[meteorite-list] Valera - documentation?

Mon Nov 21 03:35:26 EST 2011

Thanks you Darryl, I wouldn't say 'Valera revisited' as this addition 
has never appeared in public to my knowledge and shed a lot of 
additional light on the subject.  Is there any newspaper article of the 
time of the fall vintage to your knowledge, or did the consigner ever 
write a report of his findings to your knowledge?  Or does it all 
basically hinge on his word as a gentleman and researcher?  
Specifically the documentation of where the 'clavicle' information came 
from would be key.

Again Darryl, thanks and it sounds like there could have been a better 
way to do this, but I fully understand that in the heat of the moment 
lots of things get sticky when such a prize changes hands and the 
stakes are high.

Kindest wishes
Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: Darryl Pitt <darryl at dof3.com>
To: MexicoDoug <mexicodoug at aim.com>
Cc: Meteorite-list <Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Mon, Nov 21, 2011 2:07 am
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Valera - documentation?

VALERA REVISITED

Hi,

While not among my favorite stories, as you'll soon discover---I have 
no doubt
whatsoever Valera killed a cow.  In brief, there was far more data 
collected
than the affidavit (which was one person's mere summary of events).

Here's the story:

Shepherded by Marty Zinn---the impresario of the Tucson Mineral and 
Fossil
Shows---Valera was first offered at the Macovich Auction 11 or 12 
Tucson's ago.
Professor Ignacio Ferrin---a Venezuelan astronomer...and quite the
gentleman....acquired the meteorite after word of its existence wound 
its way to
him.  Marty heard from Professor Ferrin who directed him to me, and he 
consigned
Valera to our auction.

For those who are unaware, the clavicle of an otherwise healthy cow was
shattered and odd stones---only much later determined to be 
meteoritic---were
found near the carcass. The sonic phenomena associated with a meteorite 
fall
were experienced.  Two large fragments from one mass were recovered 
(~35 and 7.5
kg), and left outside, one of which was used as a doorstop over a 
period of
years---I imagine the lighter of the two.  A third smaller specimen 
which I
vaguely recall as being pretty much complete had been brought inside 
and was
quite fresh.  The specimens in circulation come from the larger 
fragments.

Professor Ferrin gathered far more information other than his 
procurement of the
affidavit.  He has long been exasperated by the ongoing questioning of 
Valera's
"killer" provenance by the meteorite collecting community, and has gone
on-record addressing this topic more than once.

There are two important points worth mentioning here---both of which 
are rather
ironic.

1.  It's important to recall that Ferrin was informed that the farm 
owner on
whose property the meteorite fell, physician Argimiro Gonzalez, didn't 
think
anything at all of this event.  Dr. Gonzalez was well aware that rocks 
fell out
of the sky, and so it seemed entirely reasonable to him that such 
impacts would
occasionally result in fatalities.  Without the rocks ever having been 
analyzed,
Gonzalez, and later his family, considered the rocks as 
extraterrestrial
curiosities---a conclusion which resulted from a dead animal which had 
been
pulverized by blunt force trauma whose instrument rested nearby.  It 
was the
simplest explanation and somewhat a different tack than would be taken 
by the
meteorite community:  simply expressed, Gonzalez concluded as a result 
of a
death that what he had must be a meteorite.  It was many years later 
that Ferrin
heard the story, confirmed Gonzalez's hypothesis and facilitated 
Valera's
classification.

2.   Every few years I have to admit to having undermined Valera's 
exceptional
provenance, and here's how:

The larger of the two massess did not sell at our auction (it was a big 
rock and
pricey---while extremely inexpensive on a per/gram basis) and Ferrin 
suddenly
found himself in an unexpected financial bind.  He did not have 
particularly
high expectations for how much it should sell---but he absolutely 
expected it
would sell, and now he was stuck---and he didn't want to take 40+ kg of 
rocks
back to Venezuela.  I felt badly as I was confident it would sell, and 
informed
Ferrin of the same prior to his decision to bring Valera to Arizona.  
So I
decided I would purchase it---but by doing so I now put myself in a 
huge
financial pinch.  So what did I do?  The most foolish thing I've ever 
done in
meteorites:  while I don't recall the precise numbers, I sold a portion 
of the
rock to another dealer for about my cost...perhaps a dollar a gram, as 
I recall,
and then we both sold Valera super-cheaply.  Percentage-wise we made a 
nice
return, but the fact is that by having offered it so inexpensively, a 
perceived
valuation was created for a meteorite that should be selling today for 
easily
$250+/g.

If you have a specimen of Valera---treasure it.   If you don't have 
one, you
might consider getting some from somewhere as the price has been 
rapidly
escalating of late.  This past June at a Heritage Auction, a 309 gram 
specimen
sold for $5,975 or about $20/g.  I'm informed that small specimens 
today
typically sell for $25/gram and more---and as you know, getting from 
$2.50/g to
$25/g is the hard part.

I'll never forget when I was on the exhibit floor at a Bonhams sale a 
couple of
years back and someone declared, "I don't think Valera killed a 
cow---it's
selling for MUCH too little for having done so."  That was such a funny 
notion
to me...how MY screw-up fueled an inaccurate impression.   (I did not 
mention my
role to the fellow   ;-)

All the best / Darryl

On Nov 20, 2011, at 12:51 AM, MexicoDoug wrote:

> Dear List;
>
> I have a question about the cow killing incident.
>
> The meteorite fell in 1972.  I understand from rumors that it is 
absolutely a
confirmed cow killer.  But the document doesn't read as an absolute 
fact, but
rather circumstantial evidence (which as a meteorite collector 
appreciating the
size of the mass I want to believe quite strong).
>
> The affidavit was signed in 2001, after the Doctor on whose property 
the
meteorite landed had died.
>
> Yet when I heard this, it was explained to me that a doctor had 
pronounced the
cow dead and there was injury visible on the cow caused by the falling 
mass (a
50 kg stone).  I always thought that a Doctor actually swore to the 
wound on the
cow and was convinced it was caused by the stone, since a doctor would 
be
expected to have a good idea of what such a wound would look like.
>
> This thread just prompted me to me read the affidavit.  It doesn't 
say
anything about wounds on the cow.
>
> The affidavit was by the Doctor's visitor, and specifically does not 
even
mention that the doctor made any opinion about the meteorite killing 
the cow.
But does mention the doctor had owned the property and passed away 
subsequently.
No one from the Doctor's family, just the visitor, Juan Dionicio, 
commenting 30
years later says it "appeared" (presumably him since he doesn't mention 
the
doctor) the cow was killed by the rock when he saw it the next day.  It 
does not
mention any injuries or wounds to the cow at all.  Just "it appeared 
the cow had
been killed by the rock" and also that "the cow then eaten".
>
> Yet I heard at the time I bought this that the cow had sustained a 
mortal
injury the injury I recall being described at one point.  Why this is 
not in the
document? ... has me thinking something must be missing?
>
> Is this the only document that discusses the claim of a cow being 
killed?
Because it seems to me people have much more information than is 
contained in
the affidavit.  (But I've run up enough against rumors to believe that 
it's
easily possible for the rumors to just be taller tales down the line).  
Was
there a newspaper article in the 70's or anything predating this, or 
were there
any other witnesses besides Juan Dionicio, the mysterious guest who it 
sounds
spent several nights on the good doctor's ranch?  I'd really like to 
know.
>
> Kindest wishes
> Doug
>
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