[meteorite-list] It was intuition ? OK ?

From: Norbert Classen <riffraff_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:35:03 +0200
Message-ID: <001f01c89cbb$29e41510$2002a8c0_at_lunatic>

Dear Mark, dear Dave, and All,

Actually, we (the IMCA Board of Directors) have been watching these
auctions, and discussing all sorts of implications during the last few
weeks. However, we can't do much if the seller is no IMCA member. If it was
an IMCA member we would have taken immediate action - be assured of that.
So, what do we learn: buy from IMCA members or from established dealers who
are willing to answer all your questions regarding the provenance of their
samples. If the seller refuses to answer your legit questions, or doesn't
listen to your concerns, just don't buy.
And, as Mark suggested, please keep as many records of your purchases as
possible, and don't be afraid of asking questions. We might come up with
something better, and kind of a "collector's guide" in the future (thanks
for bringing that up in the first place), but - as I wrote above - we're
still discussing all of the implications and facetts of this complicated
issue. If you have suggestions, and ideas, we're more than willing to listen
to you, and we are all watching this discussion with great interest.

All the best,
Norbert Classen
President IMCA Inc.

-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----

One thing which I think the IMCA could do to give a lead here is some kind
of new collectors' guide. I joined about a year ago, not long after I
started collecting, as I correctly worked out that I'd want to trade on some
of my specimens at some point, and wanted to do as much as possible to 'get
it right'.

I think more by luck than judgement, my records meet the 'minimum level'
Mark G talks about - I log source and month of purchase, I keep all CoAs, I
also keep a photo of each specimen - taken from the eBay sale, dealer's web
site, wherever I've obtained it from. Despite this I know there are a
couple of mistakes for some of my earliest entries.

It may seem obvious to those who've been in the game for a while, but I had
to figure this out for myself - I didn't find any advice on record-keeping.
If I hadn't taken these steps from day one then my collection would be
substantially less valuable, but more to the point the whole chain of
provenance would have been broken while the material was under my
stewardship.

I think we all have a part to play when it comes to authenticity; some kind
of summary from IMCA to new members could go a little way to addressing
these points.

As ever, just my 2p worth...

Dave Gheesling wrote:
> IMCA BOD, are you ready to roll? Much more important than the
> question of an orientation rating system, this is a great opportunity
> for you to establish some kind of framework around which to "blow the
> whistle" with credibility when something stinks like left out fish...
> Dave
>

--
Mark's Meteorite Pages: http://meteorites.cc
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Received on Sat 12 Apr 2008 12:35:03 PM PDT