Thank you, Greg, It is both a desert patina and fusion crust. The gray area is where the fusion crust was etched very thin by the prevailing winds and sand over the 1,000 year period it spent in Western Sahara. You can still observe contraction cracks in the gray areas where the crust is so thin that you can see the matrix through it. Most collectors do not realize that Lunar meteorites, for the most part, have brown fusion crusts. A few Mare pieces have smooth black fusion crusts and a few Highlands have translucent green fusion crusts. This is one of many clues that we have a prospective Lunaite in front of us. You will never see a wrinkly Eucrite-like black fusion crust on a lunar meteorite.
Best Regards, Adam ----- Original Message ---- From: Thunder Stone <stanleygr...@hotmail.com> To: Adam Hupe <raremeteori...@yahoo.com>; meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Sent: Mon, August 16, 2010 10:27:33 AM Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] Newcomers and the Meteorite world Adam/Greg: Very impressive. Is that a fusion crust on NWA 5000 or desert varnish? Greg S. ---------------------------------------- > Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:31:50 -0700 > From: raremeteori...@yahoo.com > To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Newcomers and the Meteorite world > > The question was presented. How many dealers have a personal collection? > > My brother Greg and I started out as collectors and continue to this day. I > believe we have more planetary main masses than anybody in the world. > > Here is an image of part of the Hupe Planetary Collection. > > http://themeteoritesite.com/HupeCollectionMainMasses.jpg > > We have a few more planetary main masses that are not included in this image, > either because they were out on loan or too small. > > Enjoy and Best Regards, > > Adam > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at >http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
