many of you bought the bonita springs samples i had on ebay (thanks!). i got an interesting email form one of the buyers who grandfather evidently was the finder. name withheld for privacy.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I can give you some info - the family lore if you will.
My grandfather was working for the state of Florida. He was the foreman on a crew for building roads in the area (bonita Springs). Roads were made with shell, they got the shell from the indian burial mounds. The meteorite was found in one of these burial mounds. It weighed about 30 some pounds. Also found in the mound was a larger than average skull. In the skulls mouth there was a gold ball that was very fragile, so fragile that it desintigrated when he tried to take it out. We've always speculated that the skull was from a Calusa indian, a native of Florida. Their tribe disappeared.
The meteorite was taken by my grandfather and sat in the yard under a tree for some 20 years. One day a man stopped by the house and offered to by it, (I don't have his name, but I can get it from the bill of sale if you want). He said that the Smithsonian could not afford to buy the meteorite (yes, he told them that was what it was), but that he would like to buy it and donate (this part is sketchy) to the Smithsonian. We know that it (or part of it- it would seem) is at the Smithsonian - my grandmother when there and saw it in the archives.
I've been told that it is older than the Earth, but I know nothing else scientific about it.
The skull was lost when my grandparents moved. There were no other artifacts found at that time.
How do you find the meteorites that you sell/collect? I am one of a large family, and you can imagine that they too would like to get a piece of my grandfather's meteroite. Can you tell me how we might aquire more?
i will be gradually switching over to yahoo mail (it has 100 FREE megs of storage). please cc to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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