meteorite-identification.com

"Starchasers Meteorite CURATOR Mitchell R. Minor" (as he now calls himself. Mitchel, don't be so humble!) is back on eBay ( new ID 'starchasersmeteorites') auctioning his self-classified and self-paired (to ALH8401, no less) piece of limestone, I mean, suspect Mars meteorite (pdf file) again. (July auction -pdf file) He is selling suspect* meteorites along with actual meteorites (purchased on ebay). How strange he does not produce the actual official isotope report he claims to have intead of the doctored chart he copied off the internet? Curator Minor must just be too busy carrying for his 'valuable collection'. Also amazing is the fact that he knew it was from Mars before he promoted himself to CURATOR and self-classified it. (this reminds me of a similar creeky 'lunar' web site) I love this photo of the limestone's, I mean, suspect* meteorite's crust:


Perhaps it is just me, but is the 'crust' smeared on the broken face of the limestone, I mean, suspect* Mars meteorite (area to left of the dime)? In my opinion, this could also be tar-coated dolomite and limestone (did I say that before?) used in road fill.

The Auction and Request: (Updated)

In the unedited Ebay auction (pdf file), the seller (Mr. Minor - then ebay ID 'bigred3107') stated "I have been trying to get a science laboratory,and Universities to help get this meteorite, and others in my collection classified , with no luck, I have many meteorites in my collection with 2 falls I actually witnessed fall and picked up. I am looking for a University, Science Lab, or Scientist to help me classify meteorites in my collection."
I thought the request was very strange but possibly sincere (even though the $180,000 stone auction was unquestionably suspect), so I responded with the following:

Note: Contact information has been deleted from the following:

An Attempt to Assist:

Subject: Re: MARS METEORITE WHOLE SPECIMEN 180 GRAMS RARE !!
To: Bigred3107
Mitchell (bigred3107),

My name is Ken Newton and I represent an international organization of meteorite dealers and collectors. We offer assistance to new meteorite sellers and collectors. Our goal is to build confidence in the meteorite hobby by sharing our expertise with others.

Your auction states, "SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY!" Please do not take offense but only a serious seller can attract serious buyers. Why do you label this as Martian if it has not been classified as such?

Meteorites like diamonds involve serious money. Persons who try to sell serious items in an unprofessional manner run the risk of having their item viewed as a fake. For example, a person finding a cut piece of glass may auction said item on ebay as "A Large Diamond?". The auction says, " I can't be sure it is a real diamond but it looks real to me. I have showed a photo to four jewelers and they all say it may be a diamond. But further testing is necessary." Even if the person has told the truth, what would you think of the auction? Perhaps you would be unsure? Why? Because getting a diamond appraisal is not that difficult. Likewise, professional meteorite verification is not difficult either. http://imca.cc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=39

We suggest you stop the auction and have the specimen professionally tested by a meteorite testing institution. There are plenty of institutions that will check your specimen at no charge. If you are so inclined, I would be interested to know the outcome.

If I can be of further assistance, please ask.
Sincerely,
Ken Newton
[snip]

A Response but No Answered 'Mars' Question:

Subject: Re: MARS METEORITE WHOLE SPECIMEN 180 GRAMS RARE !!
From: Bigred3107
Date: 11/6/2005 4:34 PM
To: ken

Hi , I have been trying to get help authenticating my witnessed meteorite falls and finds for over a year and have had no luck , it is like a big circuit out there and nobody seems to want to help me, so I have formed a corporation of local meteorite hunters in my area, and we are in the process of building our own meteorite laboratory with all the nessesary equipment to do our own testing, XRD, XRF, petrographic microscopes, rock cutters for thin sections, and rock polishers,our laboratory will be up and running within the next few months. Since nobody seems to want to help me, I listed this meteorite on Ebay because I knew I would get responses and possibly find help.This meteorite has been put thru Oxford Instrument model ED2000 XRF spectrometor and other test equipment and all the test say yes this is a meteorite. A few Universities I showed this meteorite to said it looked like a Mars rock, but their hands were tied and could not help me. I hunt and study meteorites and know the difference between a meteoright and meteor wrong, From my experience over this last year in trying to get help in authenticating and classifying meteorites I now understand why there are so few recorded. I have some very rare meteorites in my collection that would be very good for science. I will check out the web site you recomended , Thanks for your response, Mitchell Minor

More Questions:

To: Bigred3107
Date: 11/6/2005 7:06 AM
From: ken

Bigred3107 wrote:
Hi , I have been trying to get help authenticating my witnessed meteorite falls and finds for over a year and have had no luck , it is like a big circuit out there and nobody seems to want to help me,

What institutions have you asked? Perhaps you can't get help because you have not asked a meteorite classifying institution? Most universities do not have a meteoritic dept.

so I have formed a corporation of local meteorite hunters in my area, and we are in the process of building our own meteorite laboratory with all the nessesary equipment to do our own testing, XRD, XRF, petrographic microscopes, rock cutters for thin sections, and rock polishers,our laboratory will be up and running within the next few months.

Have you contacted the Meteoritical Society in order to establish criteria for their accepting classifications from your proposed lab? If not, why not?

Since nobody seems to want to help me, I listed this meteorite on Ebay because I knew I would get responses and possibly find help.

Without knowing exactly who you have contacted, it appears to me you are doing things backwards and actually discrediting yourself.

