[meteorite-list] GPAA Gold Show in Fresno Today

[GeoZay at aol.com]

Hi all...I just got back from the GPAA gold  and treasure show in Fresno 
today. It was quite crowded. Maybe a thousand or two  people.  Anyways, I went 
there mainly for the gold panning contest. I  placed third, but had a 
problem with picking out the small nuggets with my  fingers that slowed me down. 
Besides, I already got 3 copper pan trophies and my  wife doesn't want 
anymore on the wall. :O) there also wasn't much of anything in  the ways of 
equipment that I desired to purchase. Oh...I bought a 30.5 gram  nugget for only 
$4. I should add that it wasn't made up of gold, but copper.  Still it was 
natural and river worn. It looks pretty neat. It was from Michigan.  During 
my wonderings at the show, I noted one vendor with several fragments of  
Meteorites kinda hidden off to the side. I recognzed them before I was able to  
find a hand scribbled note that simply said, "Meteorites". No prices, but I  
doubt they would have sold for much. they all looked like ordinary 
chondrites  probably unclassifed NWA's. I'm now wondering why there's no vendor that 
has a  sizeable amount of modest priced meteorites for sale there? I bet it 
would be  worth the effort. Someone could do what several vendors usually 
do with a small  gold nugget or two and that is to raffle them off. Tickets 
for about a buck a  piece and selling maybe a couple hundred by days end. 
Selling raffle tickets are  real popular at these shows. At the end of the day, 
the show raffles a lot of  items, including what the individual vendors 
provided from their ticket sales. A  couple years ago, I won a 3 gram gold 
nugget this way. It was a hoot! :O) Now my  wife posses it. These shows are only 
weekends long and there's about 10 of them  thru out the U.S. each year. 
I'm not a meteorite dealer, but if I was one, I  sure would contact the GPAA 
folks to find out the particulars. Maybe someone  could set up a display at a 
show that's near your location. I noticed that  there's usually two in 
Arizona, One In Primm, Nevada, San Bernardino, Fresno,  two in Oregon, Montana, 
N. Carolina, Washington State, Colorado, Penn. these  were last years 
locations, but often they are in the same place. Besides the  gold related 
paraphanalia, I see some gemstones and what have you. I'd think  meteorites would 
fit right in. 
George Zay