[meteorite-list] Texas meteorite find ...possible hoax.

[Ruben Garcia]

Hey Sonny,
Ask Mike Miller as both he and I have cut lots of this stuff - from the picture - I can say it is almost certainly old Campo. That blurred etch look comes from the extreme weathering of old campo. I've never seen another meteorite that looks the same. A few years ago we both bought the same sort of stuff as toluca. The seller was sure we'd never know the difference...we did and returned it for a refund. 

Besides Steve and I are working on cleaning out all the meteorites in Nevada....lol



Ruben Garcia
Phoenix, Arizona
http://www.mr-meteorite.com
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=meteorfright&p=v


--- On Sat, 8/23/08, wahlperry at aol.com <wahlperry at aol.com> wrote:


> From: wahlperry at aol.com <wahlperry at aol.com>

> Subject: [meteorite-list] Texas meteorite find ...possible hoax.

> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 1:26 PM

> Hi All,

> 

> I recently answered an ad regarding a meteorite for sale

> that was found 

> in Texas. I have included a portion of the email below.

> 

> >Thanks for your reply on the meteor. Here are some

> additional details 

> on it:

> 

> >I am an amateur fossil hunter and I was searching a

> river-bed in 

> central Texas, outside This river bed I was searching

> within is the 

> Lower Cretaceous-

> >Glen Rose formation, well known for its ammonites,

> grastropods and 

> other shell fossils. It is a soft to hard limestone group

> and is 

> stratified into various layers. There are no known layers

> of metals 

>  >such as irons, ingenious or other metamorphic type

> minerals within 

> this outcrop of Texas. During my hunt I ran across a dark,

> rust colored 

> "stone" sticking outside of the side bank at

> about two >feet above my 

> head. Was very much out of place as this was a tan-light

> brown colored 

> limestone layer. Started to pull it out, but had to pick it

> out. It was 

> very heavy and was rusted. Was pretty >excited about it

> and had my 

> suspension it was a meteor.

> 

> >Researched on the subject and ran a few objective

> analyses on it. It 

> is highly magnetic, has nickle content, shows fusion crust,

> one spot 

> has very bright silver underneath the rusting and weighs in

> >at 14.2 

> lbs. Consulted a couple of Geo-Techs and they agree it is a

> meteor. I 

> have attached photos of the ammonites I found within the

> same layer to 

> give you an idea >of the type of limestone and fossils

> found in that 

> formation.

> 

> 

> After a lengthy phone conversation I agreed to his asking

> price. With 

> the agreement; before his receiving payment I would request

> to cut and 

> etch a small slice of the suspected meteorite. From the

> pictures it 

> looked very much like a weathered Campo or Nantan. I

> expressed my 

> concern that many of the Iron meteorites that are turning

> up today for 

> sale are meteorites that were purchased and being

> misrepresented as a 

> new find. Also it would be tough to find anyone to classify

> it if it 

> resembled a Campo or Nantan .The finder assured me that

> this was a new 

> find and another small piece was found above this location

> that 

> resembled the meteorite. I thought to myself this can't

> be true, I 

> better call up my hunting partner and reserve plane tickets

> now before 

> Steve Arnold or Ruben find out! Just kidding ! This is when

> things 

> started to get strange. The finder called a few times

> expressing 

> concerns about the value of the meteorite, increased

> interest from 

> potential buyers, etc. I was also forwarded a email from a

> person 

> wanting to purchase the meteorite. The strange thing about

> the email it 

> sounded like my previous phone call with the finder but the

> name was 

> different and now the person expressing concern about the

> meteorite was 

> working with a large University in meteorite studies. At

> this point I 

> was starting to doubt any of this was true . I decided to

> contact the 

> University and was surprised to find out that they never

> had worked 

> with or heard of this person.

> 

> I still thought that this could be true and waited for the

> meteorite to 

> arrive ! I received a phone call from the finder the day

> before the 

> meteorite was to arrive expressing ebay prices and possibly

> not wanting 

> to sell the meteorite . From the prices on Ebay this could

> be worth 

> thousands of dollars! Yeh right! Finding someone to

> classify it and all 

> the time involved, you could make Millions!

> 

> When I opened the box I could see rust fragments inside the

> bag that 

> was protecting the meteorite. Still anything is possible!

> Lying in a 

> limestone formation for millions of yeras that was once the

> bottom of 

> the ocean. I wonder if that deep sea fishing pole I dropped

> over the 

> side of the boat last year will last that long?

> 

> After cutting and etching the meteorite. it appears to be a

> Coarse 

> Octahedrite with silicate inclusions.

> 

> I really can not prove that he did not find this meteorite

> or if it is 

> a Campo or Nantan. The purpose of this post is to help

> anyone who may 

> come across this meteorite. I placed a few pictures of the

> meteorite 

> and cut face on my web page.

> 

> Thanks,

> Sonny

> 

> http://www.nevadameteorites.com/id33.htm

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> ______________________________________________

> http://www.meteoritecentral.com

> Meteorite-list mailing list

> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list