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I bought a 'meteorite' at a roadside stand for $80 and it's just a piece of slag
Stopped at a little stand near Sedona last month, and this guy had a whole table of 'space rocks'. He swore up and down this one lump was a real meteorite, showed me a magnet sticking to it and everything. I got all excited and handed over eighty bucks. Took it to my local rock club meeting, and within ten seconds, three people told me it's just industrial slag. The little bubbles and the way it's shaped are a dead giveaway. I felt like a total fool. The magnet trick works on a lot of iron-rich earth rocks too, which I now know. So I'm out eighty dollars and my pride. Anyone have a good story about getting fooled by a fake specimen?
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flores.mark7mo ago
Man, that's a classic roadside scam. The magnet test is the oldest trick in the book for selling slag. Those bubbles are a sure sign it was melted here on Earth. Did the seller have any actual paperwork with it, like from a real lab?
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brian_hart7mo ago
How much do you think I could get for this genuine bridge I have in Brooklyn? I fell for the same thing years ago, but it was a piece of hematite sold as a meteorite. The guy even had a fake certificate. It stings at first, but now it's a funny paperweight and a cheap lesson. At least you only lost eighty bucks and not hundreds.
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robin8967mo ago
Did he at least have a cool story to go with it?
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blair_torres706mo ago
Oh man, tell me about it! I bought a "vintage Rolex" off a guy in a parking lot once. Total fake. The second hand ticked instead of sweeping smooth. Cost me way more than eighty bucks too, like $150. Kept it as a reminder that if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.
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