A nearly 50-pound meteorite that was stolen in 1968 from Meteor Crater near Route 66 in eastern Arizona has been found and returned, reports the Arizona Republic.
It’s called the Basket meteorite because of its shape. How it was recovered is remarkable:
Tom Lynch did not know any of this three years ago when he stopped at a garage sale near his home in Wisconsin and spotted an odd hunk of metal. For sale. $10.
The retired GM worker liked the way the thing looked. It was bronze, he thought, or maybe copper. “I figured, for $10, it was worth at least that in scrap,” he said.
But Lynch never scrapped it. Instead, he used it to hold down his young grandson’s plastic basketball stand. It weighed 49 pounds. “It worked just perfect.”
But then, he was watching the Travel Channel one day and he learned a little bit about meteorites. Then, he learned a lot more.
Ultimately, he learned that this was no hunk of scrap metal. It was, in fact, quite famous in an obscure kind of way.
It took awhile, but Lynch figured he had something special when the meteorite never rusted, despite it being outdoors. Also, it was magnetic. He took it to the Field Museum in Chicago, where it determined the meteorite was 4.6 billion years old. A staffer, with the help of an old postcard, eventually figured that the rock was a match to the one stolen from Meteor Crater nearly four decades ago.
Lynch was awarded $1,000, two rooms at a hotel and allowing his daughter a run at the museum’s gift shop for returning the meteorite.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal also has a story about Lynch and his meteorite, including a better photo of the rock.
(Hat tip: Tim Steil)
Great Story. You gotta love a good ending 🙂
What an uplifting story! Kudos to Tom Lynch for paying enough attention to realize what he had. I’m glad he got a reward for returning it.