· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Speciality Forums >> Space Rocks Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 rfinney sage Reged: 01/17/07 Loc: Austin, TX The very first meteorite in your collection       #3132122 - 05/28/09 12:11 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Here is a photo of the very first meteorite I ever purchased back near the year 2000 (a few thousand meteorites ago). It is a Campo del Cielo from Argentina (which was first found in 1576). It is classified as an IAB-MG (Iron meteorite belonging to the main group "MG" of the IAB complex). I was wandering through a Gem & Mineral Show in Colorado and a dealer was set-up who was selling real meteorites (I had never actually seen that before). It was Blaine Reed - and you bought stones from him based on per gram pricing (the classic way to buy). He pointed me to this fantastic, shiny rock (which I thought was pretty expensive at the time) and I bought it along with several tektites (which I also thought were meteorites from space - I know the difference now) -- and that got me started! Here is a photo of that first "shiny rock" - I call it The "Posing Lion" Stone: I have never actually weighed this stone, but Blaine did when he priced it. I didn't want to know at the time, so I have never weighed it since! Post a photo of your first stone! Best Regards - RF Post Extras:       Glassthrower Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Reged: 04/07/05 Loc: Oort Cloud 9 Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: rfinney]       #3132230 - 05/28/09 01:00 PM Attachment (46 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Good post RF, nice website also BTW. I'm going to spend some time later tonight clicking through your photos. I got my first meteorite from Bob King via AstroMart - this was back before AM had a meteorites category. Bob is a longtime collector and member of the IMCA, in addition to being a stargazer. He had posted a big garage sale type of ad with many different meteorites for sale. Up until that, I had never considered owning a meteorite and didn't know much about them. I did some homework on Google and decided to buy one of the cheaper offerings - a $5 "handful" of NWA 4293 chondrites - the little brown glossy stones with wind polish. (H6 chondrite) I think I got about 4 or 5 grams of them. They are small and not very exciting to look at, but when I first got them I was quite impressed. From that moment on, I was obsessed - as my poor wife will attest. I still have 3 of those same NWA 4293 stones - I keep them for sentimental value. It's the same reason I keep my 15x70mm Skymaster binocular - I've since moved on, but it's a symbol of what started a major obsession. Here is a photo of the unassuming 4293 - Post Extras:       robinsondd sage Reged: 05/28/07 Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: rfinney]       #3133153 - 05/28/09 09:46 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I've just recently got involved with meteorites. John "moonman" sent me my very first meteorite, an unclassified NWA specimen. My first purchase is a Brenham pallasite shown on this CN thread: http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3109332/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/ Post Extras:       edwincjones Close Enough Reged: 04/10/04 Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: Glassthrower]       #3133154 - 05/28/09 09:47 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   My first came from Mike last year in a contest he was running. Now, after >150 more, it is amazing how expensive was that freebie; and how enjoyable. edj Post Extras:       moonman professor emeritus Reged: 09/13/08 Loc: Wisconsin Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: edwincjones]       #3133166 - 05/28/09 09:59 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Todd Carter got me started with a nice NWA515 that he gave me. ( I am sure Todd got many people started ) Thanks to Todd for starting me on this enjoyable pursuit. Post Extras:       zagami professor emeritus Reged: 08/22/08 Loc: The Big Sky Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: moonman]       #3134084 - 05/29/09 12:07 PM Attachment (44 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The very first meteorite in my collection was an etched end section of Mudrabillia I purchased from David New, a somewhat famous (in our circles anyway) meteorite dealer from whom many collectors in the 1980s and 90s got their start. What makes this specimen even more special as my first meteorite is that on page 50 of Kevin Kichinka's book The Art of Collecting Meteorites, in a brief interview with David New, David mentions that I bought my first specimen from him and even describes the meteorite. I