[meteorite-list] RSVP re Valera - documentation?

[Michael Blood]

Hi Darryl,
        Thanks for the added info.
        Can you tell us if the material "out there" is from the actual
Hammer stone that killed the cow - or is some of it so and the rest
>From additional "rocks" of the fall?
        This would be valuable to know.
        Thanks, Michael

On 11/20/11 11:03 PM, "Met. Darryl Pitt" <darryl at dof3.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> 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 ine
>  xpensively, 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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