[meteorite-list] Your First Meteorite - When did you Get It

[Marco Langbroek]

It depends a bit if you regard iron shale as "meteorite" too - in that case, a 
small piece of Canyon Diablo shale I got as a present from Peter Jenniskens in 
1991 was my first.

My second then was a 75 grams individual of Mbale (in 5 fitting pieces, the 
largest 45 grams) I got, again as a present, from Hans Betlem (who mapped the 
strewnfield) in 1992.

I bought my first meteorites in 1999, a nice 134 grams Sikhote-Alin from Rob 
Elliot; and a small 2.4 grams slice of Allende with a nice CAI and a fragment of 
Vaca Muerta from Jawerbaum.

My initial goal was simply to have a sample of each main class of meteorite: 
chondrite, achondrite, iron, and stony iron. That goal fulfilled, I started to 
ad subclasses.

Noting that irons do not keep well in the Dutch climate, my main focus over the 
years has been on stones. Criteria for buying are:

- a type I do not yet have, and/or;
- visual esthetics, and/or;
- it shows a petrological aspect very well

Currently, my display case is full so I seldom buy anymore (very occasionally, I 
ad a small piece of a rare type, or can't resist a new L3 slice packed with 
chondrules...). I have 57 different meteorites in my collection now, and in 
addition tektites and impact glasses, and a couple of impact crater stone 
samples (the latter are fascinating too, and remarkably cheap).

- Marco