[meteorite-list] By Popular Demand................

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:28:17 +0200
Message-ID: <014f01c89e4c$8c8f3e00$177f2a59_at_name86d88d87e2>

Dear me!

Alex!
What else could we burden to the "dealers"?

Uncle, isn't it enough that the hunters and dealers are working each for
three men, are risking their money, their health and their time, to organize
the rarest matter on Earth for the collectors in a volume and variety like
never before in history, and at since 8 years calamitous retail prices? That
they trade out from museums and collections the most desirable historics for
you? That their goods already underlie the strictest controls of all
collectibles in existence? That they stuff the labs with the most exciting
rocks of the solar systems for free, that they wait patiently until each
rock is examined and classified, that they spend those weeks where they are
at home, in endless cutting and preparing sessions, that they make the
marketing, bookkeeping, the maintenance of the hobby in growing new
collectors, in popularizing meteorite in the media, in swallowing
permanently to be called looters, poachers ect, by some, who find no other
way to gain profile, but on the other are profiting from that work like no
others, and that they are regarded in view of that enormous work by all
dealers in similar branches as absolute fools?

Now they should even disclose their sources, for some of the collectors
buying there - that?s simply too much. Haven't you bought recently a pair of
shoes?
Did you ask the shop manager to come and to tell you, where he had purchased
the shoes and at which price? Why would that an absurd thought?

Uncle, if for a collector a dealer hasn't the authority, the reliability and
not the respect, that he can trust him, that the offered meteorite is
exactly that, what the dealer is stating,
then he simply shouldn't buy that piece!
In a few years, the labels of those, which now should be forced to publish
all their sources, will be regarded as proof of authenticity like the labels
of your David New.

A dealer always will publish the label, if it's from a prominent collection,
because it adds value, and he will tell to his friends - that sand box is
indeed so small that sellers and buyers, both collectors btw., often have a
friendly relationship - also the more sensible information about the
provenance, as well as to his customers in whose he trusts.

But that has to be left solely to the seller! Now to build up a pressure,
that everyone has kindly to publish his sources, is wrong.
Hi Greg, where do you have your NWA 5000 from?
Mike, I can't find, on your hp, the source of your Martians...

Uncle, "fool" is a hard word, "enthusiast" sounds more proper.
Those who are dealing meteorites are driven by their enthusiasms, there
exist a thousand easier ways to earn one's bread and butter.

And I really can't understand, where suddenly all those suspicions are
coming from, the fears to be burnt, and the imagination it would be normal,
that sellers wouldn't have nothing else in mind, than to exploit and to
cheat their collectors. Hey folks, we are meteorite collectors and not on a
cattle-market in Tirana!!!

It never was like this, the meteorite-scene was always based on a respectful
and friendly acquaintance in a trust- and respectful atmosphere.
Last but not least because it was and it is so small, handy and
straightforward.

Shall one or two single shady amateurs like an Evans now be enough, to cast
doubts on all that?

Honestly, that isn't my perception of meteorite collecting & trading, what
for an image seems to be drawn here.
(And almost I wrote, that these, who think, that collecting meteorites would
be so dangerous and that the scene would be so full of dishonest people,
that they are simply in the - for them - wrong field of collecting).

I think a campaign is necessary, before some sellers decide to leave:

Love your sellers!

We need buttons, caps, coffee mugs - who will bake a cake?

Sometimes I ask myself...is it only me...??
Martin





-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von
Alexander Seidel
Gesendet: Montag, 14. April 2008 15:46
An: Impactika at aol.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] By Popular Demand................

> Now lets see which one of my "Colleagues" will follow suit and publish
> his sources too.

Probably not many will do, as long as they are more or less at the dealer?s
end of the line. It is all a matter of perspective. While I personally think
this is a very good idea, and would encourage you to continue this way, I am
looking at it from the viewpoint of a private collector (!) only, and not
from the viewpoint of a dealer or part-time-dealer. There is no disadvantage
for a collector to know about the provenance of a specimen - just the
opposite is true. Then again it may be a bit more complicated from a
dealer?s perspective, as Martin and Matt have already pointed out with their
arguments. Time will tell...

[P.S.: will you publish sources for your thin section list, too, Anne?]

Best regards,
Alex
Berlin/Germany
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Received on Mon 14 Apr 2008 12:28:17 PM PDT