[meteorite-list] NWA 482 questions

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 12:32:29 -0800

Mike,
 
I don't know what your personal beef is with Mr. Bostick and frankly don't
care to know.  Clearly you are reading a lot more into his post about
NWA 482 than was present in his words.  He made a statement (true or
not) and asked a question.  Stripping out the extraneous information
about price and meteorite type, it boiled down to this:
 
"...when the lunar meteorite NWA482 was being offered around morocco
it was 1278 grams and not 1015 as later reported. ...what happened to
the other 250 grams?"
 
Your name was not mentioned once, and you were accused of nothing.
And yet the mere asking of the above question drove you to threaten
legal action?  That is not a rational response, which is why one would
have to assume there is some bad blood between you two.  The
sensible response would have been, "The stone weighed 1015 grams,
no more -- I weighed it myself on my own scale.  Based on the
meteorite's shape, there's no way it could have once weighed 1278
grams and then lost 20% of its mass without it being obvious.  Who
is saying that it once weighed 1278 grams?"
 
The burden of proof would then be on Mark to produce evidence,
photographic or otherwise, that it ever weighed 25% more than the
published TKW.
 
As long as we're on the subject of NWA 482, perhaps you or someone
else can shed some light on the entry that appears in Meteoritical
Bulletin #86:
 
"Northwest Africa 482, correction
From the day the meteorite was purchased it belonged to Adam and
Greg Hupe (Hupe) and they still hold the main mass.  The holder of
the main mass listed in the Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 85 was incorrect."
 
The first sentence of the listing in Meteoritical Bulletin #85 for NWA 482
was, "A 1015 g stone was purchased on 2001 January 10 in Alnif,
Morocco, by Michael Farmer."  The last sentence reads, "Specimens:
half of the main mass is with Farmer; type specimens, 24 g, UCLA,
and 18 g, UAz."
 
So, we're all left wondering:  who REALLY owns (or perhaps by now
"owned") the main mass of NWA 482?  Just so we're clear, there are no
accusations here, only questions.  Anyone reading the Meteoritical Bulletins
should be just as perplexed as I.  --Rob

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