Last year I visited a friend who works at the Smithsonian and I got to hold the Lorton meteorite; it's absolutely a magnificent specimen.
Greg S. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 18, 2011, at 11:22 AM, "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <[email protected]> wrote: > > The landlords got outlawyered: > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/whatever-happened-to-the-lorton-meteorite-/2011/03/04/AB14tMq_story.html > > > By Neely Tucker, Sunday, March 20, 11:42 AM > When last we heard, Everybody's Favorite Meteorite was locked up in legal > limbo. > > The oblong little rock from outer space lighted up the late afternoon sky > across Washington on Jan. 18, 2010, and rocketed into a doctors' office in > Lorton. Moving at a leisurely 200 mph, it crashed into examination room No. 2 > in the Williamsburg Square Family Practice, even though it did not have an > appointment. > > The startled (but unhurt) doctors, Marc Gallini and Frank Ciampi, donated it > to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, which houses the > world's largest collection of meteorites. > > But then their landlords said not so fast: The 2-by-3-inch visitor from the > asteroid belt was estimated to be worth at least $50,000 on the earth-bound > meteorite market, in part because of its dramatic and well-documented > entrance. Thousands of people saw its fireball descent (the museum has a > photograph of the vapor trail), and radar sweeps documented its path across > the region. > > The landlords demanded its return. Gallini said of their behavior: "It isn't > nice." Legal wrangling ensued. > > We are delighted, a year later, that there is a happy ending. > > The landlords eventually dropped their claims, the Smithsonian gave the > doctors $10,000 for the Lorton meteorite (its formal name) in early February, > and the physicians donated the check to the charity Doctors Without Borders > last week. Linda Welzenbach, the meteorite collection manager at the > Smithsonian, says it will soon be on public display, though no date has been > set. > > "We are very happy that it's staying at the Smithsonian," Gallini says. "We > felt that where it's belonged since the beginning." > > Deniz Mutlu, a member of the family that owns the building, said his only > issue with events was that "we got portrayed as the bad guys." > > "All we wanted to do was donate it to a different institution (Phillips > Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire), where my wife attended school," he said. > "The doctors wanted to litigate. They had pro bono counsel. We just let it > go." > > The meteorite, which existed for about 4.5 billion years floating around > between Mars and Jupiter, now spends its time in a little plastic box deep in > the Mason-Clarke Meteorite Vault in the Smithsonian. It has thousands of > other little asteroid friends, including three from Mars, to keep it company. > > Holding the Lorton meteorite with blue latex gloves, Welzenbach smiled. > > "It's going to stay here where everyone can see it." > > CURIOUS? Tell us what past Washington Post story or person in the news you > want us to update. E-mail [email protected] or call 202.334.4208. > > > > ------------ > > Phil Whitmer > > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
