Conspiracy theorists rejoice: Prized 'moon rock' in Dutch national museum is a fake

Is it possible that Prime Minister Willem Drees owned more than one rock and maybe the museum aquired the wrong one? Or is it possible that U.S. Ambassador J. William Middendorf intentionally gave Drees the wrong rock and kept the real moon rock for himself?

Just my 2-cents

Originally posted by Aggie Man
Is it possible that Prime Minister Willem Drees owned more than one rock and maybe the museum aquired the wrong one? Or is it possible that U.S. Ambassador J. William Middendorf intentionally gave Drees the wrong rock and kept the real moon rock for himself?

Just my 2-cents

It's an interesting thought, but the only time NASA gave out moon rocks to foreign heads of state was in 1973, not 1969. They cut up the "goodwill rock" from apollo 17 and gave it away. The real dutch rock is located in Leiden, at the National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine. I almost wonder if that's actually the rock Middendorf remembers giving away, Drees remembers accepting, neither one remembers where it finally ended up, and this is a forgery passed off to the museum by an 3rd party? Middendorf's story about where he got it screams fake though.

[edit on 28-8-2009 by ngchunter]

reply to post by rocksolidbrain

No. I'm not defending a politician.

I don't generally credit them with a whole lot of integrity (or intelligence, necessarily). But I'm inclined to believe that Middendorf believed it was a moon rock. But it gets foggier the higher up the ladder you go. Did the State Department tell him it was a moon rock or did he just assume it was? Did the State Department actually give it to him?

Or maybe Middendorf knew it was a piece of petrified wood. Too long ago and too many what ifs. In any case, it did not come from the moon.

[edit on 8/28/2009 by Phage]

Originally posted by stumason
...It's like somone giving you a rare flower that they said they got from some
isolated place, only to find out 40 years later it is in fact a plastic flower, then saying "Oh, well, they must still have gone to this rare place, this plastic flower, that was made in China, is proof"...

See what I'm saying?

You're right, that rock in the Dutch museum is not evidence of a moon landing...

However, it is in no way evidence that the Moon missions were a hoax, nor that all other moon rocks are fake.

The person who gave the rock to the Dutch was not involved with NASA. NASA had never claimed that particular rock was a moon rock. The fact that the Dutch moon rock is fake does not at all call into question the authenticity of other moon rocks in general. Why would it?...

...This rock has no official relationship whatsoever to the rocks that NASA says came from the moon.

I think my analogy about a person owning a fake Rembrandt painting is a good one -- If I happened to own a painting that was discovered to be a fake Rembrandt, that should not call into question the authenticity of real Rembrandt paintings in museums that have no relationship with the source that I got my fake painting from.

[edit on 8/28/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

Anything new on this.
Authentic Moon rocks are properly identified as related above.
This sounds like a case of error on the part of the estate.

reply to post by Phage


And might I add:

A jagged fist-size stone with reddish tints, it was mounted and placed above a plaque that said, "With the compliments of the Ambassador of the United States of America ... to commemorate the visit to The Netherlands of the Apollo-11 astronauts." The plaque does not specify that the rock came from the moon's surface."

From the OP linked Source, emphasis added. I would also like to add that the plaque and the rock were separate items and might not even go together.

This is also a poor title for a news story imo. The rock is not "Fake", it is a real rock, but it probably is not from the Moon. However, I don't see where it insinuates that it was supposed to be from the Moon other then in the article.

The museum acquired the rock after the death of former Prime Minister Willem Drees in 1988. Drees received it as a private gift."

Perhaps this is where the problem begins. The item was a "Private" gift to Drees and was "acquired" by the museum after his death.

[edit on 8/30/2009 by Devino]