[meteorite-list] Relating to the Elbert A. King Collection

From: marsroxx_at_theofficenet.com <marsroxx_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:04:47 2004
Message-ID: <1020877476.3cd95aa491cf7_at_webmail.theofficenet.com>

Dear List,

I can confirm what Steve said, in as much as when I purchased a King book, that
he had me make the check out to Sharon King.

Cheers
Alan

Quoting MeteorHntr_at_aol.com:

> In a message dated 5/4/02 3:25:12 PM Central Daylight Time,
> Michael_at_caspercoin.com writes:
>
> > The name is Michael NOT Mikey. Yes I did lose out of representing
> > the "King Collection". If I would have sold the collection his daughters
> > would have been paid.
> > It is a fact that I offered OVER $200,00.00 cash to the family. That is
> > $200,000.00 more than they received!
> > Steve Arnold, a questionable attorney and a corrupt male nurse saw to
> that!
> > the King Family has NOT been paid by Steve Arnold AND ASSOCIATES (Geoff
> >
>
>
> Hello list,
>
> I regret having to post this to the list, but I feel that some explanation is
>
> necessary.
>
> For those who are unaware, Sharon King, Dr. Elbert A. King's widow, passed
> away in September 2001. Lisa King is her stepdaughter. Sharon was executor
>
> of Dr. King's Estate after he died in 1998. In 1999, Sharon King hired me as
>
> the exclusive agent on a five year contract to sell the meteorites belonging
>
> to Dr. King's private collection.
>
> As usual Michael Casper has made some unsubstantiated comments:
>
> 1. He implies that no money was paid to the King family. However, In the
> year 1999 alone, with me as sole agent, over $325,000.00 (YES, I REPEAT, OVER
>
> THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!) was paid from individual and
> institutional buyers to Sharon King for the sale of items in Bert's
> Collection. Additional sales were made in 2000 as well.
>
> 2. Casper claims to have made an offer of over $200,000 for the entire
> collection. However, the largest offer he made to me for the collection was
>
> $100,000. Jim Strope and Darryl Pitt were "silent" partners with Casper in
>
> his bid for the whole collection. As I understand it, Casper did not have
> enough personal funds to cover his $100,000 offer. At some point, I know
> Pitt and Strope backed out of the deal with Casper for various reasons. I
> haven't talked with them about this in nearly 3 years, but I am sure they can
>
> verify this information. When I received a larger offer for the collection,
>
> Casper said "I am not going to bid this up, you go get your best offer and
> then come back to me and I will beat it." The highest offer I received from
>
> another party, was for $225,000 which Sharon King turned down. I asked
> Casper if he wanted to top that offer and he asked "What will it take for me
>
> to buy it?" I asked Mrs. King and she was firm on wanting at least $300,000.
>
> When I passed this on to Casper he said some things I won't repeat here, and
>
> he never submitted another offer to me after that. Mrs. King then decided to
>
> sell the meteorites individually. I contacted several institutions including
>
> the U.S. National Collection at the Smithsonian and they were not interested
>
> in purchasing or trading for any of the specimens. I also contacted the
> British Museum of Natural History in London and they were willing to trade
> for just one specimen from the collection. Several other specimens were sold
>
> to another interested institution and then we began selling the remainder via
>
> auctions to the general public.
>
> 3. Casper mentions that "the King Family has not been paid." If by that he
> means that Sharon's stepchildren have not been paid yet, then he is correct.
>
> Sharon King's Estate is still in Probate, so of course the heirs have not
> received any of Sharon's assets yet.
>
> 4. I am not sure what he is referring to when he mentions "a questionable
> attorney" and a "corrupt male nurse." However, as for his comments concerning
>
> Geoff Notkin, Geoff was my webmaster during some of the sales, but he had
> nothing to do with anything other than website updates.
>
> Many items from the King Collection were purchased by people on this list.
>
> It is possible to verify that all the checks were made out to either Sharon
>
> King or to the King Estate's law firm's trust account. It is also possible
>
> to verify through those canceled checks that all funds passed through one of
>
> these accounts and NOT mine. After the funds cleared the bank, my commission
>
> was paid either by Sharon or her lawyer.
>
> There was a comment made that Casper might be open for a lawsuit due to
> things he has said on this list. Maybe that might be the case, but even if I
>
> would win a lawsuit against him, I would still have to prove "damages" before
>
> I would be awarded any money. Since Casper's credibility has suffered so
> much, it is hard to imagine that his comments have cost me any loss of sales
>
> (damages), so why should I sue him? However, I did have several auctions on
>
> ebay this last weekend right in the middle of all this commotion.
>
> <A
> HREF="http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?
MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&userid=meteoritebroker.com&include=0&since=7&sor
t=3&rows=0">http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?
MfcISAPICommand=ViewListedItems&
> userid=meteoritebroker.com&include=0&since=7&sort=3&rows=0</A>
>
> I would be very interested to know if anyone would be willing to swear under
>
> oath that they did indeed plan to bid on some of my lots, but then decided
> not to bid based directly on Casper's public and or private comments. Not
> suing Casper has nothing to do with any fear of "full disclosure" on my
> part.
>
> Even though the statute of limitations has expired for the King Estate to
> consider filing a lawsuit against Casper, I would be interested to know if
> anyone was scared off early on by Casper's public fiasco on this list three
>
> years ago (see list archives April/May 1999). <A
> HREF="http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/">
> http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/</A>
>
> Lisa King has inquired about purchases made from the King Collection after
> February 4, 2001. Although my records indicate that I have not sold any
> items from the King Collection after January 2001, if anyone has purchased
> such material from me since then please feel free to contact her. I would
> appreciate a copy of any correspondence with her concerning these topics.
>
> I know this is far more detailed than most of you care about, but I hope I
> have cleared up any confusion that has been caused. I must admit that I am
>
> pleasantly surprised by all the support I have received both on the list and
>
> off. I would like to say thanks to all of you.
>
> Thank You,
> Steven K. Arnold
>
Received on Wed 08 May 2002 01:04:36 PM PDT