[meteorite-list] An insight to Amgala and other recent falls

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:44 2004
Message-ID: <06f601c3ffa6$9166e700$7fc21018_at_attbi.com>

Dear Mike and List Members,

This post is not intended to be argumentative but could be perceived by some
as being so. We just want to make our position known in regards to the new
fall and other issues that were brought up by Mike Farmer on his latest
posts. Do not worry, our intentions are not to get involved in perpetual
arguements on the List as this has proven to be most unproductive in the
past.

First of all Mike, you were not the first to report this new fall. Check
with the University of Washington and NAU. A few List members have been
aware that we were working on this fall for some time and can vouch for us,
not that this is needed. I will not respond to your ridiculous accusations
that we have a few samples and made all this up to scoop you. Time will
show who is telling the truth and in very short order. We forgive you for
accidentally stumbling onto this fall months after the fact. We are not too
worried about you damaging the market this time with your share that only
amounts to a few hundred grams after you divide it up with your investors.

Secondly Mike, you were never the first to report any new fall that we are
aware of. If your memory serves you correctly, and let the record show,
that we were the first to submit samples of Bensour to the scientific
community within 5 days of the fall. A month had elapsed before you
recovered any Bensour, long after Dean Bessey, Rob Elliot and ourselves made
it available to market. As a matter of fact, we even announced the name and
classification before you made your supposed trip to Bensour. We never
claimed we went to the Bensour region but you did. We told the NomCom to
get the coordinates from you since you claimed to have been to this
dangerous area but, of course, no coordinates were provided. This is the
last piece of data needed to make Bensour an official fall. Step up to the
plate and provide this most crucial data and impress us all.

Another note, You destroyed the price of Bensour by selling it for less than
your cost at $2.80 a gram just to get even with Bessey. When a well known
collector asked for several kilograms at this price you reneged. When you
pull stunts like this it affects the market as a whole not just your
intended victim. It is no wonder collectors, dealers and one scientist are
saying you have done more damage to the market than any single source.

Third, we produced everything we said we were going to in the past including
Thuathe. We introduced Thuathe at the Tucson show over a year ago before
you were aware it existed. We sold out within two weeks and had another 23
kilograms on its way when you made a trip out there yourself with the
coordinates we "supposedly" gave to you. The 23 kilograms was stuck in
customs for months while you proceeded to destroy the market with the couple
of kilos you purchased from natives in the field paying way too much. This
caused our supplier to raise his prices to the point it was no longer
attractive and we sent most of the material back.

As we said before, we will release several beautiful specimens of the Amgala
fall later this week if it has not become tainted with all this negativity.
Why is it that with every new fall it brings the worst out in some people?
Anyway this is some gorgeous looking material with a lots of stories yet to
be translated still coming in. Stay tuned.

Wishing everybody the best,

Adam and Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
IMCA 2185
Received on Mon 01 Mar 2004 11:02:15 AM PST