A MAN USES A ROCK AS A DOORSTOP FOR DECADES UNAWARE OF ITS TRUE VALUE
David Mazurek loves nature. That is why he bought himself a farm in Michigan. But it was not only the farm he got he was also given a doorstop by the former owner. The doorstop was used to hold door of the shed. And the former owner had a story related to it as well. The man did not know that the rock that he had accepted unwillingly from the farmer was going to change his life for good.
A Farm
Mazurek had bought the property in 1988. The owner of the property showed him the entire farm. It was a vast beautiful land full of green. No doubt, he had made up his mind about buying the property but then the owner took him to the farm’s shed.
Ordinary Shed
The shed was very ordinary in appearance. Mazurek was stepping inside the shed when something caught his attention. There was a rock laid in one corner of the door. It was a doorstep. The man had seen many people using rock as a doorstop but this one was very different.
A Doorstop?
Mazurek felt being drawn by the rock. He had to ask the farmer about the rock. And the farmer did reply to his question. The farmer responded with utter simplicity. Well, his answer was enough to put the man in disbelief.
Meteorite, Really?
The farmer said, “A meteorite.” The farmer said that without any trace of astonishment in his tone. On being asked how he found it the man narrated the incident when he watched the falling of the meteorite with his own eye.
Story Of Past
The incident took place a long time ago. He watched a rock dropping down from the sky along with his father. This breathtaking incident happened in the 1930s. The rock dashed down on their land.
Noise
He reminisced, “It made a heck of a noise when it hit.” However, they were not sure about what they had seen actually. They waited till the next morning to see what had shot down from the sky on their land.
Large Crater
The farmer’s father extracted the meteorite off its crater. The crater was quite large in size. The crater is a round hole that occurs when a meteorites hit the earth. Volcanoes too cause craters.
Buying The Farm
Mazurek was doubtful whether the farmer was telling the truth or not. Perhaps, the farmer was making it up so that he buys the farm. The man had already liked the space and so decided to buy it.
Still Warm
The rock was still warm even after staying on the farmland for the whole night. However, not too hot. Farmer and his father could not understand what to do with it so they started using it as a doorstop for the farm shed door.
True Or False
Now it was difficult to find whether the farmer was tricking him or not. Well, this was something he was least concerned about. He finally bought the farm but with that, he got something else too.
A Gift
He did not mind taking the rock too as the farmer gave it to him. But he did not spend much of his time wondering whether it is actually a meteorite or not.
Out Of The World
Mazurek did not pay much attention to the rock. The Meteoroids exist in outer space that revolves around the sun. And those meteoroids that shoot down to earth are called meteorites.
Meteoroids
The meteoroids consist of solid material. The source can vary. Some emerge out of asteroids whereas some are part of comets. And in some cases, the meteorites source out of moon or different planetary body.
Just A Stone
Did you know that 95 percent of the meteorites that enter the atmosphere of the earth is only stone? The rest of it is iron. About 90% of the discoveries are about iron meteorites as they give a tough fight to the protective layer that covers Earth.
In Disguise
Even if by any chance the stone meteorites manage to put up with the atmosphere, they still remain in oblivion. One of the reasons is their appearance that resembles drastically to the Earth’s rocks. In addition to that, they decay fast.
Discoveries Are On
Despite the challenges, researchers have discovered a number of meteorites, close to 40,000. According to experts, around 500 meteorites make their way to the earth every year. And of them, only ten get discovered. The undiscovered ones either plunge down in the ocean or desolated places where they can’t be found.
Rare
The meteorite that Edmore had found was even rarer. The rock they had found comes in the recovered fall. It clearly means that someone had actually seen the meteorite falling down from the sky and discovered it a day after. It is a rare case as so far only 1,100 such incidents have been reported.
Very Cold
Likewise, this meteorite must have penetrated through Earth’s atmosphere. As they belong to space, their temperature remains low. In fact, their temperature stays so low that even after surviving the atmospheric friction their coldness at the core does not get affected.
