[meteorite-list] Blaine Reed Tucson Notes & AD

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:32:43 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <928042.53532.qm_at_web36909.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi Mark, all -

Tucson was a gas, but from what I could make out, Inn
Suites was charging the dealers (and thus the dealers'
customers) as much as they could. Then Inn Suites shut
down the bar early and put out the fire outside of it.
 oh yeah, "thank you" Inn Suites...

The guards at the Arizona Plaza(?) suddenly got all
bent and huffy when Mohamed and his friends showed up
- I saw that and thought, well, f**k that, that's when
I stepped outside to join them - and that's when the
guards let Mohamed and his guests in. The remaining
guard then would not let the other invited guests in
out of the cold - but it was his boss who put him up
to it and then left - "thank you" too Arizona Plaza..

My thinking is that maybe the meteorite dealers should
simply get together, move down the street, and
completely take over the No-Tell Motel for the
duration - way cheaper and way less hassles. I
suspect that there would not be any problem with party
guests there... insstead of hiring a guard or using a
safe, perhaps some list members could just bring their
firearms...

I need to write a detailed thank you note, this one of
real thanks, to many, but I want to thank Ms Haag and
Bob for the soak in the whirlpool during the second
half of Lang's auction...

PS - best wishes to Ms Lang for a speedy recovery, and
a special thanks to Art for selling me a mint copy of
Nininger's Meteor Crater booklet "A Comet Strikes the
Earth" from Nininger's estate.

good hunting,
Ed

--- MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector at msn.com> wrote:

> Blaine Reed is not part of the meteorite list so I
> am sending this along for
> him.
>
> You can join his e-mail group by going to Yahoo.
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> brmeteorites_list-owner at yahoogroups.com
>
> >Dear Collectors,
> >
> > I am finally back from Tucson (comments on the
> show below) and
> >unpacked enough to offer some of what I brought
> back now (my next few
> >offerings are likely to be such stuff). Many of
> these items are
> >consignments left with me at the show. As the
> owners of the largest
> >pieces want either their money or the items
> returned, I likely will be
> >offering these first (I would much rather sell them
> than have to pay
> >expensive registered return postage), but I will be
> offering more
> >smaller and affordable items later on (many of
> these need preparation
> >work that I have not had time for anyway).
> >
> >Notes on the show:
> >
> >I have had quite a few people call and ask how
> things went. To be
> >honest, in a word it was slow. In two words it was
> very slow. There
> >were not many buyers wandering the show this year
> and many dealers
> >suffered for it. I managed to do fairly well none
> the less (but down
> >quite a bit from last year). What I am VERY
> concerned about is an
> >increasing development the past few years in the
> actions of the
> >meteorite collecting public.
> >
> > The show in general has been noticeably slowing
> the past few years.
> >This is probably due to many factors such as cost
> (every thing gets
> >more expensive in Tucson each year), increased time
> needed to see the
> >people you need to see (as many dealers leave early
> and others show up
> >late, almost 8 or 10 days is needed to be sure
> everybody you need to
> >see will actually be there) and the internet (many
> of the large chain
> >stores no longer buy at the shows, but have
> arranged supply contracts
> >through internet connections now).
> >
> > I had been quite smug for the past years of this
> decline as we had a
> >close knit community in meteorites that seemed to
> defy these problems.
> > Collectors would come to the show for several
> days, visit dealers, go
> >to parties and to auctions. Everything seemed to
> complement each
> >other. Now I am seeing the rapid unraveling of this
> once neat social
> >fabric.
> >
> >I had originally assumed that not many collectors
> showed up this year
> > (I had maybe 35 meteorite people come to my room
> this year ? I even
> >had trouble giving out all of my special Tucson
> wine glasses this
> >year). I was quickly shown how wrong I was when we
> attempted to attend
> >the "Meteorite Mayhem" party of Steve Arnold and
> Geoff Notkin. We
> >arrived late due to circumstances (business). The
> security guard would
> >not let us in, as the bar was "over capacity". We
> waited as several
> >people left, but he would still not allow us in. An
> attempt at bribery
> >(alas, poor George just doesn't have the
> negotiating power he once
> >did) and we were told to beat ? it. Before
> leaving I looked in the
> >windows to see many dozens (possible a couple
> hundred) of people that
> >had, at one time been my customers that I had not
> seen in many years.
> >Clearly there is a problem on my end.
> >
> >What I am finding from the few I have been able to
> talk with is that
> >most collectors have now become completely focused
> on the auctions
> >only. Most fly in Friday night, go to Lang's
> auction on Saturday and
> >go to Blood's Saturday night (and often don't get
> out until well after
> >midnight) and fly home Sunday morning. I do
> understand that for many,
> >they are unable to take the extra vacation days to
> visit the show.
> >
> >I have been trying to formulate some kind of answer
> as to how I can
> >become relevant to the visiting collectors once
> more. This is a
> >difficult thing to do when facing something like
> auctions that seem to
> >work on the same powerful emotional areas as
> gambling in the human
> >brain. I have had a few ideas such as;
> >
> >1) Maybe moving to Inn Suites to be a little easier
> for those already
> >visiting the dealers there to find me (though I
> don't think many of
> >the dealers there had huge amounts of visitors
> either).
> >2) Starting one of my own auctions (Alan once told
> me this is why he
> >started his ? to get collectors to at least
> come to his room and see
> >what else he has to offer ), though I have no idea
> when I could hold
> >such an event that wouldn't interfere with the
> already existing ones
> >(which would end up being a detriment to all of
> us). 3) Setting aside most
> >of my really special or unique items (commonly
> >available stuff generally does poorly at auction)
> during the year and
> >consign them to one of the existing auctions (not a
> bad idea actually,
> >but then I would not have these neat items
> available during the year).
> >The plus of this one is that it could eventually
> save me huge amounts
> >of money (if I do end up shutting down my Tucson
> show room that is,
> >then I would only have to be in town for a few days
> to do some buying
> >and let the auctions do the selling).
> >4) I am trying to convince Steve and Geoff to allow
> us dealers to each
> >set up a small display table (no need to haul in a
> bunch of
> >Sikhote-Alins, NWA 869's and other common stuff
> ? just the true
> >collector oriented special items) at their party.
> This would actually
> >be quite fun and allow us to show the visiting
> collectors our special
> >new stuff (and might be of benefit to them as well.
> I heard that
> >Weston sold for $1600/g at the auctions. I had some
> in my room for
> >around $100/g ? don't ask, it is long gone).
> >
> >Any comments from all of you would be helpful in my
> decisions. I have
> >re-signed for my same room next year, so no major
> changes will happen
> >next year. Though I suspect that, with Darryl
> bringing his auction
> >back next Tucson, I will be forced into some pretty
> hard choices the
> >year after.
> >
> >Any way, enough of all of that, here are some
> really nice items to
> >consider:
> >
> >ALLENDE, Mexico: (CV3.2). Fell Feb 8, 1969.
> >Here are a couple fantastic complete slices. These
> are some of the
> >freshest and nicest slices I have ever seen. Some
> parts of Allende
> >lack a lot of chondrule distinction. These are not
> from that part.
> >These have loads of chondrules (looking close to
> Axtell) and lots of
> >large CAIs. These also come with a David New label
> (he was one of the
> >true greats in meteorites, but has been retired for
> quite some time now).
> >a) 48.0 gram complete slice

