Please follow these steps

Step 1. Check out the rest of this web site.  You should look through "How to identify a meteorite", "Meteor-wrongs", and our "Interactive meteorite identification exercise".  Keep in mind that meteorites are rare, so your sample is most likely a "meteor-wrong".  Most of the rocks that people mistake for meteorites fall into one of the same basic types we show on the meteor-wrong page. 

Step 2. If you still believe you have a meteorite, please contact one of the members of CML.  The best way to proceed is to send an email to Melinda Hutson (mhutson@pdx.edu) with a digital image of your sample, or to phone Dick Pugh [(503) 287-6733]. You can send a letter to the address below.  We will be happy to look at digital images, or arrange to meet with you to look at your sample. 

Please remember that we do meteorite identification as a service to the public, and we volunteer our time.  So please follow step 1 before step 2 above, and do not contact more than one of us. 

About digital images
If you send digital images, please try to get one or more images that are fairly close-up while still showing the whole sample, and in focus.  Images of ~100-700 kb should suffice. If your sample is dark, you should photograph it against a medium-colored background (such as cardboard), not against a bright background.  Do not send zipped images; rather include image files as attachments in regular formats (e.g., jpg) or embedded in the body of emails.  Also send only a small number of your best images.  Image quality is more important than quantity. 

About samples mailed to us
CML does not take any responsibility for material mailed to us.    We have not lost any samples, yet, but we can't guarantee that samples will always find their way to us or to you.  If you don't want a sample lost, don't mail it to us.  Send us digital images instead. 

In any case, do not mail us your sample without
return postage and packaging.

What we will do

1) We will examine your sample by visual inspection for free.  For most samples, we can determine whether the sample is a meteorite or not by visual inspection alone.  For a few samples, the only way for us to make a determination is to do a more detailed analysis of the sample.

2) If we determine that a sample is a new meteorite, we are prepared to classify the sample at no cost.  However, we will need detailed information about the sample (as given on the classification page of the Meteoritical Society).  We will also require a donation to CML/Portland State University of sufficient sample to analyze it and to fulfill the minimum requirements of the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. These requirements are clearly stated on their classification page:

As CML is science-based, we believe strongly in the importance of preserving material for future research and may, depending on the total amount of material that was recovered, request the donation of material above the minimum level required by the Nomenclature Committee.

As our time is limited, we may decline pursuing a meteorite classification for any reason.  We will only pursue research on new meteorites if we are interested in doing so.

What we won't do

1) We do not provide "Certificates of Authenticity".  For samples we study, we will send you a letter on our letterhead stating our opinion of your sample and describing any analytical results. 

2) We will not spend time analyzing a sample that we believe to be a terrestrial (Earth) rock.

3) We cannot appraise samples for monetary value (meteorite or not).

4) We will not return your sample if it not a meteorite.  We receive far too many "meteor-wrongs" to mail them all back.