaller 0.040 g piece, which also 
has a fusion crusted side. I did not scan this piece but it's appearance 
is similar to that shown above.

Now, I don't know who among you would be excited to add a NWA 011 
micromount to their collection, rather than ebaying it for a quick $52 
profit (e.g., Greg Hupe infers his 530 g paired stone could sell for 
upwards of $1,000/g). Therefore, I will request an e-mail telling me a 
little something of your collection intentions, just a short paragraph 
or two at most. I never participated in this kind of stupid 
"essay-based" contest myself, but I do see its value in a situation such 
as this. I will probably lean towards those with smaller collections and 
new to the meteorite collecting activity because I do realize these are 
small representative pieces. I will accept e-mails for consideration 
until this Tuesday, September 5, at noon Eastern Daylight Time. I look 
forward to hearing from some of you.

David Weir
http://www.meteoritestudies.com