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Glorieta, no more




To all on the list.


Thank you for your support and purchase, trades of my last Glorieta
specimens.  


That is it from me, as after 18 years of searching, I will not sell
these anymore.  Nor will I pe putting the effort to find more at
this very difficult site.

Over the years, many have said that $8 to $9 per/gram was too high
a price.  But the fact is that considering the effort, the time, and
the hazards of recovery, I just barely broke even at that price.  The
two largest irons, 2.7 kg, and 1.59 kg (pallasitic) are the real
fruits of my long labor of love at Glorieta.  Who could part with
these knowing what it takes to find even the smaller, and more
numerous ones?  They will remain in my collection.

The only reason that the other dealers could not sell Glorieta at
what they are really worth $15-$20 per/gram is because everyone knew
that it could be gotten from me at half that price.  Two dealers told
me I was crazy selling them at $8 - $10 per/gram-- after they gave
the site a try.  To each his own-- I am happy with what I found, and
the 200 or so pieces that I sold over all those years to pay my
expenses, and to give me the incentive to find the big ones that
now sit in my collection.  (I may even have found a new meteorite in
my efforts.  It is too beautiful to cut.  It sits in my collection
and I marvel at it.)

Anyway, now that I will no longer be "Mr Glorieta"
(as Bob Haag calls me), selling them at $8-$10 per/gram, expect the
prices of these items to rise. 

Maybe others will do better than I did searching out there, and
with all the fantasic new metal decteors now available they might
do very well.  From my experience, I would be surprised if such
were the case.  But with property issues looming larger than ever
when it comes to meteorites, organized searches of this and
other sites may soon be sanctioned, either by the Government, or
by private landowners.  The vigors of searching aside, this state of
affairs could very well be the most limiting factor that we as
collectors face.  In my searches of Glorieta, and also working as 
National Park Service Ranger for 10 years I became acutely aware of
issues that would, or could severely limit our aim to recover
meteorites.  There are National Forest land managers, Department
of Interior officials, and others in 'mirror' state agencies
nationwide that would move to shut down meteorite hunting just
as pot hunting is sanctioned.  "Pot hunters" are a surly criminal
lot, and deserve to be prosecuted for destruction of ancient sites,
but we as meteorite collectors are not the same.

We must organize. 

And I am a firm advoacte of forming a professional organization that
will represent the many talents, and aims that we as collectors,
museum curators, and researchers have with regards to meteorites.

I intend to work closely with Michael Blood, who has spent an
enormous amount of time to bring such an organization to pass.  

My hope is that sites like Glorieta, will be open to all, and that
the limiting factor will be the difficulty of the find, and not
the limitations of the law.


Steve Schoner.
AMS

Again, please excuse my typos-- this server does not allow spellcheck
online.

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