92mm x 67mm
> x 3.5mm

$480
> >b) 53.0 gram complete slice
...100mm x 77mm x
> 3mm

..$530
> >c) 91.0 gram complete slice
...110mm x 90mm x
> 4mm

..$900
> >? over 5
> >huge (cm long) CAIs!
> >
> >CHINGA, Russia: Ni-rich ataxite (IVB). Found 1913.
> >Here is a wild- shaped polished complete slice. It
> has not been
> >etched- just polished to a mirror shine (though
> there are a couple
> >small darker patches).
> > 100.8gram complete slice
..95mm x 45mm x
> 5mm
..$150
> >
> >DEPORT, Texas: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).
> >This is a highly cleaned little individual with a
> small (about 1cm x
> >1cm) cut and etched window. It looks like it has
> been sandblasted to
> >remove the original oxide (a good thing ? or
> these tend to rust
> >scale). This neatly brought out the crystal
> structure in a 3-D way.
> >McCartney Taylor found this and says it has the
> name MOE. He found
> >three pieces together (the three stooges) and that
> this one was named
> >Moe at it's finding. A nice little display piece.
> > 99.1 gram individual with etched
> window
..45mm x 28mm x
> >22mm
.$300
> >
> >GAO, Burkina Faso, (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
> >Now this is a great display piece. It has a nice
> sculpted shape and
> >really nice black crust showing flow lines and
> contraction cracks.
> >There are about 8 or so small natural chipped
> areas, showing the
> >lighter interior. I had another stone like this one
> at the show and it
> >sold within mere hours of being put on display.
> > 1006.4 gram individual
.120mm x 70mm x
> 65mm

$1800
> >
> >GIBEON, Namibia: Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found
> 1836.
> >This is a nice individual that has been highly
> brushed. It is not an
> >exceptional piece as far as wild shape or anything
> , but it does have
> >plenty of nice ridges and thumb-printing. Just a
> good honest display
> >piece.
> > 4037.8 gram brushed individual
.140mm x 100mm
> x 75mm
.$1400
> >
> >MUONIONALUSTA, Sweden: Fine octahedrite (IVA).
> Found 1906.
> >A lot of metal-detecting field work has turned up
> quite a bit of this
> >lately. I got these pieces from a friend who
> actually found the
> >himself. I have one of each type; individual
> (fragment really), end
> >piece and slice. The end piece and slice show a
> beautiful etch.
> >a) 87.7 gram fragment (natural as
> found)

60mm x 25mm x
> >22mm

..$130
> >b) 198.4 gram end piece

.85mm x 52mm x
> 10mm

.$275
> >c) 196.5 gram complete slice

.95mm x
> 70mm x 4mm

$290
> >
> > TENHAM, Australia: (L6), veined. Fell spring
> 1879.
> >Here is a nice absolutely complete individual that
> has some claims to
> >being oriented! This has complete coverage of the
> usual slate- gray
> >crust that Tenham typically shows (with some neat
> dark and somewhat
> >shiny ablated condrles clearly showing scattered
> about). It, as all
> >Tenhams I have seen, does not show much in the way
> of distinct flow
> >lines. It does have at one end a rim of slightly
> bubbled crust that
> >indicates that this spent some time in an oriented
> flight. This is
> >quite interesting in that it is a fairly long bar
> ? shaped piece and
> >it oriented with the small pointed end down. A very
> nice, and quite
> >rare specimen.
> > 415.3 gram oriented individual

..100mm
> x 40mm x
> >37mm

..$1500
> >
> >PHILIPPINITE
> >Here is a great LARGE Rizal province (rizalite)
> tektite I picked up
> >the last day I was at the show (interestingly, an
> antiquities dealer
> >had it hiding on a shelf). It is completely intact,
> shiny black and
> >has quite a bit of its surface showing grooves
> (only a few millimeters
> >deep unfortunately). A very nice display piece.
> > 334.1 gram grooved individual
.60mm x 60mm x
> 55mm
..$335
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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Received on Wed 21 Feb 2007 11:32:43 PM PST