$5m worth of moon rock in Finglas dump

Coriolanus

bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/magazine-16909592

Apparently it got thrown out after a fire. Anyone have a shovel I can borrow?

The US space agency Nasa recently announced that half of the moon rocks brought back to Earth from two Apollo space missions have gone missing. They were given as gifts to the nations of the world. So what happened to them?
Towards the end of the Apollo 17 mission on 13 December 1972, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt - the last men to have set foot on the moon - picked up a rock.
Cernan announced: "We'd like to share a piece of this rock with so many of the countries throughout the world."
His wish was fulfilled.
President Richard Nixon ordered that the brick-sized rock be broken up into fragments and sent to 135 foreign heads of state and the 50 US states.
Each "goodwill moon rock" was encased in a lucite ball and mounted on a wooden plaque with the recipient nations' flag attached.
Moon rock collected during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was also distributed to the same nations and US states.
There were 370 pieces gathered from the two missions. Two hundred and seventy were given to nations of the world and 100 to the 50 US states.
But 184 of these are lost, stolen or unaccounted for - 160 around the world and 24 in the US.
The rocks were distributed to countries ranging from Afghanistan to Trinidad and Tobago.
"Gaddafi's government was given two moon rocks - they're missing. Romania is missing its Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock," says Joseph Gutheinz Jr, the Texas-based lawyer and former Nasa agent, who has become known as the "moon rock hunter".
His obsession began in 1998 when - still at Nasa - he set up an undercover sting operation called Operation Lunar Eclipse.
He placed an advert entitled "Moon Rocks Wanted" in USA Today, to entice con-artists selling bogus moon rocks to approach him.
"What I did not anticipate was that a person with the real thing, the Honduras goodwill moon rock, would call me," he says.
The rock - which weighed 1.142 grams - was offered to Gutheinz for $5m (£3.1m).
He did not pay the money, but says the asking price was reasonable.
These valuable rocks are not being protected as well as they could be, he says, and both Nasa and the recipient nations have done a poor job of entering them into an inventory system.
He says the only authorised sale of lunar material that he is aware of was in 1993, when the Russian government sold material gathered from the Soviet Union's Luna 16 mission at Sotheby's auction house in New York.
An anonymous private collector bought 0.2 grams of lunar dust for $442,500 (£280,800).
With potential prices in this range, it is no surprise there is a lucrative black market in moon rocks, both real and fake.
Mr Gutheinz says a woman in California allegedly tried to sell a moon rock online, and that attempts to sell Spain's and Cyprus's moon rocks have been well documented.
"I once offered $10,000 for the recovery of Malta's stolen Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock but it still hasn't been recovered," he says.
"I know for certain that this was an amateur thief as he only took the rocks, and not the self-authenticating plaque."
Some moon have gone astray at times of revolution or political transition. The US national archives show that a rock was presented to the late Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, but Gutheinz believes it was sold after his execution.
Then there is the mysterious tale of how - after a fire at an observatory in Dublin - Ireland's Apollo 11 moon rock ended up lying in a rubbish dump, after apparently being thrown out with the rest of the debris.
"It's still there under a couple of tonnes of trash. That could definitely be worth over $5m (£3.1m). I'll tell you where it's at. It's in the Finglas landfill dump in Dublin," Gutheinz says.
Because of the enormity of the task he has challenged his students at the University of Phoenix and Alvin Community College in Texas - where he teaches criminal justice - to help find the missing rocks.
So far, they have helped to track down 77, including those that were given to the governors of the US states of Colorado, Missouri and West Virginia.
Dr Carle Pieters, a planetary geologist at Brown University, Rhode Island, says the knowledge gained from these tiny rocks is priceless.
"I am continually awed when I work with four-billion-year-old lunar samples. They are beautiful and don't have ugly weathering products often seen in Earth rocks.
"The lunar rocks retain a record of events in the early solar system that we cannot obtain elsewhere."
While Joseph Gutheinz has compared them to works of art, not everyone is so enthusiastic about them. London-based art writer and curator, Francesca Gavin, describes them as "ugly little things", although she is not opposed to the idea of seeing one in an art gallery.
"Moon rocks could be seen as artworks - relating in particular to the Chinese tradition of the Philosopher Stones as naturally occurring artworks reflecting the universe in microcosmic form," she says.
Gavin does not think the rocks are worth $5m (£3.1m), however, and questions the way they are mounted as goodwill gifts.
"The brown plaque, text and flag? It's pretty uneasy on the eyes."
Gutheinz concedes he will never be able to recover all of the missing moon rocks - many are now in private collections - but says there are some he particularly wants back.
"Definitely the Malta moon rock. I'd really like to see that back, and the Romanian rock. If I go to Europe, I will hunt that one down. I have a few ideas as to how I'll do that.
"And I love the story about the Ireland moon rock - that pot of gold under a dump."

chin_grin

Penny for the moon rock bassssssssss.

Father Damo

Five million quid worth of white rocks is hidden somewhere in Finglas?

Now theres a first.....

Diabhal Beag

No deal, McCutcheon, that moon money is mine!

Dirk Gently

If it was in dunsink tip then it's most likely on a shelf in a caravan now. I look forward to the lads knocking on my door in the next few days trying to sell me pebbles after reading this.

Cavehill Red

Someone threw away a $5 million dollar moon rock at Finglas dump?
Sheer lunacy, if you ask me.

mikemac1

The boyos have it

This will be a bigger attraction then the tree stump in Rathkeale

tmc86

this kind of thing only happens once in a blue moon!

I'll be out with Laika the terrier later looking for it.

foxyboxer

I'd like to apollogise for this pun.

