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

From: Stuart McDaniel <actionshooting_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:45:35 -0400
Message-ID: <EA45EA8C5DDF4C83A96442ED7D430807_at_toshibauser>

Hey Mike, I got this rock.....................











(JK)







LOL!!








Stuart McDaniel
Lawndale, NC
Secr.,
Cleve. Co. Astronomical Society
----- Original Message -----
From: "Galactic Stone & Ironworks" <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
To: "al mitt" <almitt at kconline.com>
Cc: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] For the record - I do not buy
unsolicitedmeteorites from unknown sellers


> 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
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
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Received on Sat 14 Aug 2010 08:45:35 PM PDT