Information regarding proof of authenticity:
The only institution that can homologate meteorites is the Meteoritical Society at the British Museum NH in London.
There, all meteorites are centrally recorded -
all finds from Antarctic searches, all desert finds, all historical falls and finds.
The data are examined, numbered or named, and are recognized and published in the annual Meteoritical Bulletin.
http://www.meteoriticalsociety.org/
The recognition procedure is strictly defined.
A piece from each meteorite, along with all known find data, has to be submitted to one of the few specialized university laboratories recognized by the MetSoc.
The laboratory then makes thin sections of the piece for microscopic evaluation of the texture and composition and for comparison, and a general chemical analysis is carried out and the key minerals and important isotopes are measured.
All the information gathered is summarized in a report, together with the proposal to which subclass of meteorite the piece should be assigned, and this is submitted to the Nomenclature Committee of the MetSoc.
Additional material must be stored for further research. The Nomenclature Committee is made up of leading international meteorite specialists who analyse the data for plausibility and then unanimously accept or reject the report or decide that further analysis should be carried out.
If the meteorite is recognised, it is given a name or a number and all the basic and key data are published in the biannual Meteoritical Bulletin - the standard reference for meteorites.
The Meteoritical Society, as well as the laboratories involved, works on a non-commercial basis.
Additional assurance: The manufacturer is a member of the International Meteorite Collectors Association, which guarantees the authenticity of the material sold by its members.
(Bernd Gährken)
