[meteorite-list] For the record - I do not buy unsolicitedmeteorites from unknown sellers

From: al mitt <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:47:17 -0400
Message-ID: <2F51EA7DCAE1405EB83B35F00A2EFBAC_at_StarmanPC>

Hi Mike and all,

The problem we have today in collecting is the few dishonest
collectors/dealers who purposely sell items they know aren't the real McCoy.
It gets sold to Tom, or Steve and they sell it or trade it and it ends up in
another collection and then maybe a few years later, they trade for a larger
specimen and so the fraud piece then ends up in someone else's collection,
maybe a nice person who would never do anything wrong but not knowing they
have a NWA and not some historical piece they thought they bought.

I too buy from reliable sources (always have and always will) or have got my
material from museum trades and so forth. I think with the unreasonable
perception of meteorite value, we're going to have a lot of bad items
floating around with people trying to sell them.

There are some less than experienced new collectors out there that buy in
good faith. Most deals are solid but if they don't know who the bad guys are
then they may buy material that is misrepresented. Buy from dealers who have
been around for a while or an IMCA dealer.

Do some research on the meteorite list in the search archives spot. Type in
misrepresented meteorite, fraud, arrrest, judgement or something like Caveat
Emptor. You'll find out some useful information.

--AL Mitterling


----- Original Message -----
From: "Galactic Stone & Ironworks" <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 4:20 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] For the record - I do not buy
unsolicitedmeteorites from unknown sellers


> Hi List and Lurkers,
>
> For the record, let me clearly state - I do NOT buy meteorites from
> strangers. I don't care how you found it, where you found it, or what
> other people told you about it. I'm not interested.
>
> Over the last week I have received no less than 20 emails (most copy
> pasted to several other dealers) from people with strange specimens
> that are obviously not meteorites. I am not trying to be unfriendly
> or harsh here, but please take 10 minutes to surf the web and read up
> on the basics of meteorites. A few simple Google searches will tell
> you that your vesicle-covered lava rock is not a meteorite. A simple
> streak test will reveal that your specimen is hematite or magnetite.
> If a person is not willing to do a small amount of homework before
> bombarding me with multiple spam offers, then don't expect a reply
> from me. I just don't have the time or inclination to carry on a
> discussion with every person who finds a weird rock. I've tried many
> times over the years to give thoughtful and helpful advice to people
> who send me these emails and the majority of these people ignore what
> I say and then contact several other dealers in the hopes that someone
> will buy their story and rock. If a person doesn't trust my
> assessment of their specimen, then why contact me in the first
> place?......it's because they didn't do their homework on me either.
>
> I am a small potatoes dealer - even if your weird specimen turns out
> to be a rare meteorite, I cannot afford to buy it, unless it's offered
> for less than $100 with free shipping, regardless of size - this also
> goes for basketball-sized lunars that have been verified by a
> MS-approved lab. I'm just not in the market to buy such meteorites.
>
> I have a handful of trusted sources that I get my material from.
> These sources are reliable with spotless reputations and I have a long
> history of doing business with them. If I am going to buy a meteorite
> from anyone, it's going to be one of my regular sources - not some guy
> in Laos, a prison guard, or anyone else who is not a MS or IMCA
> member.
>
> To anyone reading this who has found a possible meteorite - go to
> these websites and do your homework before contacting a meteorite
> dealer :
>
> http://meteorite-identification.com/index.htm
>
> http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htm
>
> http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm
>
> http://meteorites.wustl.edu/what_to_do.htm
>
> http://www.meteoritemarket.com/metid1.htm
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite
>
> If after reading these links, you still think you have a meteorite,
> please contact anyone else but me - unless I win the lottery and later
> retract this statement. LOL
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG
Received on Sat 14 Aug 2010 04:47:17 PM PDT