[meteorite-list] Early Tucson

From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:12 2004
Message-ID: <BC9AEA26.7CEB%mlblood_at_cox.net>

on 4/8/04 9:51 AM, MARK BOSTICK at thebigcollector_at_msn.com wrote:
> Hello Tim and Michael,
> My understanding is that you two were some of the first Tucson meteorite
> attendees. Perhaps one, or both of you, would be so kind to give us a little
> history on the show and what it was like the first couple of years.
> Mark Bostick
---------------
Hi Mark,
        Actually, I started going to the Tucson Show long before I was into
meteorites, which wasn't until the 1980s. In the early 1970s the
wholesale show, as it was then called, was going strong. Never saw a
hint of a meteorite dealer and while I could be wrong, I don't think
even Bob Haag was doing the show until much later.
        I remember a perfect Quartz Xl taller than me and thicker than
you could reach around... cost a lot though...$5,000. (today, I doubt
a quarter million would get more than a laugh for such a specimen)
        I passed up (no $ at all in those days) an amethyst geode so
large you could put the top half of your body in it on a stretcher -
it was $1,500 - this was later, when prices were getting higher.
        Mostly, in those days, I was into Priday Plume agate and I remember
the first show the Smiths attended - they were THE source for about
5 years, then someone bought them out completely and prices went up
4 fold over night.
        From my earliest days, Tucson was too big to see it all - even at 10
or 12 hrs a day 7 days a week. I would spend 10 days every Feb. after I
moved to San Diego from Tucson (via Oregon and Idaho). I missed a
few years when in the northern states.
        In the '80s I started going to look for meteorites. Bob Haag and
ET were about it - soon I "discovered" Alain & Luis Carion and
a passel of dealers started showing up. Before that, it was easy to make
deals out of the back of car trunks. I always wore a straw hat with a
4 way sign made of 4 X 6 cards that read, "I Buy and Sell Meteorites."
in big, black marksalot letters. For a few years, that was practically the
only way I could make contact with sources other than Bob and ET.
(Some of you might remember this hat from the old days).Other dealers
were probably there, but Bob and ET weren't sending their customers
to them - it even took me a while to find Baine Reed.
        I seem to recall the "coming out" show for meteorites. I stayed as a
guest in Tim Heitz' room, which he and his lovely wife, Pat so kindly
offered. Kevin Kachinka was just down the hall and it was his first show
and he had bought a several gram hunk of Nakhla (Kevin has ALWAYS
been an SNC junkie). That was the show at which I met Jim Strope, who
was a "newbee" and buying a trunkload of Sikhote-Alins - this was when
they were still $3/g like clockwork. One of the most stable priced
meteorites around.....that would soon change.
        Meteorite collectors and dealers would congregate immediately upon
recognition.... this was before the annual Birthday Bash and long before I
went to Auctioneering school to do the Tucson Auction, so, there were no
"official" gathering places - and I am not sure the list had even begun,
yet. But for sure the Chat Line was started and that's how Tim and I and
Kevin had connected. Still, not anywhere close to all the chat line people
had started to come. These days everyone and their sister comes - but then,
it was hard to hook up with people, making such connections really fun.
We would stay up every night doing show and tell with what we had bought
that day - and for the whole show, telling who had what - dealers were
scarce enough you could actually see them all and totally examine each
and every specimen at the show. Try doing that now.
        Soon, the list got started, then I premiered the Tucson Auction at
the 2000 show and the Birthday Bash was in swing and we were off and
running, bringing us up to "modern times." Now there are perhaps 20
meteorite dealers at the show and 25% of the collectors see themselves
as dealers. It's a whole different animal, but still a ton of fun, for sure.
        Anyway, that's a BRIEF overview of "the early days."
        Best wishes, Michael




 

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Received on Thu 08 Apr 2004 02:38:14 PM PDT