VietNamNet Bridge – The ad pieces about the sale of meteorites have appeared on some Russian websites. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, these “stones from the sky” have been traded for the last tens of years.

While Russian had to wait until the moment an enormous meteorite block collided into the Earth and injured 1,200 people to have the chance to possess the pieces of meteorites, Vietnamese can easily buy meteorites like they buy chicken.

Precious stone and feng-shui stone shops can be found everywhere, especially in big cities, where people can easily buy the blocks of stones introduced by the shop owners as “meteorite” weighing several kilos or tens of kilos.

Cuong, the owner of the precious stone on To Hieu Street in Cau Giay district, showing customers the blocks of dark stones, affirmed that black quartz and meteorite are the same. The average price here was VND1.8 million per kilo.

The salesman of a shop on Doan Ke Thien Street in Cau Giay district also said black quartz and meteorite are the same. He said that the shop can provide meteorites in any sizes, from several kilos to tens of kilos. Customers need to pay a deposit, while goods would be delivered in some days.

However, the shop required higher price, VND2.8 million per kilo. Explaining the high price, the salesman said the meteorites are imported from Brazil, not in Vietnam; therefore, they have better quality.

Meanwhile, the owner of another shop which was several kilometers far from the above one, affirmed that black quartz and meteorite are the two quite different kinds of stone.

“The ones commonly sold in Vietnam are mostly Tektite, which is very precious and small.

“We don’t have big blocks of Tektite. We only have small pieces which can be use to manipulate jewelries,” he said.

The “stone from the sky” market gets chaotic

In Vietnam, meteorite is considered a kind of feng-shui stone with magical spiritual strength. The owners of the shops all say that when someone owns a block of stone from the universe, he would be able to access the universe’s strength.

Especially, the stones would be very good to people’s health, because they can help “treat hundreds of kinds of diseases,” especially the ones relating to blood and strain.

The scientists that Dat Viet reporters contacted agreed that tektite is from our planet, which is different from meteorite which is sourced from the universe. The research works on the chemical and isotopic composition of tektite have pointed out that they originate from the process of melting of sedimentary stones or silicon dioxide rich stones.

They also said that tektites mostly have the age of between hundreds of thousands and tens of millions of years, too “young” if compared with meteorites which are 4.6 billions of years old.

Meteorites have been offered for sale everywhere in Vietnam. However, the real meteorites from the sky have not been available in the market.

Regarding the impacts of the stones on human bodies, Dr Vu Phi Tuyen from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, affirmed that quartz does not generate any rays on bodies, and there has been no interaction between the stones and bodies, therefore, it must have any influences on human health.

Dat Viet