[meteorite-list] Tucson Thank You & Brenham Info

From: MeteorHntr_at_aol.com <MeteorHntr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Mar 22 21:20:09 2006
Message-ID: <330.866ff6.31530720_at_aol.com>

Hello List,

While this is coming a little late, I wanted to take the opportunity to
thank everyone that came to visit us in our room at the Inn Suites, our booth at
the Main Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, and the Meteor Mayhem Birthday Bash.
It turned out to be an amazing show for my family (attending for the first
time this year) and for me.

A very special "Thank You" needs to be extended to all of you on this list
that participated in the positive support and "vote" that Phil and I should
receive a special "Peoples Choice" Harvey Award. While the secret was out as
soon as Greg's initial post hit this list, and the replies started coming in,
it was still a great honor to receive.

Geoff Notkin and I thought it would be cool several years ago to start
giving out awards at our party for a couple of reasons. The party is a great venue
for giving the awards since so many people in the Meteorite Community gather
in Tucson each year. Geoff and I realized early on that we really do have
an amazing group of men and women in our field of collecting. It only seemed
fit that someone attempt to recognize these people and their great
accomplishments. And if it wasn't us, then who? The Fossil guys? I don't think so!
How about the gem stone people? Not a chance. If it was going to be done,
it had to be done by someone within our field, so Geoff and I decided to run
with it.

We have always said that the party is around 2% about our Birthdays, and 98%
about an excuse for meteorite people to get together and have some fun.
While we like to toss in some humorous Harvey Awards at times, it really has
grown into a very respected event. And this year being on the receiving end
really was very special.

As I write this, I am now back in the Brenham strewnfield area trying to tie
up some of the loose ends. Things like dealing with poachers, doing a
little more hunting before the wheat starts growing, and of course marketing the
specimens we have found.

Speaking of poachers, I think most of you know this, but I do want to
reiterate this just to be sure: The Brenham specimen that was placed into Michael
Blood's auction then had to be removed from the auction at the last second
due to the fact that it was illegally poached (and the true land owner found
out about it and caught the poachers before it was too late), WAS NOT one of
our (Brenham Meteorite Company's) specimens!

I want everyone one to know that we have legal title on ALL of our
specimens. We have video footage of them coming out of the ground, usually with the
land owners present in the filming of the dig. We offer Certificates of
Authenticity, that establish provenance for each and every specimen. It is our
intention to establish and obtain a premium on our specimens with each COA,
just as receiving an ID car with a specimen from Wards, AML, or AMM adds value
to those specimens. Only we hope that we don't have to be long dead for
that added value to be established. :-)
 
Rest assured that when you buy one of our specimens, you don't have to worry
about an angry land owner showing up after your money is gone, demanding his
specimen back!

While our recovery project has garnered some great publicity due to the
1,430 pound find, there is more to come. We have hired a professional cameraman
who has been recording each dig for our upcoming TV documentary. Now there
are things that could go wrong and prevent the documentary from being
completed, so it is not guaranteed, but it is our full intention to press through to
make it a reality. This type of exposure will only help increase the value of
our Brenham specimens over the Non-BMC Brenham specimens.

So keep that in mind if you are shopping for Brenham in the future. We are
not sure what else might get poached and brought to the market, and of course
there are very legal specimens that have been found in the past. Just
remember if you are considering buying a Brenham, if there isn't the BMC
documentation with it, you will want to factor that into the price you are willing to
spend.

Right now, we are the only ones selling BMC Brenham specimens. As time
passes other dealers will offer BMC Certified Brenhams. With each one expect to
receive documentation of when it was found, where it was found, by whom it was
found, and from which specimen it came from (if it is a slice). We give out
COAs with the PURCHASERS name on the document. So if you buy one of ours
from someone else, request that documentation of your purchase from them (and
the COA from us to them) be included to preserve the provenance of your
historical piece. A couple moments of effort now could very well add substantial
value to your piece down the road. And if your piece happens to become a "TV
Star" by showing up in the documentary or elsewhere, then you will have one
more thing to brag about.

Speaking of acquiring Brenham specimens, people have been asking, and we
will have some Brenham specimens and slices up for sale on our website
www.BrenhamMeteoriteCompany.com soon. Stay tuned for that announcement, likely to
come from our awesome webmaster Geoff Notkin.

Also, if you are a dealer, and you have a customer that might be interested
in something we have, please contact me ASAP to discuss how we might be able
to work out a win-win arrangement.

I did another interview for a major magazine this week. This particular
article appears to be more about meteorite hunting and collecting, and the
adventure side of it all, instead of highlighting the Brenham Main Mass. It
should be a good article and I will let you know more when it is ready to come
out.

We are expecting 2006 to be a great year! Thanks again to all of you who
have already helped make it a stellar year!

Steve Arnold

P.S. I am going to post an ad here on the list very shortly that will
contain some of the remaining few items from the Eugene Cornelius Collection, for
those of you who did not get a chance to see them in my room in Tucson.
 
Received on Wed 22 Mar 2006 03:01:36 PM PST