# Sale on Magic Wands! (AP story) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896 "2003-01-31T16:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/81 "2019-07-31T23:15:17Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > And the critical difference is that the placebo effect _happens_, and ley line nonsense _doesn’t_. > > Wandering uteruses and ley lines are both stupid bullshit that people believed in ancient times, and were wrong about. Seriously, I thought my meaning was pretty obvious. > > And I note you _still_ refuse to explain what ley lines do, _doubtlessly_ because you can’t think of a way to explain to them without it sounding stupid and obviously false. > > We did equally well - I didn’t get you to admit you’re wrong, and you didn’t get me to admit you’re right. > > This dynamic will continue into the future, too. > > If this is some sort of metaphor for becoming a wand-waver woo person, then yeah, I’m good. I’m only interested in things that are _true_. (Or fun. One or the other. Or both, I suppose.) > > The other dinosaurs are there too, obviously. The entire dinosaur ecosystem is there, all the way down to the ones that eat grass. Grass has been around this whole time, and thus, by your _brilliant_ logic, so have all the dinosaurs ever, probably. It’s impossible to prove they aren’t, like, everywhere! > > You know, as gotchas go, “I know you are but what am I” isn’t really that impressive. > > (Alternatively, neither are complete failures of reading comprehension, which is the only other explanation for your comment.) The Placebo Effect IS magic, that “happens”… Best Wishes. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/82 "2019-07-31T23:16:43Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > My wand cost less than $100, and given it was made from a fallen star, I believe I got a good deal. What you got is suckered. First, the Tibet part. [The meteorite database](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/) has no listings for Tibet. There is apparently at least one from there, but it for some reason hasn’t been officially acknowledged and weighs less than a pound. So it being made from a Tibetan meteorite is out. What about made from meteoritic iron in some Tibetan style? Naked-eying the wand, it is around 10 inches long. To be carved/lathed from that would require a meteorite from the largest/rarest/most expensive end of the spectrum, so that is out at the $100 range. (For contrast, look at [these](https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/sports-leisure/behold-45-million-one-kind-meteorite-handguns-video-exclusive-photos-231849/) pistols carved from iron meteorites–that cost 4.5 _million_ dollars.) So it wasn’t carved. But there is still the theoretical possibility of it being cast. A very rough estimate of the dimensions is a length of 10 inches and an average diameter of 1/2 inch. That means a volume of around 7.85 c ubc inches, and a weight (going by the density of iron alone and ignoring the nickel content–still close enough for back-of-the-envelope) gives a weight of around 2.23 pounds, or just about a kilogram. _Cheap_ iron meteorites [sell for the range of 50 cents to 5 dollars per gram](http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/pricing.htm). So your wand would have around $500 to $5,000 worth of meteoritic content before you even consider the cost of the artwork. Somebody saw you coming. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/83 "2019-07-31T23:20:21Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > The Placebo Effect IS magic, that “happens”… > > Best Wishes. Is this a signout? (Which would be fine, by the way.) I could just as reasonably say that tables are magic. They suspend things off the ground! _They’re basically telekinesis!_ When something is as loosely defined as the word “magic”, you can apply it to lots of different things. But when you do, the truth of one of the things doesn’t say anything one way or the other about the truth of other things. “Being called magic” isn’t enough of a connection to impart credibility to the woo things just because you call real things magic. Really all that does is water down the definition of the word even further and make a person look silly. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/84 "2019-07-31T23:25:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > What you got is suckered. > > First, the Tibet part. [The meteorite database](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/) has no listings for Tibet. There is apparently at least one from there, but it for some reason hasn’t been officially acknowledged and weighs less than a pound. > > So it being made from a Tibetan meteorite is out. What about made from meteoritic iron in some Tibetan style? Naked-eying the wand, it is around 10 inches long. To be carved/lathed from that would require a meteorite from the largest/rarest/most expensive end of the spectrum, so that is out at the $100 range. (For contrast, look at [these](https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/sports-leisure/behold-45-million-one-kind-meteorite-handguns-video-exclusive-photos-231849/) pistols carved from iron meteorites–that cost 4.5 _million_ dollars.) > > So it