# Meteorite Rush in Russia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723 "2013-02-18T18:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Timetrvlr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Timetrvlr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timetrvlr)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/1 "2013-02-18T18:59:05Z")
Treasure hunters are descending on Chebarkul Lake in search of bits and pieces of the meteorite that fell last week in Russia. [National Post](http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/18/meteor-rush-space-rock-could-fetch-40-times-the-price-of-gold-as-russian-scientists-find-first-fragments/) A year or so ago, a meteor broke up over Alberta setting off a treasure hunt there. One collector was offering $10,000 for the first fist-size chunk of space rock. Most meteorites found have a high nickel/iron content so metal detectors respond to them. Last year, there was a short reality series on TV about a couple of guys in Arizona that spent days combing a “splashdown swath” and they found a number of meteor bits tat sold for pretty good money to collectors. ---
**Author:** ![Timetrvlr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Timetrvlr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timetrvlr)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/2 "2013-02-18T19:06:06Z")
And this just in from another news source [McLeans](http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/02/18/russia-scientists-find-chunks-of-meteorite-fakes-go-up-for-sale-online/), scammers are already selling fake meteorite bits. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/3 "2013-02-18T22:11:31Z")
So it’s not the content of the meteorites so much as the “Own a piece of A ROCK FROM SPACE!” angle? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/4 "2013-02-18T22:17:56Z")
Bets this is a popular, if niche, scam in the coming months. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/5 "2013-02-18T22:24:38Z")
Interesting setup for a mutant superhero campaign… “Your characters are all opportunists who rushed to the middle of Nebraska in February to track down meteorite debris. You thought you had struck it rich when you found a piece of greenish-blue rock, slightly warm to the touch and, as you noticed later that night, glowing slightly…” ---
**Author:** ![Timetrvlr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Timetrvlr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timetrvlr)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/6 "2013-02-19T06:08:28Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > So it’s not the content of the meteorites so much as the “Own a piece of A ROCK FROM SPACE!” angle? I think so, there are rabid collectors of almost everything. 😃 My son has a metal detector that he uses to prospect for change on school playgrounds in summer. I’ve tried to encourage him to use it to prospect for meteorites and placer gold too since we live in a historic gold mining area. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/7 "2013-02-20T19:39:08Z")
Anybody know how they make those meteor dial watches? I imagine the make thin slices of the material…but given the expense, is it worth the effort? Still, they look nice. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-rush-in-russia/650723/8 "2013-02-20T20:35:00Z")
Gee, it’s like Jules Verne’s 1905 book **the Meteor Hunt** brought to life: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/%27The_Chase_of_the_Golden_Meteor%27_by_George_Roux_01.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/%27The_Chase_of_the_Golden_Meteor%27_by_George_Roux_01.jpg)