[meteorite-list] What makes a hammer a hammer?

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Hello Robert,

To answer your direct  question, no I have not seen the "Hodges's stone."

However, in Dr. King's  Meteorite Collection Catalog he listed the source of 
his Sylacaga specimen as,  and I  quote:

"Source: Alabama Mus. Nat. Hist., Douglas Jones"

Now, if anyone on the  list has access to the Hodges's stone to examine, my 
hunch is that the core  would have been removed from the bottom portion, as it 
is displayed, and the  hole was probably plugged with something and colored so 
as to hide the fact that  a core was removed.   My memory is a bit fuzzy, but 
as I recall there  were some correspondence letters between Dr. King and the 
Alabama Museum of  Natural History at the time leading up to the acquisition.  
And there was a  concern that any examination would not hurt the aesthetic 
appearance of the  stone. 

However, it might be easier to ask the Smithsonian if their  records indicate 
that any of their Sylacaga was traded to Dr. King.    But with the conflict 
NASA (including Dr. King) had with the Smithsonian in the  1960's I seriously 
doubt any trades were done with the Smithsonian.

As  many of you know, we auctioned off the King Collection, and it would make 
some  of you sick if you knew how cheaply that specimen sold for.  I was  
surprised at the time, but then again, there were many great specimens in the  
collection being sold, and most people had to budget where they spent their  
money, so some things went a little lower than expected at that time.   Since 
then, the value has appreciated to more reasonable levels.

I hope  this answers your question Robert?

Steve Arnold #1



In a  message dated 1/3/2009 10:11:11 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
meteoritefinder at yahoo.com writes:
Steve and List,

Steve, are  you absolutely sure the core came from THE Hodges's stone    (  
the one that struck her) and NOT the McKinney stone??? I have not actually seen 
 the Hodge's stone in person, and maybe you have, so you MAY be right. But 
... if  I may quote a few words from "one of our illustrious members'" ( who I 
hope  doesn't mind me using them, and that he will join in the discussion, too 
)  website that state:

"....There were two stones - the one that hit  the human and one other. The 
one that hit the human is the centerpiece in a  local museum. No one has ever 
had access to it. However,the second stone is in  the Smithsonion and though 
the remainder has never been available to the public,  it did have one core 
drilled in it. This core ended up in the collection of Dr.  
King. After his death his widow allowed it to be cut into about 10 whafer  
slices all of which all ended up as primary specimens in private  collections."

So have you seen THE  Hodges' stone in person  and saw that there actually IS 
a hole drilled into THAT very one????   

Thanks,
Robert Woolard  

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