wasn’t carved. But there is still the theoretical possibility of it being cast. A very rough estimate of the dimensions is a length of 10 inches and an average diameter of 1/2 inch. That means a volume of around 7.85 c ubc inches, and a weight (going by the density of iron alone and ignoring the nickel content–still close enough for back-of-the-envelope) gives a weight of around 2.23 pounds, or just about a kilogram. _Cheap_ iron meteorites [sell for the range of 50 cents to 5 dollars per gram](http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/pricing.htm). So your wand would have around $500 to $5,000 worth of meteoritic content before you even consider the cost of the artwork. > > Somebody saw you coming. Too much speculation, not enough questions about the object at hand. First it is 10 inches long and weighs almost exact 8 ounces. It was turned on a lathe, as machine marks are still evident. Meteorites fall all over the place all the time…what are you talking about?? There are TONS of items for sale that no longer include their original cost to manufacture. What I paid is NOT what it is truly worth to me, my Dad on the other hand would not have paid $5 for it. Maybe you don’t know what you are talking about…? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/85 "2019-07-31T23:33:35Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > The Placebo Effect. In controlled studies the placebo effect is fairly weak and mostly affects the person’s PERCEPTION of their health, not their actual health. The [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo), which I recommend that you read, says “Subsequent research has found that placebos have no impact on diseases; they can only affect the person’s perception of their own condition.” This statement is cited to four peer-reviewed journals. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/86 "2019-07-31T23:43:11Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > Maybe you don’t know what you are talking about…? There are many topics for which I don’t know what I’m talking about. Meteorites is not one of them. That official meteorite database I linked earlier? Photos of two of the meteorites there are [of my specimens](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/MetBullFindphoto.php?credit=Darren+Garrison)–and it is only 2 because I didn’t submit any of the hundreds of others that I have collected over the past couple of decades. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/87 "2019-07-31T23:46:34Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > Maybe you don’t know what you are talking about…? Let’s get back to the topic: Magnets. Magic. Why? Are you shaggy, too dopey to grasp physics? Are you violent jaywalking away from reality? Doesn’t matter. Magnets work. They’re science. End of song. Placebos. Not magic. Body heals itself. Placebo effect is completely endogenous. Buying something for placebo effect? Idiotic. Nonsense. Done. Ley lines. Sound like song. Ley lady ley? Spelled wrong. Must be wrong. Done. You have no other arguments. You’re out. Done. _That’s_ the bottom line. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/88 "2019-08-01T00:12:20Z")
How is this not in the pit? Or at least closed? ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/89 "2019-08-01T00:18:52Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > In controlled studies the placebo effect is fairly weak and mostly affects the person’s PERCEPTION of their health, not their actual health. The [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo), which I recommend that you read, says “Subsequent research has found that placebos have no impact on diseases; they can only affect the person’s perception of their own condition.” This statement is cited to four peer-reviewed journals. “…they CAN affect the person’s perception of their own condition.” So, ‘state of mind’ can affect a person’s ability to say fight an infection… I never claimed the one could heal any milady. You know why Karma ‘works’? Because we get what we deserve, and ‘we’ see to it. If I believe I am healthy, I live that way- drink plenty of water, eat the right foods and exercise. If someone like a doctor tells me my lifestyle is unhealthy, maybe that causes me to worry and stress, leading to a health problem. You don’t win here by proving something doesn’t work very well, you only provided evidence that the effect is real, albeit limited under tested conditions. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/90 "2019-08-01T00:20:24Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > How is this not in the pit? Or at least closed? Why are you trying to silence discussion? ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/91 "2019-08-01T00:24:44Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are many topics for which I don’t know what I’m talking about. Meteorites is not one of them. That official meteorite database I linked earlier? Photos of two of the meteorites there are [of my specimens](https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/MetBullFindphoto.php?credit=Darren+Garrison)–and it is only 2 because I didn’t submit any of the hundreds of others that I have collected over the past couple of decades. Hundreds that you’ve collected…? Am I missing something? You claimed NONE ever landed in Tibet. Do Tibetans know about your website? I did a quick Ebay search, here’s one for less than $2- [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Canyon-Diablo-meteorite-53-4-gram-individual/123856794431?hash=item1cd670b33f:g:Cu4AAOSwyP5dQIhd](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Canyon-Diablo-meteorite-53-4-gram-individual/123856794431?hash=item1cd670b33f:g:Cu4AAOSwyP5dQIhd) How could you possibly claim my wand isn’t what I say? