Fascinating southamerica meteorite doc. story

[larense]

Hola Forist. There is a very rich documented story of an almost forgotten southamerican meteorite, that in the beginings of the XX century, made its way to many important european museums, even it got to India. Below we will copy, one part of the docuented history, in which a famous northamerican citizen, Mr. Ward was involved. Latter on, we will forward , the complete story of this meteorite found, that perhaps have a large strewnfield area not studied yet, for the many fragments that have come to light to many decades, and possibly in recent days ( a surprise we are beholding untill things gets clear ). It must be a high worthed meteorite for its important historical value. Read below :

Henry A. Ward (1834-1906) was perhaps the shrewdest and

most enthusiastic meteorite collector of his day. He was also

very knowledgeable. Word of a massive iron meteorite in Santa

Rosa, Colombia, captured his imagination. Ward's interest can

best be viewed in the context of the confusion that existed between

this meteorite and two other irons that had been found

nearby, Tocavita and Rasgata. In an effort to clear up the mess--

and also to see if he could acquire the meteorite in whole or in

part--he decided to visit the desolate locale in 1906, a few weeks

prior to his 72nd birthday. My account of Ward's Colombian trip

is primarily based on the extensive collection of unpublished material

in the Henry A. Ward papers at the University of Rochester,

including diaries, correspondence, and photographs.

Upon arrival in Colombia, it took Ward nineteen days by

steamer, mule, and carriage to reach Santa Rosa. He arrived at

nightfall, but as soon as he looked out from his hotel window the

next morning, he saw the large meteorite (612.5 kg) perched atop

a fluted column in the middle of the town square. Ward realized

the meteorite was highly venerated by the townspeople, and

knew it would be extremely difficult--if not impossible--to acquire

any of it. But he had a clever plan.

Calling on the Governor, Ward boldly proposed an exchange:

in return for a promise to erect a statue in the town square of the

President of the Republic (who happened to have been born in

Santa Rosa), he would be given the entire meteorite. The Governor

liked this idea, and at a stormy meeting with the Mayor and

other municipal officers forced their approval. Late that night, in

the middle of a large eating and drinking party which Ward threw

at his hotel for the townspeople, the Governor and a party of 50

soldiers quietly overturned the column, placed the meteorite on a

cart, and whisked it away.

Ward left for Bogota the next day, but shortly after reaching

there heard that the Chief of the Colombian police had sent out a

party that had captured his wagon, retrieved the meteorite, and

locked up the cart driver. Although Ward insisted he had proper

authorization for the meteorite, a heated legal battle ensued. A

decision by the Minister of Public Instruction forbade him to

leave the country with the meteorite, but he was allowed to cut

off a large endpiece (147.5 kg) for his efforts. Ward took this

back with him to New York, but he died tragically a few months

after his return, when struck by an automobile while crossing a

street in Buffalo.

Ward's unfinished report on the Santa Rosa meteorite will be

examined, as will our present understanding of its relationship to

Tocavita and Rasgata. The main mass of the Santa Rosa meteorite

(about 460 kg) is now in the National Museum in Bogota,

while Ward's endpiece was cut up and distributed to various museums

throughout the world for study and curation.

And below, we found an old picture on a southamerican science scholar book.

Hasta la vista,

larense

Meteorito_Santa_Rosa.bmp

[larense]

Sorry, forists.....use this picture. Sorry again

Meteorito_Santa_Rosa.bmp

[larense]

Hola to all. There is a colombian person who is selling a 22 Kg individual of a suppose to be,historic Santa Rosa iron. Last December we recieved a small sample, we decided to test it here in Venezuela, and finally we recieved , preliminary cuantitative analysis results. We gave the people ( University physicist ) who tested it, the Buchwald official values of SR iron ( information who gave us Bern Pauli )......and they obtained the below results, testing three sub-samples they took from the one we gave them :

Santa Rosa official values ( Buchwald ) :

Fe 91.86% Ni 6.74% Co 0.5%.

Values obtained at Caracas - Venezuela :

Sub-sample 1

Fe 92.52%

Ni 7.01%

Co 0.45%

Sub-sample 2

Fe 92.23%

Ni 7.29%

Co 0.463%

Sub-sample 3

Fe 92.35%

Ni 7.16%

Co 0.47%

The results of the sub-samples, are quite similar, but no equal to the Santa Rosa.....and the values of the sample we received is without doubt, related to a siderite.

We are waiting to receive statistical confirmation of this results.

Bern Pauli and Martin Altmann, wrote us that these results has a clearly connection to the Santa Rosa iron.

The piece is still in Colombia, waiting for someone to buy it.

We are only helping this person to sell the piece.....if anyone is interested, PM us and we will give you the e-mail of the person, so you can get in touch directly.

From our files we are uploading three pictures of the individual that is being offered :

Hasta la vista,

larense