[meteorite-list] Meteorite Paperweights

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/24/2008 3:50:36 P.M.  Central Standard Time, Impactika 
writes:
Hello Steve, and all,

Next  time you are in Fort Worth, you might ask Art Ehlmann to show you the 
main mass  of Somervell County. 
When Oscar Monnig bought it, it was already a very old  and weathered 
pallasite, and he was adviced to have it encased in plastic to  protect it. That did 
not work for very long, and it just broke in pieces.
Too  bad because it is a pretty pallasite.


Anne M.  Black
http://www.impactika.com/
IMPACTIKA at aol.com
Vice-President,  I.M.C.A. Inc.
http://www.imca.cc/


Hello Anne,

Yes I am  aware of the Somervell County.  It is a great story.  As I 
understand,  Dupont Laboratories had invented this new stuff called plastic, and 
Monnig heard  about it.  It might be that the Somervell County was the very first 
thing  ever encapsulated in plastic, or at least that new kind.  

Of  course, that was a huge entire mass with lots of rusting and cracking 
going on  before it was put in, which couldn't help from the inside.  And of 
course  years of light hitting it would cause it to deteriorate from the exterior. 
 

What I am thinking about is for thin slices of Brenham.  I put a  slice of 
Brenham in some about 3 years ago, and it has been preserved perfectly  since 
then.  Of course it could still start rusting inside at any  minute.  But it has 
encouraged me that something like this might work for  slices.  

My question to the list was to ask to talk with anyone who  has tried doing 
something similar.  It doesn't matter to me if the results  were successful or 
not, as long as I can glean some information from others  experiments.  

Obviously Monnig failed at his Somervell County  experiment, at least in the 
long run.  Why that failed could be attributed  to many things: 1930's plastic 
quality, poor workmanship on the encasing,  moisture in the rock, and even 
that particular specimen.  To say that one  failure dooms ALL future attempts I 
think is a little unscientific.   

Steve Arnold #1  

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