If You Find One
However, small meteorites cease to be hot when they reach the ground. Donald Yeomans, NASA’s Near Earth Object program manager stated, “Small rocky meteorites found immediately after landing will not be hot to the touch.”
Warm And Strange
But same can’t be said about the larger pieces. “If we got hit by something large enough to leave a crater, the fragments might be very hot indeed,” said Bill Cooke, Marshall Space Flight Center. The same case occurred with Edmore doorstop. The farmer had watched the object shooting down in the night and discovered it the very next morning that still happened to be warm.
Valuable
No matter they stay warm or cold after reaching the surface of the earth, they all are highly valuable as they are rare. For example, Christie’s auction house in London put around 83 meteorites of different kinds on auction in April 2016. And they all were carrying a heavy price.
Valera Meteorites
There were some of the well-famed meteorites that fell to the ground. Out of all the meteorites, Valera happens to be the only rock that hit an animal resulting in creature’s death. The auction was expecting at least $9,000 out of it.
Brenham Meteorite Main Mass
However, the value of this unique rock dims down among the other valuable rocks. The haul included the Brenham Meteorite Main Mass that weighed 1,433 pounds. Along with that, the rock possessed a different shape, thanks to the way it made through the atmosphere. Interestingly, instead of spinning while racing down, it remained in a static position. It was because of that it got its unique U-shape.
Sparkle
The unique characteristics of the rock do not end here. The Brenham meteorite was sparkling due to olivine minerals staying on its outer body. No need to say, this amazing rock too came with a hefty price. According to the Christie estimation, the cost of the rock can be anything between $750,000 to $1.2 million.
Chelyabinsk Meteorite
Despite all these alluring rocks what won over the heart of people was the Chelyabinsk Meteorite. It pierced through the atmosphere of the earth in February of 2013. At the time of entering the atmosphere, the rock was 62-foot long and had weighed 12,000-ton. However, the rock could not handle the pressure exerted by the atmosphere and so exploded.
Not Good
The explosion of Chelyabinsk meteorite broke hell loose on some part of the world. The exploded rock shadowed 19 miles of a city sharing the same name. Scaringly, the impact of the explosion was felt in six cities. Around 7,000 buildings got destroyed.
Soaring High
The price of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite began with a bid of $450,000. Christie’s science and natural history specialist, James Hyslop sheds light on why these meteorites command such heavy prices. The cost of the rocks depends on the space they come from.
Piece Of Other World
In 2016, Hyslop described, “These meteors give you a sense of wonder, as seeing something extraterrestrial is always very strange. It’s a strange thing to hold a piece of another planet or a rock from space, as for most of us it is the closest we can get to being there.”
Just A Rock
Mazurek got never fascinated by this rock. To him, it was like any other rock. However, while leaving Edmore farm he did take the rock with him and continued using it as a doorstop. His kids would take the rock to their school on show-and-tell days.
Other Meteorites
The table turned when in January 2018 Mazurek heard that a Michigan meteorite has hit the headlines. To be precise, an in-state meteor shower had occurred that had led to the raining of many pieces of state rubbles. What piqued his interest was that people were making money by selling those meteorites.
Back To It
It was then his focus shifted to his meteorite. He remembered, “I said, ‘Wait a minute. I wonder how much mine is worth.’” He contacted his friend who had acquired expertise in Geology at CMU. His friend asked him to get in touch with Mona Sirbescu, who was a faculty member in the College of Science and Engineering.
No Expectations
Whereas Mazurek was excited to meet Sirbescu, she did not hold the same feeling. Sirbescu had no high hopes from this meeting but still, she decided to give it a shot. The woman was associated with CMU for two decades. And throughout her association, she had come across plenty of cases in which the owner of rock would claim it to be a meteorite and which often ends up being an ordinary rock. She assumed this case to be the same.
