Vemont meteorite

whispers

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Jan 1, 2006
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Vermont
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Well I tried to post a pic or two last night but I guess the file size was to big or something.I'll try again tonight as I wanted to show you meteorite buffs something I found last fall. This piece is about the size of a golfball and I found it in corinth VT. in a hay feild at 6 inches down.The feild may have been plowed in the past as it may have held corn or somtning then,so it may have been pushed around ,dragged down on a glacier from canada,or landed when all the continents were together for all I know.Could have even landed a year or two ago .I'll never know because it's only a find mot a witnessed event.As stated in my recent best finds post I feel confident I've made it past the Id. stage but I 'm told it has to be classified before any value can be affix.I'm quite frankly less concerned about that as I am about being one of so few from this state to have even found one.I hope these come out.
 

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Well i sent a sample out to a place called New England Metoritcal and the guy said it was Anthricite, some form of coal..I don't know if this guy is legit or not but paid for express service on the classiffication and still haven't receive the report nor the sample back.After the boston museums' best told my neighbor the VP that they beleived it was ,I kinda got my hopes up .I don't know who to beieive at this point but am kinda bummed at the news from this guy as I Don't know if he is a scam artist or is correct.I can say that I have talked to a couple people that know what bififulous? coal and anthracite coal look like.And they say it does'nt feel in heaviyness for it's size like what I got.Furthermore I can't understand the Fusion crust ,thumbprint on top,or the fact my rig is reading nickle...for something that is highly concentated carbon ??Is carbon something a metal detector can pick up?Sorry about the bad news .is there a third party i can go to.??
 

Hi whispers, one way to help tell if it's a meteorite is to take a neodymium (rare earth) magnet and see if it's magnetic because the vast majority of meteorites will be attracted to a magnet. If it's a type of coal then it should not be attracted to a magnet.

I don't know why it's showing up on your detector as nickel since I dont know what type of detector you use. A lot of coin machines I've seen will sound off on hot rocks and such because they aren't designed to handle minerlized ground. I know the prospecting type of detectors handle mineralized ground a lot better than the coin machines so if you get a chance and know someone who has one maybe try and see if it will sound off on that type of detector.

I can't imagine the place you took it to is a scam, I've heard of guys who have used them to identify a meteorite before. Science is science and scientists report the facts and don't make things up since their decisions and opinions can be detrimental to their careers. If your rock isn't a meteorite they have absolutely nothing to gain and no reason to lie to you about it. If I had to believe someone, I would probably agree with the people who look at space rocks all the time. Just because someone works for a museum doesn't mean they know how to identify meteorites.

One word of advice I can give you on meteorites- never get your hopes up and assume it's a meteorite until you have proven there's a good chance it could be one. There's a lot of rocks out there that look like them and with a few simple tests (see the link in my first post) you can determin if it's highly probable that it's a meteorite or not.
 

Re: Vermont meteorite

Well I just got my Meteorwrong back from Harvard Universite this weekend after have there top guy examine and it turns out to be a by-product of a copper ore extraction process.Loaded with Nickle,zinc,and silicates.I dupe a few at the museum of science who were all a bit sheepish at the news,but what the hey,no hard feelings.It's put to rest now.When you have something that meets nearly all the criterior for a meteor I guess you owe it to yourself to check it out.I walk away from this a bit more educated as well.There happens to be a copper mine close to where I found it as a side note this stuff was later sold to ships for ballast because of its density.The proffessor at Harvard said he sees a few every year that people at the beach find washed up and think are meteorites as well so I'm not the first to be fooled.Thanks again all for writing and good luck.
 

Sorry to hear that Whispers. I've never found one but I'm always looking.Problem is even when you do find something that by all indications should be a meteorite you don't know for sure until it is confirmed by an expert.
 

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