[meteorite-list] The Trials and Tribulations in Dealing with Lando wners

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 02:14:30 +0100
Message-ID: <00bc01cbd22d$dbde95b0$939bc110$_at_de>

Hi Mike,

each time has its people, its meteorites and its stories.
And it's very important IMHO to know and to remember the stories.

Look Mike, if only those strange people trying to ban and to regulate every
meteoritic activities would know these stories!!

Then we wouldn't have all that destructive protectionism.

No natural obstacle exists, that we couldn't prolong the Most Golden Period
of 2000-2010 to 2020, 2030, 2040.
And we all get sick about these few, who want to prevent that,
but we haven't found any medication yet.

Perhaps it needs someone who is an expert for these old stories as well as
for our times,
who should travel to the collections of the World.
On the right he would take the curator, no matter whether collector-hater or
not, by the hand and to the left side by the hand perhaps a meteoricist from
a country, which has no remarkable collection yet.

And then he would dander with them through the exhibition and through the
depot.....watching all the meteorites.

And he would ask both: Now is that great or is it great?!

Then they would nod in agreement.

And then he would say to the curator:

See, all that happened without any law.
And you can have even more than that, as long as there won't be a law.

And to the other guest: You can have that too in your country, if you avoid
to get a meteorite law.

And he would travel all around the Globe.
>From country to country.
And all would dwell in a wealth of new meteorites
And all they lived happily ever after.


A strange dream.
Mike - I think I have the wrong medication......

;-)
Martin


Hmm perhaps a basic introductory seminar for curators/scientists at a MetSoc
meeting could be useful.
"Meteorite market for Meteoricists, Part I."

Part II. would be then about history.

-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Michael Gilmer [mailto:meteoritemike at gmail.com]
Gesendet: Dienstag, 22. Februar 2011 01:35
An: Martin Altmann
Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] The Trials and Tribulations in Dealing with
Lando wners

Hi Martin, Steve and List,

Martin said - "This we will hear in a hundred-voiced chorus in 10
years from now about the
period of 2000-2010, the REAL golden times of meteoritics..."

So true. And this illustrates the gap (Grand Canyon sometimes)
between the pre-NWA collectors and the newer class of collectors who
have graduated from NWA university.

As a meteorite collector, my third purchase was a lunar. I bought a
micro crumb of NWA 3163 for the amazing sum of $4. How many
collectors from the "golden age" had a lunar in their hands within
weeks of beginning to collect?

There is always a certain romanticism for days gone by and the
meteorite world is not immune to that same nostalgia. Older things
from older times are always somehow better than the same thing that
appeared yesterday. I feel that way when I hear the music kids are
listening to today. Surely Led Zeppelin is better than Justin Bieber
right? Surely a classic Shelby Cobra is better than a 2010 Dodge
Charger? And Rocket Richard's goals were prettier and more skillful
than those of Sidney Crosby or Steven Stamkos, right?

I won't argue against anything Steve said in his reply about
meteorites and the market. Those were indeed heady times and I wish I
could have experienced them - to buy specimens from David New via
telephone. But, I am fully cognizant that we are living in the
greatest age of meteorites ever. Only in the last 10-15 years has the
internet, social networking, email, and the hot deserts combined to
make a perfect storm for collectors. Ordering meteorites today is
like ordering Chinese take-out from the menu - 2 howardites, a
brachinite, an olivine diogenite, a Martian, and a side order of fried
rice please!

Many years from now, the new collectors will look back on the NWA Gold
Rush and genuinely pine for the old days. Today, we do it because
it's expected and it sounds good.

Best regards,

MikeG
Received on Mon 21 Feb 2011 08:14:30 PM PST