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

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:19:28 -0400
Message-ID: <AANLkTinONdnK7YrAG2eNQ4HpkzWFxuTJv0fcVsa5_Yk6_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Al and List,

I didn't mean to come across as pissy in my original post. But it
does irritate me a bit when people won't do basic homework.

For example, if a person finds a possible rare Elvis collectible at a
garage sale, that person should not immediately go to an Elvis mailing
list or message board and start pestering people to identify it,
appraise it, and buy it. The correct course of action would be to go
home, get on the internet and do some research. Look for similar
items, check the sales history of such items, check for signs that the
item is a fake, etc. Once that is done, if questions remain, then go
out and contact an "expert" or ask for help.

I'm not one of those RTFM people. I understand that newbies need help
with the complexities of the meteorite market and the science of
meteoritics. But I am seeing a laziness here where people have
something that is *obviously* not a meteorite and a 2-minute Google
search would reveal that fact. Sure, they have no way of knowing at
first, but one trip to Dr. Korotev's Gallery of Meteorwrongs would put
the question to rest in 99% of cases. And how does one find a site
like Dr. Korotev's? Simple, ask Google. A simple search query of
"meteorite identification" will yield a wealth of useful information
including photos and tests that can be conducted by any layman. If
people would do that, they would save themselves a bunch of time,
trouble and dashed hopes - and they would save the rest of us some
time also.

I have one person who has emailed me repeatedly over a course of
months - telling me the same story over and over again. He sends me
the same photo attachments, again and again. And I have politely told
him that his specimen is likely not a meteorite and I pointed him to
Dr. Korotev's website and a few other sources of information. I also
told him, that if he wants to be 100% certain, he should take it to a
university and have either a geologist or a qualified person to look
at it. Instead, he will go away for a few days, send the same emails
to a dozen other dealers, and then finally come back to me with the
same story again. I wonder how many times his story has ended up in
our inboxes and how many times that members of this list have taken
the time to be helpful and explain things to him. It's almost like
this person has some kind of "brain block" and they cannot process any
information that says their specimen may not be a meteorite. I
finally had to block the person's email address, but he keeps sending
emails about the same specimen to other dealers.

The internet has been a mixed blessing for doing research. It's very
easy to go online and receive a schooling on any subject in the world.
 And, unfortunately, it's easier to go online and ask somebody else to
do your research for you. I'm not expecting newbies to identify their
own specimens, but I do expect people to do the most basic and
fundamental homework before they start bombarding dealers and
collectors with repetitious emails that amount to spam.

And then there are the ones who get downright ANGRY if you try to help
them out. Some people are convinced they have a meteorite and if you
tell them otherwise, then you are suddenly trying to rip them off and
steal their valuable meteorite - even if there is no offer to buy it.
I've had people tell me to go have sexual congress with myself because
I dared to say that their moqui marble is not a meteorite.

I like to be helpful and I enjoy helping eager newbies get started in
the hobby. All I ask is that people do a little homework first, and
not expect other people to do all of the work for you. Afterall,
there is no better reading than meteorite articles, books and papers.
Who in their right mind wouldn't want to read about meteorites??! I
can spend all day reading abstracts and articles about meteorites - of
course, that makes me a total nerd. LOL

Meteorite Men has been a mixed blessing. It has brought a new wave of
people into the hobby and many of them are good people. But it has
also brought out the loonies and scammers - like the guy who mailed
his toliet plunger to Adam Hupe and insisted that it was a CM2 just
like Sonny's. That was after the same guy emailed me and a dozen
other dealers about his toliet plunger. And when Adam told him the
object was not a meteorite, the guy went off the deep end. This is
another reason why I closely guard my telephone number. LOL.... Well,
that and I have social anxiety and I am very weird about talking on
the phone until I get to know a person. (some of you know this)

So please people, if you have found a suspected meteorite, before you
get your hopes up and starting contact dealers, go to the website
links I have provided and see if your specimen is a common
meteorwrong. And if you do ask an "expert" about your specimen, and
that expert says your rock is not a meteorite, don't get mad and
badmouth that dealer before emailing a dozen other dealers about it.

There are correct ways to go about things, and I have a weird
meteorwrong sitting on my desk right now. A stranger sent it to me at
my request. It was one of those rare cases where the specimen
actually looked (and acted) like it could be a meteorite. I cut and
polished a window into the specimen and confirmed that it was not a
meteorite. The guy was very interested in what I had to say, was very
congenial, and even sent me $10 cash to cover my trouble - which I
didn't ask for. I am going to mail it back, along with a couple of
real meteorites and a back issue of MAPS. This guy seems genuinely
interested in meteorites now and he is probably going to end up being
a collector or list-member. But, he also did his homework first
before contacting me, and that much was obvious, because his specimen
looked like a meteorite, passed the streak test, was attracted to a
magnet and was very heavy for it's size. It turned out to be a slag.

Ok, my rant is over. LOL

Best regards,

MikeG

------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites
http://www.galactic-stone.com
http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
------------------------------------------------------------




On 8/14/10, al mitt <almitt at kconline.com> wrote:
> 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 08:19:28 PM PDT