I found a meteorite!??

I have found a rock that is very heavy. A friend of mine told me most meteorites are made of nickel.

Mine may be nickel. It is metallic. Occasionally sparks when cut with a rock saw. It is non-magnetic. It looks like steel.

Who would I sell it to? Who would I take it to have it assayed? Is it worth anything. ? My rent is due and I am selling my furniture to pay it. HELP?

Try surfing the net fo ra price and then try to sell it on Ebay.

Wow! a modern day Joe dirt...watch out for debris from planes and whatever you do don't lick it!

Wow! a modern day Joe dirt...watch out for debris from planes and whatever you do don't lick it!

Someone beat me to it....

It is of course, highly likely that that's exactly what it is... You can take it to a local college, perhaps they can help you identify it, but don't expect to find out before rent's due.... I would rely more on donating some bodily fluids to pay the bills, or sign up for some medical experiments or something.....

I wish I could donate body fluids for cash. In Canada we believe in giving all of our fluids for free, we haven't become entirely capitalistic yet, but I'm hopeful!

I'd have it appraised or authenticated before you try to sell it as a meteorite, someone could sue you or try to get their money back if it is found to be otherwise.

Other possibility:
Ore-depending on where you live you may find pieces of metalic ore, even iron ore, which have what appears to be craters in them sometimes (just bubbles from melting) They kinda' look like lava rock but are heavy and metalic.

Just have it looked at or at least make some good comparisons online with pics of other small meteorites before you do anything.

damn!!! you beat me to the Joe Dirt joke.

Where did you find it? Do you have a digital pic of it?

Beware, there are more than a few naturally occurring concretions out there that may well look like meteorites. In my area, certain "ironstones" are common, similar in makeup to magnetite (although many formations are nonmagnetic) that looks for all the world like a well weathered meteorite.

These are usually formed underground in a reducing environment, where the iron in the ground is chemically attracted to a metallic impurity of some type and becomes chemically bound up in a iron rich (usually highly metallic) concretion.

This rock is NON magnetic. It can't be iron ore. No digital photos, sorry.
Joe dirt remember? The only good thing I can think of about my financial situation is that maybe I finally learned is that people suck. Hard work don't matter. Gotta be a crook to get by in America. It's institutionalized now. Look at watergate. Look at Bu$hit.
Maybe I should hit someone on the head with the meteor. How'd that look ? I imagine I'd get some kind of citizens award.
Back to the funky rock.... its about softball size and weighs about 15 lbs. No sign of craters on it or in it. Inside it looks like fresh cut steel with some black veins of darker material like it melted and cooled at those spots. But it IS NOT MAGNETIC. Must be Nickel or Stainless steel. It's very hard. On the outside it's smooth but has angles and looks brownish and black outside. It smells kind of like heavy oxidation like rust. But it's not very rusty outside.
I'd like to say little alien lifeforms crawled out when I cut into it, but apparently its just another sexy rock.

Does it look something like this?



I have a feeling this might be what you found... I have explored this formation and have a few of them here...

The Woodbine provides soil for a wooded region called the Eastern Cross Timbers where Post Oaks are common. The Woodbine is a sandy soil, rich with iron. Iron nodules litter the ground. Iron nodules form when solutions deposit around a "seed" or nucleus of sand or organic material. These concretion nodules look like small iron meteorites - without the magnetic properties.

www.dallaspaleo.org...

Now, if it DOES turn out to be a real meteorite, this might be what you are looking for...

www.sr-meteorites.de...



[Edited on 31-7-2003 by dragonrider]

Originally posted by tr

My rent is due and I am selling my furniture to pay it. HELP?

How bout no more internet?? Costs money too eh?

Well, depends on what kind of meteorite it is, if it is one.

Some are worth 20 bucks a gram! Some only 2 bucks a gram. I have one, not selling it, but it is a 6.35 bucks a gram, and wieghs over ten pounds. But not going to sell it. Why? It mine! I found it, it mine1 And yes, it is a meteor, had it checked out and everything.

What a cool rock! Mine does not look like that; it really is a plain looking rock. light brown. when freshly cut its shines like steel but after a couple of days it turns pewter colored. But its not magnetic.
yours looks like an alien could hatchout any minute. I'd keep an eye on it, if I were you.
Great links! Sr-meteorite site has one that looks like the one I found. The thumbnail for the type Millbillillie Eucrite has the same look on the outside as mine. when cutting into it, it's just like iron, but not magnetic. its the same color inside as a magnet after about a day. It very homogenous not stony looking.
I had forgotten about this post. sorry. looks like a gibeon I see at www.arizonaskiesmeteorites.com...

[Edited on 29-11-2003 by tr]

[Edited on 29-11-2003 by tr]

At least you found something cool, all I find around here is horse dookie, dog dookie, or some other creatures droppings, am not picking nothing up around here lol. Good luck on your find.

It may just be a piece of iron ore. I have a rock that has a lot of metal in it. It's really heavy, and looks like a meteorite. You can see the metal in it. It gives off a slight rainbow effect. I thought it might be something, at one time. It actually looks singed on the top. If you look at it closely, it's porous on that part. Here's a pic. Interesting, eh? It must weigh at least 15 lbs. I believe those are 4 inch tiles, to give you an idea of it's size.



[Edited on 11-30-2003 by Satyr]

I own a real piece of meteorite. How I know its authentic is because I stole it from the Melbourne Museum when I was about 12. I broke it off a bigger piece with a ruler I bought at the souvenir shop.

Who would suspect the children.

It's about the size of an average coin, but I'm still proud of it.