[meteorite-list] Fwd: Rob Elliott retiring as seller (?!)

From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 11:42:56 -0700
Message-ID: <C23A9140.34B80%mlblood_at_cox.net>

on 4/4/07 11:12 AM, Martin Altmann at altmann at meteorite-martin.de wrote:
> Elliott was also one of the top supplier with his often difficult to obtain
> historic fall and finds.
> Perhaps we are lucky and some more from that mentioned dealers will raise
> the finger and will shout: Who? Me? I'm there!
> Best!
> Martin
------
Hi Martin,
        I am sure it is unseemly & immodest of me to mention it. However, I
do believe I have amassed the largest collection of hammers for sale any
where at any time.
    Granted, they are not huge end pieces, but there is a unique array of
different falls that hit things, animals and people and I just got back a
large (for me) shipment of wire cut ultra thin specimens I will soon be
adding to the already sizable stock of hammers available. Ultra thin cutting
makes some of these extremely rare specimens available to a much larger
number of collectors and improves the surface to weight ratio tremendously,
softening the prices these individuals demand.
        My "goal" would be to be able to offer every single hammer
legitimately recorded for sale. Of course, that can never be achieved as
many of them are in institutions as whole stones or, like Nogata ( 5/19/861
fall in Japan that crashed through the roof of a Shinto Temple and is held
as a stone from heaven by the Shinto priests of the temple since its arrival
nearly 1,400 years ago).
        My own enthusiasm and aggressive pursuit of hammers has also let me
to collect for resale apparently beyond the current apatite of the
collecting public, as I offer some 6 or 7 DIFFERENT hammers from the Park
Forest fall alone (Tow truck, far, fence, baseball field and several
different houses), while many collectors reckon if they have any stone at
all from the fall, that "fills" their hammer slot. Of course, not all hammer
falls allow for a piece of the actual stone that was the hammer. What I
wouldn't give for the 3 gram Mbale that struck the boy after being slowed
by piercing a banana tree prior to striking him. Or to have the Barwell that
landed in the old lady's tea cup or one of the Chiang-Khan stones that
landed in the fisherman's boat. In such cases, one must be satisfied to
settle for a specimen of the fall - but where ever possible, a piece of the
actual hammer is the goal.....
        But here I get away from myself. My own enthusiasm seems to surpass
the interest of the collecting community. However, my point is there will
always be dealers with intense interest in specific arenas of the collecting
phenomenon. Anne Black is building an impressive array of thin sections
of the highest quality work, I have a phenomenal array of hammers, Mike
Farmer has a constant flood of the latest falls, Al Lang has large, historic
specimens, and the list goes on.
        Personally, I am sorry to hear Rob Elliott is gone - if, in fact, it
is not an April Fools joke - as he is quite the character and carried a wide
array of material. However, the beat goes on...
        Best wishes, Michael
 
Received on Thu 05 Apr 2007 02:42:56 PM PDT