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Author
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Topic: 190658788094: Apollo 11 "Goodwill Moon Rock"
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YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted 03-28-2012 07:28 AM
   
Anyone got a spare USD $4.7 million they want to blow on this "Goodwill Moon Rock?" eBay Item 190658788094.  |
jiffyq58
Member Posts: 218
From: Durham, NC, USA
Registered: Jun 2011
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posted 03-28-2012 08:09 AM
Free shipping! That puts it a little more in range. |
fredtrav
Member Posts: 1673
From: Birmingham AL
Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 03-28-2012 08:21 AM
And a three day return policy. But the 4.7 mil is an opening price and it has a reserve higher than that. |
apolloprojeckt
Member Posts: 1447
From: Arnhem, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2009
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posted 03-28-2012 09:03 AM
This is strange, I saw on a Dutch TV program that it was not allowed to this rock as government property may sell? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-28-2012 09:13 AM
The seller has been trying to move this "moon rock" for years. Suffice to say, it is not a goodwill sample. He's been somewhat of a nuisance up to now, but the eBay listing is brazen enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see federal investigators get involved. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted 03-28-2012 11:35 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
I wouldn't be surprised to see federal investigators get involved.
Oh no!And there was I about to buy it and donate it to Dunsink Observatory in Ireland, telling them "Ok guys, this time, try not to throw it in the dump like last time!" 
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David Bryant
Member Posts: 986
From: Norfolk UK
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 03-30-2012 07:11 AM
As a professional meteorite dealer, I've never read such a crock!Stony meteorites do NOT have a 'Widmanstätten Pattern': this is only seen in etched octahedrites and some pallasites. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 04-10-2012 08:03 PM
If it is worth anything when I saw this I did report it to NASA OIG. Hope something gets done.Also, anyone have any ideas if the claims on this are true? I contacted the seller asking him to clarify it for me. I plan to report this to the OIG anyway unless someone here says otherwise. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-10-2012 08:25 PM
The claims are false, with one exception: ...the authorities would accuse me of attempted fraud. That may ultimately be true. (I have been in touch with the OIG and they are proceeding through the proper channels.) |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 04-10-2012 08:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
That may ultimately be true.
Ok. Why 'may'? If he is claiming to own a moon rock then it is fraud. I just got the reply from him in which he keeps up the claim that it is a real moon rock brought back from Apollo 11 which I now find to be funny. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-10-2012 08:35 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Fezman92:
Why 'may'?
Because I don't speak for NASA, the OIG or the Department of Justice... |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 04-10-2012 08:37 PM
Well I can't wait to see how long it takes before his new one is pulled from eBay. |
Dougin SoCA
Member Posts: 111
From: Aliso Viejo, Ca, USA
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 04-10-2012 09:25 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Fezman92:
I just got the reply from him in which he keeps up the claim that it is a real moon rock brought back from Apollo 11 which I now find to be funny.
Maybe he meant Apollo 18. Maybe he found it under his chair at the theater. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 04-10-2012 09:32 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Dougin SoCA:
Maybe he found it under his chair at the theater.
Or it came with the DVD.  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 05-13-2012 01:45 PM
Former NASA Inspector General agent Joe Gutheinz recently met with eBay moon rock huckster Rafael Navarro, the Associated Press reports. "Bottom line is, from a common sense perspective, this is a train wreck waiting to happen for him and he's inviting it," Gutheinz said. "He's opening the jail cell door and walking through it. I wish him well but he's really defying everybody by doing this."Navarro, 67, said he didn't fear possible fallout from illegally possessing what could be federal government property or risking fraud charges for selling something as a moon rock when it may not be. "NASA can't prove they ever had this moon rock," he said. That part may be true. |
spaced out
Member Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 05-13-2012 04:13 PM
It annoys me when articles like this state that it is illegal to own moon rock.Anyone can legally acquire and own moon rock... in the form of lunar meteorite material. The moon rock that is restricted is that returned by the Apollo missions. |
Go4Launch
Member Posts: 542
From: Seminole, Fla.
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 05-13-2012 08:11 PM
The only time "illegal" is mentioned, it's qualified as "illegally possessing what could be federal government property." |
spaced out
Member Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 05-14-2012 01:06 AM
It's phrases like this that need to be qualified:"The fact that something purporting to be a moon rock even shows up on eBay illustrates the greater problem of no one keeping proper track of the gifted and loaned rocks and the fate of many being unknown." ... and this ... "Gutheinz said Navarro reminded him of others who claim to possess a moon rock.
“But the difference is they hide it,” Gutheinz said. “They squirrel it away and they don’t want anybody to know they have it.” Genuine moon rock is sold on eBay all the time and possessing it is not a problem. Only Apollo moon rock is an issue. I just wish this was made clear in articles like this. |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted 05-14-2012 01:52 PM
What is already a bizarre story seems to be greatly exacerbated by Rafael Navarro's questionable backstory, extremely poor sample containment, and poor command of English. The scrapings are from the rock that Navarro carries in his pants pocket, wrapped like a tamale in plastic food wrap and aluminum foil. He said he got the rock from a maid, now elderly and in failing health, who worked for a Venezuelan diplomat who told people it was a moon rock.“No way NASA can say the rock is not,” he said, showing letters from NASA experts who told him a few years ago it wasn’t from the moon. I can't understand how the level of attribution/misrepresentation regarding the Apollo Program in his previous and current Dust Moon Rock Apollo 11 eBay listing 190678349483 does not constitute fraud at some level: - The eBay Member Identification of apollo11goodwillmoonrock
- The eBay Listing Title explicitly stating Apollo 11 and repeated in the eBay Description
- The eBay Item Condition stated as New
- The eBay Description statement "Perhaps this is the only one opportunity for collectors to own a part of National Heritage of the United States."
- The eBay Description statement "The features which indicate this is a meteorite that fell on the moon and was later brought to earth using a spacecraft"
Pass the popcorn - I think that train has just derailed! |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 05-14-2012 02:29 PM
Just out of curiousity - if, and it's a very, very big IF, this was genuine how much would collectors be prepared to pay for it? |
YankeeClipper
Member Posts: 617
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2011
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posted 05-15-2012 02:47 AM
In search of scientific enlightenment, I consulted Mr. Navarro's YouTube masterpiece Apollo 11 Moon Rock For SaleYou have to love some of his experts' conclusions on the provided specimen: Dr. Gary Lofgren stated "this particle does not resemble any lunar material, and I can say with confidence that it is not a piece of an Apollo Lunar Sample." Randy Korotev stated "Your sample is a piece of iron metal, but it is not a meteorite ... it is man made metal." Oh dear, it would appear this particular lunatic/astronut is one stage short of the full stack! |
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