Joseph,
Thanks for the advice...I have a limited budget at
this time, and am working through a list I have created of meteorites that my
son and I like and would like to own. To be truthful I never dreamed of
collecting meteorites until he took an interest in them when we stumbled on
Meteoritecentral on night while surfing the net.
I have found that the only way to be happy
collecting anything is to collect what you like...not what your think would be
good to collect. My wife and I sell collectibles and antiques on Ebay full time
and deal with collectors who seem to drive themselves to distraction trying to
complete a collection a certain way.
I am doing it because I have loved Space since the
60's during my childhood. I am fascinated by meteorites and share this
fascination with my 8 year old son. I have been blessed with a child that is
"gifted". He is 2 grades above his grade level in most of his classes, and
challenging him is not easy. He loves everything about Space and our
Universe.
We decided on the Allende together. We have 2 small
Sikhotes, a nickelsize slice of etched Gibeon that was donated to us, a
couple of nice slices of Brahin, an unclassified Moroccan stone, a Slice of a
Saharan and a big yellow Nantan.
We are awestruck with the incredible odds that they
defy just getting here and surviving to be found. It is something we enjoy
together, that neither of us needs any particular skills to enjoy. I think it is
important to make an impact in a childs life. I have been to his school to share
our little wonders with his classmates, it was really cool to see the looks on
all their faces. I tried to answer their questions, which was fairly easy since
they are second grade students and none of the questions were too technical, let
each of them hold all of them...probably one of the highpoints of my life. They
sent home 28 thank you cards that they made and it was a real thrill.
So you see we are hooked. Someday he will have
something he can hold and remember growing up with his dad and spending time
with me.Our collection will probably never be anything that great and
hopefullyone of the greatest treasures to him.
Bright Blessings,
Mark M.
- Original Message -
From:
Joseph Murakami
To: Mark Miconi
Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2002 12:51
AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] New
Specimen
Try Hartman's site http://www.meteorite1.com/for the
membrane boxes...the 1" size is reasonable, but the bigger ones get expensive
real quickly. I would like to just comment to you that if you're
interested in expanding your collection a lot, a strategy for what you want to
collect becomes very important real quicklyotherwise, you can easily spend
5-10 thousand dollars and end up with a not-too-impressive collection.
Do your research at the various sites 'n dealers from MeteoriteExchange
http://www.meteorite.com/ and compare the sizes and prices of the
specimens.
You'll find that certain meteorites are
relatively much cheaper than others...this also means that larger sizes are
much more affordable...so for an impressive Carbonaceous chondrite of good
size, there is no better specimen than an Allende. You can often trade
up by unloading a specimen (if you bought it at a decent price) on Ebay, but
that's a hassle. Therefore, I'd be careful about not picking up too many
smallish specimens before deciding what you want to collect.
Might I suggest aspiring for a nice Sikhote Alin,
a good slice of Gibeon, a whole Campo del Cielo, but only a few L's and H's
and LL's, probably the Saharans/African specimens that are available are a
wonderful deal at less than $1/gram...
Collectors begin to see that terrestrial
weathering really takes away from the beauty of many specimens...so desert
finds that are weathered, rusted are much less desirable... Good luck on
you collection. Allende's are personally my favorite carbonaceous
chondrite, CAI's and all...
Joseph
Honolulu
From: Mark
Miconi
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 3:03
PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] New
Specimen
I just purchased a 1.5g slice of Allende for my
personal collection. I can not wait to have it arrive. It is not a big piece
but it is another named and classified sample for my small
collection.
I know this has been asked before ...where can
I get a membrane box for it? I think this would be the best way to display
it due to its size...or lack there of.
Thanks in advance...Mark
M.