Casillas

Heh, lunarcy

44leto

I wouldn't worry about losing this, there is loads more where that can from.

cloptrop

Ha ha ha , he is a detective of something?
Oops mr detective I threw out the moon rock by accident .I didnt put it in my pocket to sell it for 5 million . Search the dump for it , its there somewhere.

Rented Mule

Finglas ?? A dump ???

Alright ....I'll give you that one.

antodeco

Great, just wait for the "resurfacing of the moon rock" tax

Sindri

Everyone outta the way it's mine!

Stampeding and shovel swinging will proceed after this post.

John Doe1

Is it really worth it to go to Finglas?:p

Omackeral

I heard it's buried somewhere under a big 'T'...

John Doe1

Omackeral wrote: »

I heard it's buried somewhere under a big 'T'...

I get this reference:D

44leto

If you did go rooting in that dump for 5 million worth of moonrock you would probably unearth 50 million worth of other stuff, there must be heaps of scrap metal in it as well.

CreepingDeath

Was if from the dark side of the moon or the bright side ?

Just so I know what colour rock to look for...

slade_x

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Was if from the dark side of the moon or the bright side ?

Just so I know what colour rock to look for...

There is no specific dark side of the moon, just as there is no specific dark side of the earth. Contrary to what some people believe the moon does rotate its just so happens to complete a full rotation on its axis for every orbit around the earth (eg, once approximately every 27 days).

Here are some samples of the rocks returned from the Apollo 11 mission:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_11/samples/

If the sample is indeed in a dump anyone sifting through debris etc will be able to identify it if found as it is encased in acrylic (if so its a very small needle in a very very large haystack)

Below is the only picture i can get of one of the Apollo 17's sample donated to Ireland. It was last on display in the Museum of Natural History in Dublin in 2008
Piece No. 328


Here is the UK display:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5135/5422619555_776036e4f6_z.jpg



A close up of Belgiums "Apollo 17" Goodwill Sample

http://www.natuurwetenschappen.be/common/images/science/collections/minerals/G/maansteen_2.jpg

gigino

cloptrop wrote: »

Ha ha ha , he is a detective of something?
Oops mr detective I threw out the moon rock by accident .I didnt put it in my pocket to sell it for 5 million . Search the dump for it , its there somewhere.

I'd say its most likely on the wall of some retired public servant. Thats where I'd look. Throw it out by accident me a**e.

Nodin

gigino wrote: »

I'd say its most likely on the wall of some retired public servant. Thats where I'd look. Throw it out by accident me a**e.

Change the record.

Chuck Stone

Moon rocks?

I don't know how the hell they're supposed to get moon rocks back from somewhere that everyone knows doesn't exist.

Nodin

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Moon rocks?

I don't know how the hell they're supposed to get moon rocks back from somewhere that everyone knows doesn't exist.

Ahh no, Finglas exists allright.

Guy:Incognito

Do the papers just listen to old episodes of moncrief's show on Newstalk? This is the 4th or 5th story in th elast few months that I remembered listening to on Moncrief a couple of months before. The guy was on it before christmas I think.

CreepingDeath

Nodin wrote: »

Ahh no, Finglas exists allright.

And has as much intelligent life as the moon too.

Nodin

CreepingDeath wrote: »

And has as much intelligent life as the moon too.

Now now.

WindSock

Sindri wrote: »

Everyone outta the way it's mine!

Stampeding and shovel swinging will proceed after this post.

No Deal Sindri, that moon money is mine!

gigino

Nodin wrote: »

Change the record.

would you throw out a bit of moon rock ? No, I did not think you would. Nobody would. If they did they should be fired. If its worth 50 thousand never mind 5 million its a national treasure. If u had a fire in your house you would remember where the piece of moon rock was before you sent the rest of the house to landfill in Finglas. And if you had lots of valuable things you would have had a sprinkler system / no fire;)

Nodin

gigino wrote: »

would you throw out a bit of moon rock ? No, I did not think you would. Nobody would. If they did they should be fired. If its worth 50 thousand never mind 5 million its a national treasure. If u had a fire in your house you would remember where the piece of moon rock was before you sent the rest of the house to landfill in Finglas. And if you had lots of valuable things you would have had a sprinkler system / no fire

I'm amazed that you're so well versed on the state of the Dunsink observatory in 1977 before and after the fire. This, and your startling theory that Georgian houses were built in the 1920's, surely ranks you first amongst amongst Internet Experts.

westendgirlie

Don't waste your time searching. Sure we all know the moon is made of cheese so the rats have eaten it already.

dxhound2005

Fire in 1977. No sign of the rock turning up but the story keeps re-appearing every few years.

http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/lost-the-hottest-rocks-on-earth-164036.html

gigino

Nodin wrote: »

This, and your startling theory that Georgian houses were built in the 1920's, surely ranks you first amongst amongst Internet Experts.

lol. you are the one who does not know when the Georgian period was. For your information, it was from 1714 (the beginning of the reign of King George I of Great Britain and of Ireland) to the death in 1830 of King George IV.

If you find the piece of moon rock will you leave it back : it belongs to the state you know.

Nodin

gigino wrote: »

lol. you are the one who does not know when the Georgian period was. For your information, it was from 1714 (the beginning of the reign of King George I of Great Britain and of Ireland) to the death in 1830 of King George IV..

Not what you were saying here.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=76487018&postcount=202

gigino

Nodin wrote: »

Not what you were saying here.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=76487018&postcount=202

You do not understand grammar. I used the word "and". I did not say Georgian properties were built in the 1920's. I was talking about 2 different types / examples of properties....thats why I used the word "and".;):D

Now,if you find the piece of moon rock will you leave it back? It belongs to the state you know.