[meteorite-list] West Specimen for sale AD

[mexicodoug at aim.com]

Hello Rob, Listees,

While I understand your concerns regarding meteorite fever of others, I 
would like to assure you that our team flew Dr. Rubin material found by 
our fortunate team, and placed it in his hand in less than 72 hours 
after it was hot, or better, I should say cold. He actually was slicing 
it for a thin section preparation before any of the other commercial 
meteorite hunters reached the strewn field!!! Thanks, Dima, Rob and 
Sergey, you all are the best!

So, in effect, Dr. Rubin did the preparation and microprobe 
classification in less than two days. How's that for service to science 
with professionalism?

Thus he had the material classified before the subject commerce began, 
and information about the classification even somehow percolated out 
hours later, as thus far there has been no formal announcement. This 
post the formal announcement which was submitted Thursday. Our team was 
too busy dealing with the news to post, and I didn't get it until 
Friday anyway.

A lot of miracles were worked from the fall. After we delegated our 
material to science at our personal cost (fedex next plane service was 
the same cost as just flying there and riling Rob out of bed to make 
the door to door delivery), personal and nostalgic needs fulfilled and 
everyone involved with our search team, we left by Friday as this 
community braced for something peculiar that only the meteorite list 
can fully=2
0appreciate. Here is the formal classification done by Dr. 
Rubin for the list:

==========================================
W0, S3, L6
olivine Fa: 24.2±0.2 (n=12)
low-Ca pyx Fs20.5±0.7Wo1.6±0.2 (n=12)
kamacite has an average composition of Fe 93.1 Ni 5.8 Co 0.83 (n=4)
taenite has an average composition of Fe 69.6 Ni 30.3 Co 0.30 (n=9)
Taenite is much more abundant than kamacite.

Many plagioclase grains exceed 50 µm in size. Some metal grains have 
irregular grains of troilite inside them. Metallic Cu is present in me 
metal grains. There are some thin metal- and sulfide-bearing shock 
veins. The rock exhibits signficant silicate darkening.
==========================================

Though we barely saw it, the specimen he classified was very troilite 
rich - appeared literally caked and fragmented on it! I might suggest 
the name "Ash Creek", a pleasant valid place name, as well as 
reminiscent of the Nakhla dog and Cabin Creek. While L6 is one of the 
most common classifications, this meteorite does have its especially 
exciting points, including: the presence of metallic copper!

Anyways, this whole thing so blows me away, the hospitality of the 
locals, the speed at which we were able to operate superb coordination. 
I will try to get some sleep after this crazy week, and wish the best 
of luck t
o all those in our team's footsteps. Best of luck on the main 
mass and mapping of the strewn field. I am convinced the main mass 
exists, quite psyched with our hustle and the professionalism of my 
peers, but must attend to family matters and will miss all of our 
friends along with the hoards of curiosity seekers.

Best wishes and Great health,
Doug


-----Original Message-----
From: Rob McCafferty <rob_mccafferty at yahoo.com>
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 6:42 pm
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] West Specimen for sale AD




I don't know if I'm the only person who feels this or not.
I personally felt that the offering of this new material before it was
officially classified was distasteful.

Collectors are constantly being branded as "bounty hunters" or 
"treasure
seekers". Surely, all collectors can see that to obtain virgin material 
before
it can be officially classified or examined is against scientific 
principles.

I realise that some collectors may have more money to hand than 
museums. I also
realise that the hunters have overheads to cover but the offering of 
material to
collectors before it is offered to science just seems wrong to me.

My hobby is other peoples livelyhood and this action just does not sit 
well with
me and I'll wager it does not sit well with the general public, either. 
How does
this help us?

Rob McC




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