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/92 "2019-08-01T00:29:22Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I learned from a recent documentary that if you operate a specific device at various points along intersecting ley lines, it will open a giant hole in reality and ghosts will pour out. Yes, it’s called a “bulldozer.” Except not the ghost part. But the hole will be real. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/93 "2019-08-01T00:54:27Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > How could you possibly claim my wand isn’t what I say? From the looking at it, and from the price you paid for it. Was the dealer you bought it from a member of [the IMCA](http://imca.cc/index.php?option=com_cb_search&task=usersList)? Where did you buy it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/94 "2019-08-01T00:59:18Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > I did a quick Ebay search, here’s one for less than $2- [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Canyon-Diablo-meteorite-53-4-gram-individual/123856794431?hash=item1cd670b33f:g:Cu4AAOSwyP5dQIhd](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Canyon-Diablo-meteorite-53-4-gram-individual/123856794431?hash=item1cd670b33f:g:Cu4AAOSwyP5dQIhd) That is a new auction with 5 days to go–[here](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Canyon+Diablo+meteorite&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=0&LH_Sold=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=15&_stpos=38477&_sargn=-1%26saslc%3D1&_salic=1&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&LH_Complete=1&_fosrp=1) are some completed auctions for Canyon Diablo meteorites. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/95 "2019-08-01T01:12:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > From the looking at it, and from the price you paid for it. > > Was the dealer you bought it from a member of [the IMCA](http://imca.cc/index.php?option=com_cb_search&task=usersList)? Where did you buy it? I bought it off Ebay- [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Nepal-Tibet-Sky-Iron-Three-Skulls-Khatvanga-Ritual-Wand-Scepter-II/362477765026?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&\_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Nepal-Tibet-Sky-Iron-Three-Skulls-Khatvanga-Ritual-Wand-Scepter-II/362477765026?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649) Etsy has several- [This item is unavailable - Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/listing/571128542/iron-skulls-khatvanga-old-nepal-tibet?ref=related-4&pro=1&frs=1) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/96 "2019-08-01T01:15:13Z")
I know for a fact that magic wands are real. When I was at Universal Studios in Florida, the wands somehow made me pay $50 for two of them for my kids. MAGIC! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/97 "2019-08-01T01:16:25Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > I never claimed the one could heal any milady. This is just sad. > [@](#): > > You know why Karma ‘works’? Because we get what we deserve, and ‘we’ see to it. So children with cancer deserve it. You definitely have a moral compass. ---
**Author:** ![King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_of_the_Americas)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/98 "2019-08-01T01:18:07Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > This is just sad. > > So children with cancer deserve it. You definitely have a moral compass. Please stop. I never said anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/99 "2019-08-01T01:19:18Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > Please stop. > > I never said anything like that. Did you say “we get what we deserve” or not? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896/100 "2019-08-01T01:30:04Z")
> [@King\_of\_the\_Americas](#): > > I bought it off Ebay- [https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Nepal-Tibet-Sky-Iron-Three-Skulls-Khatvanga-Ritual-Wand-Scepter-II/362477765026?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&\_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649](https://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Nepal-Tibet-Sky-Iron-Three-Skulls-Khatvanga-Ritual-Wand-Scepter-II/362477765026?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649) > > Etsy has several- [This item is unavailable - Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/listing/571128542/iron-skulls-khatvanga-old-nepal-tibet?ref=related-4&pro=1&frs=1) And you believe these were made from meteorites. (Laughing until I faint.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sale-on-magic-wands-ap-story/151896.md?page=6)