Examining It
She said, “For 18 years, the answer has been categorical. ‘No.’” She had no intention to check this rock too but she had to as the request was made by one of her friends. Mazurek reached the place the very next day.
There It Was
Sirbescu asked him to show her the rock. He took out the rock from his bag and placed that on the table before her. She looked at the rock with her mouth agape. She picked the rock and started inspecting it through her eyes.
Special
They “could tell right away that this was something special.” Her eyes were gleaming. She had not seen a rock like this before. It was just a matter of time. In no time they were going to find out if the rock was holding any special value or not.
A Mixture
Sirbescu ran a test on the rock and after using X-ray fluorescence equipment on it she found that the object was a mixture of 88 percent iron and 12 percent nickel. Though there are meteorites comprising of iron, nickel is a rare metal on earth. However, the metal is not uncommon in iron meteorites. There was no doubt that Mazurek had a unique and amazing piece in his possession.
A Big Amount
That was not all the biggest twist came when Sirbescu estimated the value of this supposed doorstop. The meteorite that weighed more than 22 pounds making it the sixth-largest meteorite ever to be discovered in Michigan can fetch Mazurek $100,000. She revealed, “It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically.”
Just A Confirmation
Though Sirbescu had done her examinations she wanted someone else to corroborate her conclusion. So, the researcher cut a piece of Mazurek’s meteorite and sent it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C to the Catherine Corrigan, a geologist.
Meteorite With A Value
It was so obvious. Corrigan confirmed that it was actually a highly valuable meteorite. Not only that, the woman did not show any kind of astonishment over the rock being used as a doorstop. It can be used as a doorstop thanks to its appearance.
Should Be In Museum
Corrigan explained, “The fact that it was used as a doorstop is actually not at all uncommon. Iron meteorites are heavy – pure, iron nickel metal – and tend to be great for such things.” At the same time, she admitted that using the meteorite as a doorstop would surely have caused some harm to it. It would be better off in a museum where its oxidation can be prevented.
Future Of Meteorite
Sirbescu pointed out towards the two probable future of the space rock. She said, “What typically happens with these at this point is that meteorites can either be sold and shown in a museum or sold to collectors and sellers looking to make a profit.”
Buyers
The Smithsonian was one of the prospective buyers of the rock. The rock would grace one of their museums where it would be kept. They did not mind Sirbescu keeping a slice of it. Besides, they agreed to call the rock, “Edmore meteorite.”
Further Examination
One assumption is that Smithsonian wants to invest money in the rock for further analysis of the rock. As the news came that the institution too sliced out a piece of it and mailed it to University of California, Los Angeles. The piece was sent to professor emeritus John Wasson. The man is called, “guru of iron meteorites.”
Finding Out More
Wasson was going to investigate deeper into the object to find out more about its chemical components. And if the result shows meteorites containing rare elements its value will increase multifold in the market. There will be an even bigger line of museums or collectors bidding for it.
All Decided
Even though the tests were still on, Mazurek and Sirbescu did have plans for it. Mazurek decided to give away ten percent of the sale price to CMU. He hopes that his contribution would finance the study related expenses of students of Earth and atmospheric science fields.
More Than Expected
Though this is not clear how much would the department get, Sirbescu is already thankful that she could get access to this unique meteorite. The students had gotten the opportunity to see the meteorite up close. Earlier, it was something they had seen in textbooks only.
New Dimension
Sirbescu further observed that the meteorite provided a fresh perspective regarding the planetary system. She said, “Just think, what I was holding is a piece of the early solar system that literally fell into our hands.”
Not Clear
It is still unclear if the meteorite is still with Mazurek or he sold it off. But this story did trigger a passion for finding more meteors among the people.
Hoba
Till now, the largest meteorite ever to be discovered on Earth happens to be Hoba. The rock weighing 66 tons is in Namibia. According to the expert, the rock struck the earth about 80,000 years ago. The meteorite mainly consisted of nickel and iron similar to Edmore meteorite.
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