After buying meteorites from neighbors in the interior of PE, foreigners sell up to 10 times more expensive on the web | Science and health

The stones fell from the sky on August 19, 2020. A few days later, the city of 14,000 people saw researchers and “meteorite hunters” sprout from Brazil and other countries.

The only inn in the city was turned into a “commercial center”, where meteorites found by residents were sold to foreigners. In the exchange that was created on the spot, The stone grass was first marketed at R $ 20 and then reached R $ 40, neighbors told the G1.

Less than two months later, at least two of the foreigners who were in Santa Filomena sell the stones on the internet for prices between R $ 100 and R $ 300 per gram.

The largest catalog is from an American, Michael Farmer, who offers stones on Facebook:

• It sells more than 35 stones of Saint Philomena, some of them already marked as sold, at an average price of R $ 140 per gram.
• The value of the stones of the North American reaches R $ 168 per gram (8.98 grams for U $$ 270, or around R $ 2,400).
• The highest total price is 235 grams and costs $ 4,700, or about R $ 26,300 thousand.

Another Puerto Rican “hunter”, Raymond Borges, offers three meteorites at different prices:

• One of the stones, which weighs 124 grams, is offered for US $ 2,499 (around R $ 14 thousand, R $ 113 per gram).
• Another Puerto Rican stone has the highest value by weight found by report. It has 18.4 grams and is worth US $ 999 (about R $ 5.6 thousand, or R $ 300 per gram).
• As they are on an auction site, meteorites you can even receive higher offers than the prices set by him.

The most valuable piece of the Puerto Rican is identified, in English, as “totally scabbed.” This means that it has an intact outer layer, called a melted crust, which indicates that the stone is “fresh” and has not suffered bad weather or contamination from the earth’s environment.

Parts can also be worth more for being whole, with no breaks or cracks, and even for their drop history. One of the stones is exalted for having fallen near the church and for being “famous” in the city.

The stone was sold by Edimar da Costa, a 20-year-old business student. He told G1 in August that he was home when he saw the sky fill with smoke and WhatsApp was flooded with messages saying that it had rained stones.

Edimar went out to the street and found in the middle of the square in front of the Igreja Matriz, exactly in the center of the city, the stone of 7 cm and 164 grams. He sold it to Michael for R $ 4,990 (R $ 30 per gram), and now he sees it advertised on the Internet for US $ 4,100 (about R $ 23 thousand, almost five times more).

“I sold knowing that they were going to buy and sell overvalued, to make a huge profit,” says the student to G1 now. “But unfortunately the townspeople had no way to evaluate or sell to someone else, they didn’t know how to do it,” he says resignedly.

“I didn’t work for that stone, it just fell down and someone gave me money for it. So I don’t think about how much I could have earned more, “Edimar says. He will use the money he earned to help pay for college.

Despite the harassment of foreigners and Brazilian researchers, the heaviest stone that fell in the city, Weighing almost 40 kg, it has yet to be sold, and remains in the hands of a city dweller who does not want to identify himself.

American Michael Farmer even claimed that “Fantastic” (see video below) who did not take stones from Brazil to the United States, but photos of the sale on Facebook contradict the information.

THE G1 He communicated with him and the Puerto Rican, but there was no return. They warn in the posts that the prices do not include shipping costs.

There is no specific legislation in Brazil that determines the possession of a meteorite or that regulates its trade.

In Santa Filomena, the meteorites that fell in public places, such as the Praça da Matriz, stayed with whoever found them first. Those found near the houses remained with their owners.

Unlike countries like Argentina and Australia, where there is a rule and meteorites are public goods, Brazil does not have legislation on the possession and trade of meteorites.

“In practice, Brazil ends up following the pattern of US law, which is the following: the meteorite is owned by the owner of the place where it fell,” explained USP researcher Gabriel Gonçalves Silva, who is a member of Bramon, a chain Brazilian. observing meteorites.

Some local researchers criticized the sale of the stones and suggested that they stay in town to Promote tourism, education and science in the area.

Astronomer Antônio Carlos Miranda, a professor at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, has a project to develop a scientific center in the city, which he described in the O Subject podcast (listen).

Santa Filomena Mayor Cleomatson Vasconcelos (PMN) told G1: “The municipality cannot buy the stones and form a collection here. The city is poor, we have no industry, almost all income comes from the federal government.”

“The stone trade left the population euphoric. And I can’t say ‘don’t sell’ if I can’t offer anything better than buyers,” said the mayor.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Marcos Pontes, told G1 that the meteor shower caught the attention of the ministry and will serve as an example for the country to think about legislation on the subject.

“Knowing that in Brazil there is all this insecurity, this doubt in relation to the subject, that we can use this case [de Santa Filomena] as an exercise so that we can develop more knowledge about this [falta] legislation and, who knows, propose legislation or some type of regulation in this regard ”, said Marcos Pontes.