[meteorite-list] Michael Casper

From: mexicodoug at aim.com <mexicodoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:18:41 -0400
Message-ID: <8CA574C6418C921-7D0-2518_at_webmail-nc15.sysops.aol.com>

Steve, do you mean the world's tallest?

As for Michael Casper: He was(is?) the 'adjunct curator' (there was no
chief curator) of the meteorite collection at Cornell, held by SPIF.
Just ask Rick Kline at Cornell's Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility
(SPIF). I am sure he could comment on the details of interest. Like
whether it was an informal title or official within the University.

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/research/projects/SPIF//INVENTORY/105meteorites.html

They need to do a little updating of their website...seems mostly
dormant since 2005, but it is the University website.

Can anyone tell us details of exactly how Michael Casper
'singlehandedly' destroyed the artificially high price level of
diogenites (was it Bilanga because it sure sounds like it, this must
have been a heartbreaking situation for many?) by undercutting the
market in ca. 1999?* More detailes on the 2000 space.com articles that
featured some of our favorite restauranteers, college students,
plumbers, and photographers...

Best wishes from the eye of the hurricane gusts - what a welcome home
today! If you are in South Texas make sure you chain down your
meteorites incase they become airborne - it's comin' your way.



from space.com:
*Casper's business practices occasionally irritate other meteorite
dealers. He is willing to sell large pieces at prices well below the
prevailing market value for that particular meteorite. He did that
recently with a rare and exotic type of meteorite called diogenite,
much to the irritation of other dealers who were holding large amounts
of the rare type and seeking a price between $40 and $60 per gram.
With one sale of several pounds of diogenite at a price that some
report to be about half the market value, Casper single-handedly cut
the world price of diogenite meteorites, critics say. "It just goes to
show you, if you think you got it all, you better do some research,"
said stalwart meteorite dealer Robert Haag. Haag is one of the few
dealers who have been buying and selling meteorites for more than 20
years. The people who were stung when Casper undercut the market were
those who misjudged the availability of diogenite in light of several
recent finds, Haag said. "The guys that held it too long blew it. They
blew it," he said. "Because one guy had 7 kilos stashed away in
Belgium, and he didn't want anybody to know about it. But in the
meantime another 25 kilos has been pieced out and distributed." It led
to a price war that ended with a buyer's market for diogenite, Haag
said. It could ultimately help everybody who wasn't left holding a box
of it. For Casper it was just good business: buy low, and unload fast
for a profit. To a large degree, the meteorite market is a speculator's
business, a fact that other dealers acknowledge is just a part of life
in the meteorite trade. You can't count on the fact that any price will
be kept artificially high to protect other trader's investments.





-----Original Message-----
From: MeteorHntr at aol.com
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 1:02 pm
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Michael Casper



And I thought Mike and Bill Jensen were the world's largest meteorite
dealers?

Steve


In a message dated 3/18/2008 1:43:13 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
meteoriteguy at yahoo.com writes:
It IS NOT TRUE, he lives near Cornell, and traded/sold
them specimens. He also came on the scene, and within
about a week proclaimed himself the worlds largest
meteorite dealer. People can say anything they want,
that doesnt make it true.
Mike




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Received on Tue 18 Mar 2008 04:18:41 PM PDT