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

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2011 03:10:15 +0100
Message-ID: <00c101cbd235$a55bfd40$f013f7c0$_at_de>

Hi Mike,

I changed my pills. And saw how stupid I am. (o.k. that isn't really new).

We simply have to switch the perspective!

10 years ago, if a dealer sold 1 gram of Moon in a month and nothing else,
than he had a good life,
and when he did so 15 years ago, a very very good one.
Or 10grams of a howardite per month, and his children were proud on their
daddy.

Today 10g Howardite bring you 100 lousy bucks and 1g Moon 1000$ without
costs yet and before taxes.

Nothing more to say about the good ol'times...

...and there STILL some curators exist who seriously state, that commercial
trade and private hunting/collecting would cause damage to science

and that especially in these very times they wouldn't be able to compete
anymore because of the privateers making meteorites so unaffordable for
them.

Unbelievable - but you can read that everywhere.
And that makes any discussion so difficult, because you'd have to start at
zero, at the basics with them.

(And I thought natural science would have to do something with exact figures
and numbers :-)

And I bet a Martian main mass, that after they have brought the find rates
so down with their prohibition,
that meteorites will cost then 10, 20, 30 times more than today,
that they will then again pass the buck to the dealers/hunters/collectors
making them responsible for the horrible prices. You'll see!

Good Night!
Martin


-----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 09:10:15 PM PST