Does a meteorite ABSOLUTELY have to be magnetic?

Question

I recently inherited a "meteorite" which was claimed to be verified as such by an "expert". It is heavy, has a dark molten pitted appearance, and was not typical of the rocks in the area (desert). I believe that it meets all the criteria of a meteorite except that it is not magnetic (or is very weak). I would appreciate any knowledgeable input. Thanks

Answer 1

Almost all meteorites are magnetic - only the rarest are not.

Almost all meteorites contain metal. The nickel-iron ones are mostly metal, and the stony ones have a high metal content therefore they will be magnetic. You may need a stronger magnet to test your meteorite.

The stony ones are the least magnetic and fall into 3 categories H, L and LL
H - attracted to a magnet quite easily
L - also attracted to a magnet, but much less than their cousins of the H group.
LL - only weakly attracted to a magnet
http://www.meteorite.fr/en/classification/ordinarychon.htm

However, if it still is not magnetic then:

" If it does not attract a magnet, then it could still be a meteorite, but it is probably not. Many of the rarest types of meteorites are not magnetic, ..."
http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm

Answer 2

Not at all.
While most meteorites contain iron, many of them have little enough to be only weakly magnetic. And even some that are iron rich contain it in a non-magnetic form, like in iron sulfides.

A minority of meteorites contain no iron at all, and hence are not even weakly magnetic.

Answer 3

No - but some types of meteorites have a lot of iron in them and sometime the iron is magnetized.