Slashdot Mirror
What Can I Do With My Meteorite?
DanCracker asks: "I've just inherited a 34 lb metorite from my grandfather. As a child, I was alwasy fascinated by it, but never developed my intrest. As much as this means to me, I've got little need nor room for such a thing. What is the next course of action I should take? Contact labs or universities? Post it on eBay? Help!"
but only if it has kryptonite in it!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Have an assay done. See what's in it.
This sig no verb.
You've go one hell of a big paper weight.
Depends how pretty it is, but some jewellery could be a neat idea, cos you just know theres plenty of people who will want it cos its pretty and from outer space, man.
That said, plenty of people will want it pureley because it's from outer space, no matter how CowboyNeal-ugly it looks.
Ebay it at some stupid price first though, just in case theres anyone out there with a money/sense ratio even worse than Prince Jefri of Brunei.
Ali
Ph33r m3!!!
Like when you see that $450,000 table in the Antique Road Show. If you had it, you'd have to sell it unless you could adaquately care for it. Not necessarily to the highest bidder either.
I bet that they would put your grandfather's name on the sign that describes it and such... Not to be cold, and very sorry for your loss, but it would kind of immortalize him in a little way.
Duke
FreeBSD: Nothing runs like a daemon with a pitch fork.
Have it appraised and then sell it if you don't appreciate it enough to keep it. I'm guessing it's probably mostly metallic considering the mass that survived. It's worth a very pretty penny if you can verify its authenticity.
Price Guide
Museums are typicly for profit first and education second. Sell it to a museum. Do not donate it.
At $100 a gram average, you are sitting on about 1.5 million dollars.
Sell the shit out of it and don't look back. Do not be a sucker.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
If it is worth $100/gram it would be worth about 1.5 million dollars.
But it tends to be a sliding scale with heavier items being worth more per gram.
If you won the lotto would you turn around and donate all the money to the Smithsonian? Hell no. Sell it.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
I bet it's got a little blob inside. Careful or it'll devour your entire town.
Beowolf cluster? I cant think of many practical uses for a rock.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
As much as this means to me, I've got little need nor room for such a thing.
At the risk of looking like a sentimental wimp, I suggest that you reconsider your decision to part with it. It is, and will always be, a reminder of your grandfather. Now, if you never liked the old guy, you should dump it. But if you would like a permanent reminder of him, this meteroite is a unique tribute. Although you may not have any particular "need" for it now, you may regret your decision to part with this unusual family heirloom 10, 20, 30+ years down the line. And every time someone comes to your house and sees it, they will ask you about it. That will give you the opportunity to pause and remember your grandfather, if only for a second.
It's your choice but I encourage you to try to think beyond your immediate needs and consider the long-term effects of your decision. Once it's gone, it's gone for good.
GMD
watch this
Your a nerd aren't you? Make it into Polyhedral Dice.
Break it up into chunks and sell them for their Super Mystical Energy Powers to the New Age loons...
Have you seen the movie Joe Dirt? The guy finds a meteorite and puts it in a wagon and carries it around. He puts ketchup on it and eats french fries off of it, he loves it. He needs money one day so he tries to sell it, but upon inspection he learns it is a frozen piece of shit that fell from an airplane. :)
I hope this guy had his meteorite inspected before he ends up like Joe Dirt.
"I'm your sister!"
My suggestion: keep it; don't sell it or give it away. THis is of course, assuming, you had an ok/good relationship with your grandfather. THis is something that will always remind you of him. Something that he passed along to you, probably knowing full well how much it meant to you. Don't sell it or give it away, or you'll end up regretting it in the long run. Even if you have to leave it on the closet floor or in a cardboard box somewhere.
What I do suggest, however, is to get it appraised. Make sure it is indeed a meteorite. If it's worth a significant sum; get it insured. At 100$/gram as suggested by other Slashdot readers, it might be worth to keep in some type of bank vault storage. You could then use it for things like collateral on buying a house, etc....
So don't do anything rash, don't think of just the short term.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
This item will most likely not get more valuable as time passes, so if you wish to make any monetary gain on it, the sooner you sell it the more money you make on it. Now, in the short run this may not be true, but as privitized space programs start becoming more prevailent, meteorites are going to become 'common' items. A meteorite is merely a piece of rock thats been moving through space for a while; there's a lot of them out there, we just don't have immediate access. Once companies can easily procure such items, they will start selling them to labs in record speed. Unless they pull some sort of 'diamond-mining' scheme, prices will drop. So in short, do not depend upon the meteor as a longterm investment.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
Sounds like it could make for one hell of a casemod!
Take it outside on a clear day. Hold it in your right hand. Take a deep breath. Look upwards. Take a few steps and fling it into the sky as hard as you can. Should a martian grandpa give it to its martian sub-product, I think it will prefer to keep it even if its living in a $270 per month apartment.
2) Screw in a tiny ring to it and give it to your girlfriend.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
If you have kids or grandkids, you could uh, die.
I have only seen a few meteorites, all except one in museums (that one was owned by a mail clerk at my work, who asked me if I thought it was a meteorite and what should she do - I told her it certainly looked like one, felt and weighed like one - iron, bubbled - told her to get it looked at by someone at ASU). I don't know if all meteorites look like this (I could only describe it as "porous" or "spongy" iron chunk - looks almost like lava rock, but bigger, and iron - stick a magnet to it), but every one I have seen looked like that (which don't mean jack).
So, get it appraised - but keep it. If you liked your grandpa, and you have memories of it as being interesting as a kid, then it is something worth keeping (but hey, if it is valuable, use it for collateral or something)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Unless widely publicized, nobody is going to go to eBay for something like that. Whoever bought it is going to make a fortune if they can figure out how to sell it properly in order to reach interested parties.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I don't have a great feel for what the size of the thing is, but how about having it crafted into an urn for your Grandfather? Or carved into a small bust? Or have one side cut/polished and have an image of him carved in relief?
-Peter
No. Collectors seem to value metallic meteorites a lot more than non metallic meteorites. There are a lot of folks that make jewelry or knife blades and whatnot out of them.
By verifying it's authenticity, I mean that you have reasonable proof that it fell from the sky after travelling through space -- that it is, indeed a meteorite and not just some misshapen hunk of obsidian from some local volcano.
If you have a local natural history museum, consider leaving it with them. You can probably set something up so that you still own it, but they get to display it and hold on to it for you.
Don't break it and let the juice out.
"Meteor shit! Awww, Jordy Verrill, you lunkhead."
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
I recommend you slice it up and sell off most of it. If you and/or your grandpappy were into knives, you might consider having part of it made into a collectible knife.
You could sell it to the knife company for the knife and a nice chunk of cash.
I recall there was a slashdot story on Damascus steel that referred to some of these knives maybe a year ago.
Of course, if its not your typical iron meterorite, then it maybe is even more valuable, so maybe an assay is the best way to start.
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