[meteorite-list] NWA's

From: Michael Farmer <meteoritehunter_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Nov 24 16:35:13 2004
Message-ID: <022901c4d26d$78bb5e30$0200a8c0_at_S0031628003>

Yes, you are right, I should clarify that, to mean that you should find out
who had the meteorite classified and if the piece you are buying came from
that person and piece, or if it came from a "pairing".
Certainly other dealers and collectors get the meteorites legitimately and I
would never try to keep them from offering them up for sale or trade.
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Birdsell" <birdsell_at_email.arizona.edu>
To: "Michael Farmer" <meteoritehunter_at_comcast.net>
Cc: <L_Harrison_at_infostations.com>; <meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 11:55 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] NWA's


> Hi Larry, Mike and list. Yes, at first this sounds like good advice,
> however this can lead to numerous problems as well. For instance I
> obtained a beautiful large chunk of NWA 482 in a trade with you Mike, and
> I know that numerous other dealers also have NWA 482 for sale. If we were
> only to purchase from the dealer who had the meteorite classified then
> this would pretty much eliminate such trades as all such traded pieces
> would become worthless. Another example is Dhofar 019. There must be 20
> dealers all legitimacy selling this shergottite, which they themselves
> purchased wholesale. Now if everyone were only to buy from the individual
> that had Dhofar 019 classified (Serge), then Serge would be stuck with
> around a kilo of Martian rock with no market for it except for the retail
> market. He would be relegated to selling off 200 mg here and 300 mg there
> for the next forty years. This would make the acquisition of large, rare
> rocks retarded unless someone wanted to spend 40 years recouping their
> initial investment. The same can be said for hundreds of other
> meteorites. This also screws the collector who may want to sell one of
> his expensive meteorites to buy something else. If everyone only purchases
> from the person that originally had the meteorite classified then the
> resale value of these meteorites would be zero. I don't think that the
> collectors are going to appreciate paying top dollar for some expensive
> planetary meteorite and then being told that "Oh yeah, by the way don't
> try to sell that expensive meteorite that we just sold you because you are
> not the one that had it classified and no one will buy it from you." This
> would really piss me off if I were the collector that had spent my hard
> earned money on an expensive and rare meteorite specimen. The best thing
> for dealers to do is to get their meteorites classified by a legitimate
> research institution, and to use their own numbers. If they want, they can
> say "my NWA XXX is probably paired to NWA YYY" or "my NWA is paired to NWA
> ZZZ" depending upon the provisional or final classification respectively.
> For those buyers that want to be sure they are getting properly classified
> and named specimens, they should keep track of which dealers do follow the
> Nom. Com. guidelines and avoid those that do not. Fortunately the
> overwhelming majority of dealers are honest and play by the rules.
> Unfortunately, there is a lot of BS being put on the meteorite-list by
> certain meteorite dealers of the "my meteorite is better than yours" sort.
> Don't be fooled by this non-sense either-it is just a transparent attempt
> at self promotion. There are a lot of very reputable meteorite dealers out
> there that do not engage in these types of sales tactics, and I would
> prefer to support these honest, reputable dealers.
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
> -John
> Arizona Skies Meteorites
> http://www.arizonaskiesmeteorites.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael Farmer wrote:
>
>> Larry, this is the problem I was getting at.
>> I will tell you the simple solution, buy the meteorite from the dealer
>> who had it classified, then there can be no error.
>> Mike Farmer
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Harrison"
>> <L_Harrison_at_infostations.com>
>> To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 9:54 AM
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] NWA's
>>
>>
>>> Greetings List,
>>>
>>> I am but a small time collector (>200 specimens). However, I cherish my
>>> small example of the evolution of the solar system. I am also an
>>> astronomy educator. I always include meteorites in my lectors AND I am
>>> always asked "how do you know if it is really a meteorite? My answer:
>>> Irons are simple to recognize, and I explain the widmanstatten figure
>>> and how it forms. Stones on the other hand require analysis especially
>>> when chondrules (I explain chondrules) are not easily visible. In those
>>> cases it is very important to know your source. I have always made it
>>> clear that I only deal with reputable dealers.
>>>
>>> The posts of late have put a very large question in my mind about who is
>>> reputable. The saddest part is that many reputable dealers are being
>>> scamed by the Nomads. I prefer to collect the rarest of the rare. And
>>> this is where most of the scams are being made. My absolute certainty
>>> of the authenticity of my collection is now in question! I do not
>>> question that any piece in my collection is or isn't a meteorite, but
>>> that it is not the specimen type that I think it is. I have always been
>>> more than excited about the immense number of new and rare meteorites
>>> coming out of the Sahara. If not for these finds I could never afford as
>>> many representations of the early solar system or of the achondrites of
>>> lessor differentiated bodies. I am crushed, uncertain and totally
>>> confused! What to do? Since I am not a big time buyer, my reluctance to
>>> purchase further NWA's will not hurt any of you. However, I feel that I
>>> am Mr. Average. If this mess curbs my desire to purchase more
>>> meteorites, I assure you it is doing the same to many more. This is the
>>> saddest moment in my 20 years of meteorite collecting.
>>>
>>> Thanks for letting me vent,
>>>
>>> Harrison
>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
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>>> Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>>> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
Received on Wed 24 Nov 2004 04:35:04 PM PST