This meteorite has been put thru Oxford Instrument model ED2000 XRF spectrometor and other test equipment and all the test say yes this is a meteorite. A few Universities I showed this meteorite to said it looked like a Mars rock, but their hands were tied and could not help me.

Who interpreted the data? Who said the item was Mars? Did anyone say that it was not a meteorite, if so, who?

I hunt and study meteorites and know the difference between a meteoright and meteor wrong, From my experience over this last year in trying to get help in authenticating and classifying meteorites I now understand why there are so few recorded.

Other than owners of NWAs, I have not heard this complaint from anyone with a genuine meteorite. Many complain about the labs being slow but never about lack of interest in any rare material. You are about an hour from Crystal Lake, did you contact Paul Sipiera or Kevin Cole at the Planetary Studies Foundation? ( (815) 477-7704) How about Robert Verish?

Looking forward to a response.

Sincerely,
Ken Newton
[snip]

I have some very rare meteorites in my collection that would be very good for science. I will check out the web site you recomended , Thanks for your response, Mitchell Minor

'No Help' Defined and an Unexpected 'Spidy Man' Sequel:

Subject: Re: MARS METEORITE WHOLE SPECIMEN 180 GRAMS RARE !!
From: Bigred3107
Date: 11/8/2005 8:41 PM
To: ken

Hi Ken, I have called and left a message for Paul Sipiera, and kevin cole and waiting for a response from them. Yes I have spoke with Robert Verish a nice person and helpfull, and asked him for someone close to me to help me, and he reccomended Al Mitterling, which I did send digital pictures of this meteorite to him about 1 month ago , and he did reply and said in the email he will access the rock and get back to me, still waiting for his response. Yes, many of the biggest name meteorite dealers around the United States,and around the world that I have emailed these pictures of this meteorite, and my witnessed falls and picked up meteorites pictures as well, and they said I have nothing and this is not a meteorite,one quote that sticks in my head is (DOES METEORWRONG MEEN ANYTHING TO YOU) and most of the dealers will not even respond to my emails. I do not wish to include the names of all of the big name famous dealers,Science Lab, Universities, and Museums that were not helpfull in authenticating and classifying meteorites in my collection. I did contact the Meteoritical Society, and sent them many digital pictures of meteorites in my collection, and they responded that they do not have a lab to authenticate, and classify meteorites, and recommended some of the same institutions as you did, and did say in their response that they have made a special note of me contacting them. Robert Verish reccomended I go to a Local Geology Department, and they should be able to verify my specimens, so I made a appointment with the Geology Department at the Northern Illinois University in dekalb,ILL, and they said they would be able to help me, and took many of my meteorite specimens with me, when I showed up Friday November 4th 2005 at 3 p.m. , before I could show them or explain my meteorite specimens to them, they walked me into their office and introduced me to the Washington University meteorwrong page on the internet, which I had allready studied inside and out over a year ago, so I proceeded to show them some of my collection I had brought with me, He had it in his head I had nothing when I walked into his office and made sure he didn't confirm anything by the time I walked out, This meteorite I have on Ebay was called limestone with desert varnish, he had a off the wall answer for every specimen I showed him. The lady in his office was very quiet and I could tell she wanted to say things about my specimens, in which I could tell she was holding her thoughts, so I showed her this meteorite that I now have listed on ebay , and ask her what do you think this rock is , and I never mentioned that I thought it was from Mars , she looked at it for a few moments with her magnifying glass lupe, and said this rock looks like it has critters in it, like the mars rock, and he jumped in saying that rock is lime stone, and the cust is to thick, I could tell he was trying to tell her to put that rock down and don't say anything, then she said well we don't have enough information about mars yet to be for sure, we won't know for about another 4 years when we have samples from Nasa, which confirmed what I allready thought, this is a Mars meteorite. I had brought another very special meteorite with me and wanted to show them what I seen inside with my microscope, and ask if they would let me show them what was inside this Star,Sun ,Carbonaceous Chondrite type of meteorite, and asked if they would let me use their Microscope to show them, they wouldn't let me ?. I had broken off fresh samples off my specimen to show them that day just 1 hour before I got there, what a dissapointment, well I will explain to you what was seen ,on a freshly broken off sample inside this rock was a soft cocoon like structure with 5 white looking veins coming out of it with 4 of them actually fused into the minerals and elements inside of this rock, and the other vein was atached to a life like body with a head , 2 eyes, nose, mouth ,2 arms, and 2 legs. I touched the veins very softly with a needle and pulled away, and the veins and life like body structure jumped around for a few moments like it was alive, it actually made me jump off my chair away from my microscope, No rock has ever been able to make me jump away from my microscope, out of the 100's of rocks that I have studied this rock is very special, I couldn't believe what I was seeing inside of this rock, so I did more soft probing with my needle on the body structure and something under the body jumped out with what looked like a thin fiber line with a square end on it with a point, and appeared to be attacking my needle, I pulled away and it jumped back under the body, I put the needle back toward the body again but stayed back a few inches to see if it would jump back out again, it poked its head out and was watching the needle tip as I moved it back and forth, when I moved the needle closer to the body, again it attacked the needle again. I knew nobody would believe what I had just witnessed inside this rock so I had my girlfriend do the same experiment I had just performed, and she was shocked and wanted to know what it was. I know this is a long email but just had to vent for a few minutes. I want Science to get this information I have learned from my collection and didn't think it would be this hard. Mitchell Minor