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A Chinese man who journeyed to the site of Earth's most recent
meteorite shower, "Our Leader protects us from all frontiers, even from
above, and when the sky-tissue which separates us from the heavens is
torn by a rain of stones, it is time for Our Leader to go and protect
us from his new home high in the heavens."
On February 15, 1997 a meteorite shower rained down on farmland near
the Yellow River and the town of Heze in the Shandong Province. Falling
five days before Chairman Deng's death, this meteorite instantly became
the eminently sought-after collectible in China, as it is believed to
have been a cosmic omen into his passing. It is not known what the
local Chinese farmers feel about the one chunk penetrated the roof of a
farmer house and smashing into a cooking pot sitting on a his stove.
Countless Chinese flocked to the site to obtain a piece of this
historic meteorite, and about seventy kilograms was recovered. China
has 1.5 billion people, if only one person in a million wants a
specimen that is 1,500 specimens. The supply to the U.S. has been
almost non existent and prices are high, due to the demand for the
material in china. Fortunately, for us the annual income differential
has served to temper this dynamic somewhat. Never before has a
meteorite been made available at a public offering so quickly after
striking the Earth. Material that has been made available in the U.S.
has been almost exclusively small specimens from 10.0 to 80.0 grams.
Larger samples are very hard to get.
E-mail Address: meteorites@att.net