[meteorite-list] Movie uses

From: Notkin <geoking_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:45:01 -0700
Message-ID: <309DBA7C-EA8D-4195-A073-5DA982D0341A_at_notkin.net>

Guido posted:

> Would somebody tell me what earthly good does it do for the monetary
> value (usually grossly inflated) of meteorites to be publicized to
> an unsophisticated public


Dear Guido, Adam, and Listees:

This topic has been discussed before, and explained clearly and in
some detail by my co-host Steve. Since it's come up yet again, I am
happy to share my perspective.

I agree with Guido to some degree. Although I am a full-time meteorite
hunter and dealer, I typically do not sell pieces that I find. They
have a value to me that's greater than money, and I'm in this business
because I love space rocks. In the "Meteorite Men" pilot there were
only a couple of brief mentions of the value of our finds. In the
later episodes a decision was made (not by us) to display approximate
cash values of our finds on the screen. Steve and I do our best to
make an engaging, informative and entertaining show, but
determinations about what appears on screen are entirely the purview
of our network.

The reasoning for including cash values on the show goes something
like this: As meteorite enthusiasts and professionals we all know,
roughly, how much a 50-gram Buzzard Coulee is worth on the collectors'
market. On the other hand, an audience of millions of laypersons sees
Steve or myself pick a little black rock up from a cornfield and to
them it's just a little black rock, unless the value is explained. I
hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the show is not being made for the
microcosm of meteorite collectors, but for the world at large.

"Meteorite Men" fan mail is directed to my office, and I have received
a number of comments (interestingly enough, every one of them from
meteorite people or geologists) stating that they didn't much care for
the way in which the monetary value of meteorites is presented on
screen. I forwarded those comments to our executives for their
consideration. Unfortunately, we live in a society where money is what
most people are most interested in. I've been fielding phone calls for
well over a decade from people who think they've found a meteorite,
and one of the first questions typically is, and always has been: "How
much is it worth?" This is nothing new! And when professional hunters,
high-end collectors, or enthusiastic amateurs come into my showroom in
Tucson to look at meteorites, the first thing most ask is: "How much
does this one cost?" So let's be realistic here, and not pretend that
the financial values of meteorites are unimportant.

I wasn't sure if Guido's comments about "usually grossly inflated"
referred to our show, or media stories in general. There certainly
have been an abundance of news stories that presented inaccurate
values of meteorites and the best we can hope to do to prevent that is
educate and inform journalists.

Steve and I have been buying, selling, and finding meteorites for
about 35 years between us, and I think we have a pretty good idea of
values. The network asked us to estimate possible retail values of our
finds, and those values were mostly based on actual cash transactions
that we witnessed or took part in. An exception were the Whitecourt
Crater irons. Since no Whitecourt material had legally made it to
market, we had to guess what they might be worth. Guido is entirely
correct in one case, however: The value of the Buzzard main mass was
estimated by somebody else, without consulting us, and that value was
highly exaggerated.

I think the fact that eminent meteoriticists such Drs. Alan Rubin,
Laurence Garvie, Meenakshi Wadhwa, Chris Herd and others gave
generously of their time to appear on the show clearly demonstrates
that it's not all "bucks and Buck Rogers" -- great "Right Stuff"
reference, by the way : )

Finally, "Meteorite Men" was just given a 2010 Telly Award in the
documentary category and received stellar ratings (beating out the
Olympics and even "American Idol" -- gasp!), so I guess the public
likes it.

On to Season Two.


Respectfully,

Geoff N.

www.aerolite.org
www.meteoritemen.com
Received on Thu 24 Jun 2010 01:45:01 PM PDT