🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec30.175447.5258@news.arc.nasa.gov> baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
>Superior Galleries in Beverly Hills, California is having an auction
>of space memorabilia on January 11, 1993.  One item of particular interest
>is a 2 inch piece of transparent tape which has some Moon dust on it.  This is
>the first time that Moon dust is being offered for sale.   The Moon dust
>was collected by a NASA technician from the spacesuit of astronaut Dave Scott
>after his Apollo 15 trip to the Moon in July, 1971.  It is guarantteed
>to be genuine by Superior Galleries and is expected to be sold
>in the price range of $75,000 to $100,000.  For more information on the
>Moon dust or the auction, you can contact Superior Galleries at
>(800) 421-0754 or (310) 203-9855.

Out of curiosity, just how do they "guarantee it to be genuine", if it's
from an unofficial source, as it appears to be?  How would one know that
the technician didn't just glob up some rock dust sterilized in a
crucible?  Provenance would appear to be difficult, especially if
there's a legal position that might lead to incrimination of the techie
for theft of government property.

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