still have the iron. It’s one of the very few finds in my collection that I will be keeping. Here is a list of the first 20 specimens in my collection in order of acquisition: 1. Mundrabilla (Iron, etched end section) 2. Odessa (Iron, etched complete slice) 3. Allende (C. Chondrite, half-individual, polished face) 4. Gibeon (Iron, etched partial slice) 5. Zagami (SNC, polished slice, crust) 6. Henbury (iron, individual, oriented) 7. Plainview (Chondrite, polished complete slice) 8. Esquel (Pallasite, polished partial slice) 9. Murchison (C. Chondrite, polished partial slice, crust) 10. Coahulia (Iron, hexahedrite, polished partial slice) 11. Sikhote-Alin (Iron, etched complete slice, triolite nodule) 12. Canyon Diablo (Iron, individual) 13. Nuevo Mecurio (Chondrite, part slice and individual) 14. Arcadia (LL6, polished partial slice) 15. Bondoc (Mesosiderite, polished partial slice) 16. Park (Chondrite, polished partial slice) 17. Ness (Chondrite, polished partial slice) 18. Gao-Guenie (Chondrite, polished partial slice) 19. Boxhole (Iron, individual, oriented) 20. Orgueil (C. Chondrite, fragment) Of this list, the exact specimens noted on this list that still reside in my collection are: Mundrabillia, Allende, and Zagami. The rest have been sold, traded, or upgraded. In most cases, sold. I assume that you noticed there is not a single NWA or other hot desert meteorite on the list. That's because there were no NWAs in those days. There was also no meteorite internet. As I think back on it, collecting was such a different world than it is now. Not good or bad, just different. I wonder what the next big change in the meteorite collecting paradigm will be? Post Extras:       rfinney sage Reged: 01/17/07 Loc: Austin, TX Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: zagami]       #3134656 - 05/29/09 05:41 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Martin: Amazingly, I knew that you bought that slice from David! But not from Kevin's book... That sent me out on a quick quest to figure out how I remembered that bit of triva - and I re-found it back in a column you wrote in 2002! Do you remember? "The Gentlemanly Art of Meteorite Collecting". You mentioned it in that column ... surprisingly, that particular bit of writing made an impression on me back then because I remember at the time clearly thinking -- "what the heck is he talking about?". I was buying stones over the phone (as you know Blaine Reed still sells the same way - even now) - but I was mostly buying in person when I visited a city with a gem shop with some meteorites. I had no clue at the time that you could buy meteorites on the internet. In fact it was probably another five years until I figured it out -- incredible -- so your writing in 2002 about how "collecting had changed" made no sense to me for another five or so years! Anyway - your first twenty purchases are so "classic" for back then - but on reflection they are still "classic" for anyone starting out today. At least 50% or more of your early purchases are still the specimens that any new collector should focus on to build their base. So maybe the hobby isn't changing that much after all ... it is now sooo much easier to do it through websites and eBay (that is unless you want a really special stone from some of those long-time dealers like Blaine). Great info and great posting, - RF PS. Here is Martin's column from 2002: http://www.meteorite-times.com/Back_Links/2002/September/Accretion_Desk.htm Post Extras:       zagami professor emeritus Reged: 08/22/08 Loc: The Big Sky Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: rfinney]       #3135026 - 05/29/09 10:34 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Wow RF, thanks for the blast from the past. I always figured that Kevin got his book title from that article. Rereading that column reminded me of Richard Norton. We were talking one day at the Tucson Show and I mentioned, after the umteenth person came up to him and just stood nearby staring at him, that there seemed to be more than a few odd ducks in the meteorite community. He just smiled and after a moment said, "Do you really think so?" Post Extras:       Glassthrower Vendor - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Reged: 04/07/05 Loc: Oort Cloud 9 Re: The very first meteorite in your collection [Re: zagami]       #3135045 - 05/29/09 10:49 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I regret missing some of Meteorites 1.0, but I am very thankful for the internet - which has revolutionized all collectibles, including meteorites. I also regret missing Mr. New when he was a dealer. Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 0 registered and 1 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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