[meteorite-list] Where have all the meteorites gone?

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2007 12:37:13 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <773789.15718.qm_at_web56114.mail.re3.yahoo.com>

--- valparint at aol.com wrote:
> There used to be a good selection of pallasites and
> decent-sized irons
> rolling through ebay but it seemed to dry up a few
> months ago. It's
> downright pathetic lately. What's going on?
>
I know that many people think that dealers have been
making it up for the last 3 years but meteorites are
running out. In any other industry, stamp collecting,
gemstones ect, people look to dealers for a guage of
how the market goes and for information. But meteorite
people all figure dealers are lying in an effort to
drive prices up. Bizzaar.
A couple weeks ago somebody even commented that NWA869
was really common. It hasnt been common in 2 years. I
remember about 3 years ago in Tucson somebody had a 4
foot pile of the ugliest NWA869 that I had ever seen.
I commented at the time that it looks like somebody
went over the strewnfield with magnetic equipment and
dug the highly weathered ones out of the ground and
that this probably means that the strewnfield has been
hunted out. It appears that I was right has no large
piles have come out since. The next year in quartzite
some dealers who werent with it were dumping
quantities of small NWA869s at 2 to 3 cents a gram and
people were still saying that prices will keep going
down forever. Smart money was buying.
You never get offered container loads of chinese
tektites or Nantens like you were regularly being
offered 4 years ago. Gibeon seems done. NWAs are much
harder to buy nowadays and the amount of rare
classification stuff is few and far between nowadays.
About two years ago two large strewnfields (Several
tons or more each) of really low grade stuff was
found.
This all flooded the market all at once and this
(along with the rejects of other strewnfields) started
getting dumped on ebay my many dealers (Including
myself) for under 5 cents a gram. Many people believed
that this drop in price was evidence that prices were
still falling and will do so forever. Knowledgable
investigation revealed that the quality had gone down.
I know that 5 yaers ago I could get 500 kilos of nice
meteorites in in 3 weeks flat. Now it takes me 6
months to buy that amount.
I will let you in on another secret. Meteorite hunters
still go to Oman. They dont make a big specticle of it
anymore so somebody who dont like competation can pay
off the police to set them up and have them arrested
but they still go. But they rarely go because they
dont find meetorites. The biggest attraction is the
lunar strewnfields. Two years ago the russians told me
that they still find meteorites but only small ones.
So where will future meteorites come from? The atacama
is volcanic and the desert is not old. It will never
bring out huge amounts of meteorites. There is lots of
areas in the middle east becides Oman. But much is
militarized or full of landmines. And its not as
virgin picking as you might think. Its been searched
and I know of a few nomads from morocco (Most of whom
are unemployed since eastern morocco has something
like a 80% unemployment rate) who uses their religious
requirement to go to mecca (Moslems who can afford it
are supposed to go to mecca once in their lives) to
get on a camel and go on the 11 month trek to mecca
from morocco in the hopes of making the trip
profitable searching for meteorites. So the arab
desert is not entirely virgin to meteorite hunters.
More should be there though but I doubt enough to
duplicate the NWA rush.
Australia is the obvious place and surely there are
lots. But two provinces (Including northern territory)
makes it illegal to even search for meteorites.
National laws make sure than most australian
meteorites continue to rust away as the government
dont actively saerch for meteorites.
The last couple years meteorites have been used more
often in jewelry. Should a company like tiffanys
decide to market meteorite jewelry the era of cheap
meteorites will be over in a matter of months. They
likely wouldent though as they couldent get enough
supply to make it worth their while - even if they
bought every meteorite in the world..
Anyway, thats my market analysis and the answer to the
question. I am sure some people will think I am just
trying to sell stuff.
Smart money is hoarding right now
Sincerely
DEAN
www.meteoriteshop.com









 


       
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Received on Fri 11 May 2007 03:37:13 PM PDT