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Re: legal info needed

In a message dated 97-07-06 14:27:47 EDT, you write:

<< 
 
 Could any one tell me where I could find information on meteorite ownership
 laws in CANADA. I heard from many people that the canadian government
 considers meteorites as a national heritage. Is that true ???
 
 I want to arrange an expedition in the north of Quebec.
 Is it worth my while??
 
 a greenhorn
 
 many thanks
 
  >>

Forget going to Canada!  I did it last year on the promise that the national
collection would pay me the "fair market value" for anything that I found.
 Within two weeks I had recovered Canada's 50th meteorite, the first in many
years!  

I knew that I could not export the specimen back to the U.S., but that was OK
because I was going to sell it to the National Collection.  Well, their idea
of "fair market value" was just a fraction of what I could have sold it
wholesale for here in the states.  If it weren't for the fact that I found a
private collector there in Canada to buy a portion of it, I don't think I
would have gotten enough to pay for my gas up there.  And after months of
dealing with them, I finally sold the ownership of the remainder of the
specimen to a U.S. dealer, who has tried for another year to get the Canadian
Govt, to try to buy the rest.

If you want to go up there to hunt for the fun of it, great.  But don't
expect to any more than a small fraction of its wholesale value, if you do
find anything.  I am totally convinced that there are hundreds of specimens
waiting to be found up there. But with their attitude, 99.9% of them will
rust away!

This is the classical problem that arises when a country is so greedy about
wanting to keep 100% of what is found (and 100% of nothing, is nothing) that
they cheat the science of meteoritcs out of new specimens, because no one is
willing to spend their own time and money to recover these.  I know that I
will never invest another minute or dime recovering specimens up there again!
 

Steve Arnold