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

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Robert and all Hammer Heads,

In retrospect, I didn't address  everything in your last email.

I just checked the website where that  information you mentioned was listed, 
and I have no idea what that dealer's  source was the history of his pieces.  
As he states there, he did not buy  his pieces directly from our auction, but 
rather traded for them second  hand.  

There is NO reason whatsoever to doubt that what Dr. King listed in  his own 
private records is the truth.  And I am certain that the correct  information 
was passed on from me to all the potential bidders during  the auction at that 
time.

You should probably ask him directly what his  source was for that 
information, but my hunch is that somewhere along the way,  the exact facts were lost in 
translation when passed on to him.   

Oh, and if anyone can go to Alabama and look at the Hodges's Stone,  bring a 
magnet.  If the core was filled, and camouflaged well, a magnet  should detect 
where a plaster or rubber filler might have been used.  There  is a slight 
chance it wasn't filled with anything, and the hole is still  there.  

In any case, I will go on record and strongly disagree with  the comments 
made that the King specimen came from the Smithsonian's  sample.  If that had 
been the case, Dr. King would have been listed the  Smithsonian as the source and 
not the Alabama Museum of Natural History, which  was, and still is, the 
repository of the Hodges's Stone. 
 
I guess for everyone that bought their Sylacaga in the past thinking it  
wasn't an actual hammer stone specimen: "Surprise, and  congratulations!"  
 
For those of you that were thinking about buying some, but had not  yet, I am 
sorry, as my guess is, the value of whatever is on the market has  just 
"appreciated" in value in the last couple of hours.
 
Happy New Year!

Steve Arnold #1
Arkansas



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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