meteorites

[rainyday]

Evening people,
After watching some programed the other night, something to do with how millionaires spend there money.
They showed a meteorite that was worth 2 million Dollars!! It was I'm guessing one of the rarer ones Martian I think after some research.
So I started to do a bit of a search (as you do)  and found that they do fall all over the world regularly and there is a guy in Scotland that dedicates his time to hunting them.
As they are magnetic I was wondering has anyone ever found one?
Dean

[celticspikey]

I'm out on a limb here rainyday but I guess they are made mainly of iron or similar properties  and thus would be discriminated out some what I'm no expert and stand to be corrected by a more knowledgable member....I've certainly never found one.
 

[Val Beechey]

There was a member a couple or so years back who thought he'd found one but I can't remember his name.
There was a lot of discussion about it and our very dear friend Cheff gave various advice. I remember he advised that the only way to tell for sure was to cut it which he did and posted several pics. It certainly looked the business.
I think the last we heard about it was he was going to contact the Museum in Cardiff for advice. We never heard the result.
Maybe he's a millionaire now 

[rainyday]

I guess we would discriminate them out being given a big lump of iron 
"This time next year Rodders!" 

[Val Beechey]

I wondered if I'd found one, many moons ago. Very curious lump of rock that gave a cracking signal. I couldn't believe the weight of it. 7.1/2 lbs. and now I can't believe I lugged it around with me for hours, determined to take it home.
Still got it now. I keep it, just in case and to take unsuspecting visitors by surprise.
In fact i used it a couple of weeks ago. Long story but a heavy stone was needed. A ha thought I. So offered my 'meterorite' stone. Just loved the look of surprise on the recipients face as he nearly dropped it
Fairly sure it's just a lump of iron ore but still interesting. Just think of those poor miners who used to carry huge baskets of the stuff for miles back in the 1700/1800's and get paid pennies for a days toil.

[Myke]

Just imagine......

[Myke]

think they rust away rather quickly in the UK and only a couple of dozen have ever been found.....i saw one fall in a boggy field near Aberystwyth very early one summer morning in 1977..it made the sheep grazing nearby scatter! nobody believed me when i told them, It streaked down with a smoke trail at about 5 degrees from horizontal and went splat into the field....have a mind to see if its still there  ( and yes i was on the way home from the pub)
maybe we should all carry a magnet just in case?

[celticspikey]

I saw one coming back over the Mendips, just before midnight a few years ago, it looked very close and just the other side of a wood I was passing....in reality it could have been a few miles away.....never looked for it, I'll stick to detecting as its more sucsefull ..

[rainyday]

I saw one coming back over the Mendips, just before midnight a few years ago, it looked very close and just the other side of a wood I was passing....in reality it could have been a few miles away.....never looked for it, I'll stick to detecting as its more sucsefull ..

I would have to go and have a look if I were you

[wagis]

This is from a site called 10 amazing things about meteorites.

Meteorites can be valuable however this is not the case with every one. Larger meteorites would be more valuable than smaller pieces. Meteorites which are rarer would be of more value than typical stone meteorites. Pallasites are a rare stony-iron type of meteorite. They are distinguished by their appearance of nickel iron studded with bits of minerals such as olivine. Other meteorites from the Moon and Mars are rare. They’re thought to have landed on the Earth as meteorites due to an impact that dislodged them, these unusual meteorites very special to have in a collection. Media and hype is another way of a piece becoming valuable, I would imagine many are willing to spend some money on owning a piece of the Russian meteorite that landed earlier this year some pieces have reportedly been sold for over £7000. However, if you do perhaps stumble across an unusual piece of rock which turns out to be extra-terrestrial don’t give up the day job to live of the returns just yet!

Hope this helps