[meteorite-list] A few questions about a found meterite

[Mark Abbott]

A little background:

I was recently selling at a gem and mineral show here in Minnesota. I 
have developed a reputation among the local dealers as a meteorite 
"expert", so if anyone starts asking around if what they found is a 
meteorite, they get directed to me. And, of course, for the last fifteen 
years I have identified a lot of hematite, magnetite, and other iron 
minerals (we have the Iron Range" in northern Minnesota), as well as 
some basalt and black river rock. Clinkers and slag, too. From what I 
have read from others, the odds are a thousand or ten thousand to one of 
being presented with a found meteorite.

Well, I had a kid come up to me at this show and ask if I could look a 
stone he thought might be a meteorite, that he had been directed to me 
from another dealer. I said "Sure", expecting to give him the bad news. 
He pulled it out of a zip-loc bag, and visually I couldn't rule it out. 
Step 1 passed.  Then he put it in my hand, and my heart started to beat 
faster... it had the higher density I expect from irons. Step 2 passed. 
Closer visual inspection showed a few shallow regmalypts. One face 
looked a little odd, and he told me he had taken a dremel to the 
somewhat flat surface which highlighted some parts leaving the somewhat 
lower parts still dark. It's not  how I am used to  seeing Widmanstaaten 
patterns , but given  what he told me, what I could have  been  a course 
octohedrite (without it having been polished and etched). There was also 
an edge where it looked like a bit of crystal was separating. It had had 
some weathering to it.

I told him that I felt reasonably certain that there was a good chance 
this was indeed an iron meteorite. I mentioned a few places he could 
send it to be tested, and a geology professor at the University of 
Minnesota (his PhD thesis dealt with analyzing the Apollo moon rocks and 
he is the curator of the U's meteorite display). He thanked me for the 
info, but didn't seem that interested in pursuing them.

While all this is going on I am also trying to get conversationally get 
information from him on where he had found it. He lives in White Bear 
Lake. It turns out it was in his driveway.... which a few weeks ago had 
gotten a layer of gravel put on it. He didn't remember or know where the 
gravel came from. DAMN!

So:
He could be scamming me, but usually they have this whole story full of 
stuff which they think make it more realistic, but which is total bullshit.
Someone could have tossed it there (Why?), but it had what I would 
consider several years weathering to it.

So, it probably came from a gravel pit.

Now, my questions:

Is there anything else I could have asked to pursue this?

Also, how long could an iron survive here in Minnesota. It had some 
weathering (months to years?) but it wasn't severely weathered (falling 
apart or excessively  oxidized)? Obviously not from when the gravel pit 
was created (Tens of thousands of years).