[meteorite-list] ET re Another fake name, serious business

From: Michael Farmer <meteoritehunter_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Nov 16 20:58:47 2004
Message-ID: <02f501c4cc48$faf728f0$0200a8c0_at_S0031628003>

Mark, man that is the best written post I have seen in a while.
My composition skills are more along the lines of President Bush, below par.

Anyway, we all face a serious danger here, you look at eBay now and there
are thousands of meteorite auctions on. Know you seller, and know your
material, I suggest everyone new to this business, read everything they can
get their hands on and look all over the internet. Knowledge is power.

All of our collections could be damaged by this sort of thing. Zag looks
like Kendrapara, Allende looks like Vigarano, Saint Severin is
indistinguishable from Ensisheim, all are hundreds if not thousands of $$$
different in per gram value.
Trust is all we have, lose it and you lose confidence in the hobby and many
collectors who get burned will be gone at that first bad experience.
Michael Farmer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Fowler" <mqfowler_at_mac.com>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Cc: "Michael Fowler" <mqfowler_at_mac.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 6:06 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] ET re Another fake name, serious business


> I'm with Mike Farmer on this.
>
> First, to lay out the issues without any name calling is NOT mudslinging.
>
> Second, think of the following analogy. I rob a bank and get caught red
> handed. Someone contacts me privately and offers me a chance to return
> the money and my identity will never be revealed to the public. Do you
> think the public's interest is served?
>
> If Mr. Thompson has a good explanation, I'm sure he will make it known and
> each list member can make his own evaluation.
>
> Meantime I think this is a very serious business. I've invested many
> thousands of dollars in my meteorite collection. How am I to know if what
> I paid for is what I'm told it is? It is based on trust. If various
> dealers are claiming to be selling material that they don't have and maybe
> others are relying on "pairings" based on looks or an opinion where does
> it end? This could be just the tip of the iceberg.
>
> For example, I bought a piece of Lueders, a Silicated Iron. To me it
> looks a lot like a piece of silicated campo, What's the difference,
> they're both IAB Irons? Well, one is worth 5-10 times as much as the
> other. Once trust in the sellers of meteorites breaks down, it would call
> into question the value of all the rare material in our collections!!
>
> From what I've heard so far, I'm not likely to ever take my chances on a
> dealer who does not adhere to nomcom rules.
> And equally unlikely to purchase from persons who ridicule attempts to
> keep the selling of meteorites from descending into an
> bottomless pit of unverifiable pairings and unauthorized number
> piggybacking.
>
> My 2 cents.
>
> Mike Fowler
> Chicago
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Michael Blood wrote:
>
> The issue I made is NOT who is right or wrong.
> If you were to post a very similar announcement,
> saying you had addressed this issue with ET and was told to take a
> long walk off a short pier and he didn't care what you thought
> about what he was doing and you think collectors should be
> aware this is going on - THAT WOULD BE A TOTALLY DIFFERENT
> situation.
> Instead, you FIRST publicly chastise him. Whatever
> is going on - that is a poor start at ANY attempt for remedy,
> regardless of the circumstances involved. You don't know
> what is take on the situation is - you haven't even addressed
> the issue with him. MAYBE there is a good explanation - MAYBE
> there isn't. MAYBE he looked at it one way and will change his
> perspective once he hears what you have to say - MAYBE he
> won't.... we don't know, because YOU HAVEN'T TALKED TO HIM
> ABOUT IT.
> There are a good many of us who will be far more
> interested in ANY issue you have with any other dealer IF you
> report civil attempts to resolve the issue on your part met
> with a lack of cooperation on their part.
> THEN I start wondering what is going on. Then I start
> listening to the content. However, when it is a one way mud
> throwing event, all I see is mud throwing - the content is
> unimportant to me if the process isn't clean.
> Other than that, thanks for a relatively civil response on
> your part.
> Sincerely, Michael
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
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Received on Tue 16 Nov 2004 08:58:40 PM PST