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Re: No ordinary rock

Reply #1
For items of that size it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

Often it's reported fragments that size are pound for pound rarer and more valuable than gold, but under local rules it's not his to sell or export, so the finder is not really compensated like he could be if he were allowed to put it to a global auction. Locally he gets nothing much more for it than notoriety, on the international market where it is legal certain types have been sold at auction for thousands of dollars up to US$1000/gram, several well beyond the million AUD$ range!

In the USA, the meteorites are owned by the Federal Government but they split the proceeds with whoever finds them.

There are a lot of rip off sites selling people fragments of rock that they claim are meteorites but are just rare volcanic rocks.

PS; Most homes have dozens or hundreds of micro-meteorites in the gutters and on the roofs, the owners just don't know it! Pretty much anything bigger than a pinhead that is magnetic is a candidate, and some of the non-magnetic stuff as well, but you need to be far more expert to identify the non-iron versions! A good way to filter out the terrestrial from the solar system debris is look for it on higher buildings. There are very few large magnetic terrestrial dust particles that can end up on top of skyscrapers. About 200 tonnes of meteorites falls on earth each day in the form of dust particles.

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Re: No ordinary rock

Reply #2
Technically speaking falls are property of the Crown and you are actually supposed to notify the authorities.  There are laws against buying and selling objects "of the National interest" etc and you need export permits.

Some meteorites are incredibly valuable in a scientific sense e.g. the carbonaceous chondrite that fell over Murchison, and their worth is actually beyond money ( Look them up, they're amazing.  Essentially chunks of asphalt).

Like the absolute Philistines that use rock saws to cut ancient trackways from rocks...makes my blood boil seeing invaluable scientific objects treated like trinkets.

Did you know that you shouldn't touch a fall - there's enough Pb and Sr in the skin oils on your fingers to contaminate the specimen for radiogenic age dating.

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Re: No ordinary rock

Reply #3
Technically speaking falls are property of the Crown and you are actually supposed to notify the authorities.

I best put mine back then! ;D

FYI; I have a tektite on display that I show people who want to see a meteorite, it's deceptive I know but it looks like what they expect and was formed in a meteorite strike, but I always have to fess up! I do have two largish samples of chondrite and a nickel-iron but these are not for handling, to most people they are not so impressive unless you have a normal rock to weight them against!

There is a company called Crystal World selling reputable fossils and meteorite fragments, they use to be near Monash Uni but they moved some years ago to Devon Meadows.

Funny story, I promised my missus I'd buy her a big rock for an anniversary eventually, she was very disappointed when I gave here a split 5kg thunderegg! She took a long time to get over that one, she keeps both halves on display in the living room now and tells people she'll use them to euthanise me one day! :o

I've a mate who has a large chunk of ambergris he found on the Peninsula back beaches, I think it's illegal to keep that as well, it's certainly illegal to sell it!
The Force Awakens!