[meteorite-list] provenance

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:54:01 +0100
Message-ID: <006d01cceb84$b21bd280$16537780$_at_de>

Hmm Don & Doug,

if you have such concerns about provenance,
you could easily avoid the sorrows.

A meteorite is born, when it is published in the Bulletin.

So be the second link in the chain.

Buy NWAs from the main mass holder given in the Bulletin
and Oman and new U.S.-desert finds from the finders listed there.
Provenance at its best.

That's the true revolution in pedigree-specimens-collecting.
Not possible to that degree for 200 years.
Be for following generations the seed leaf in the family tree of a
meteorite.

Best,
Martin


-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] Im Auftrag von
MexicoDoug
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 15. Februar 2012 02:26
An: dmerchan at rochester.rr.com; countdeiro at earthlink.net;
jasonutas at gmail.com; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Ebay heads up - Tissint/Scarborough

Don M wrote:

"A provenance can be traced to the former owner and more questions can
then be brought up on the specimens validity."

Hi Don,

Have you noticed lately we are seeing a number of dealers advertising
spectacular falls in micro for weekl on the list? Every time I get
excited just to see, Oh, another hammer job... not my cup of tea but
delicious anyway.

I noticed you had some very nice sub-gram material from Rob Elliot in
your last advertised auctions on the list. Now, whenever someone buys
a 3 gram specimen from poor Rob and takes the hammer to it, do we get
included a free conversation with him that he gave a good deal on it to
someone who then proceeded to smash it into a hundred pieces and now as
the piece's grandpa has inherited the responsibility to take everyone
by the hand, intelligent and "not so much", to explain how the material
was originally acquired from the BM? In my opinion, certainly not!
The prime sources for this material can't be responsible for every
atomic sized piece that falls off the end of a hammer when some buyer
gets the idea he is going to be a meteorite speck dealer.

I am not inferring you did the hammer maneuver, BTW, but even if you
did, regardless of what I think about micros, it is a perfectly legal
way to deal whether I like it or not and I have been tempted to bid on
your auctions sometimes when they are larger.

There can be a fine line between overdoing provenance as a marketing
gimmick and using it, in the context of a dozen other factors to make
an informed purchase. From your passion and enthusiasm, I suspect
keeping provenance sacred is of prime importance.

However, unfortunately the authorities to be still aren't issuing
meteorite birth certificates, although some have come frightfully close
as of late (frightfully, I say because this new strategy completely
excludes me as a primary customer due to the price tag attached, all
the while kilos are stockpiled for someone's self-directed retirement
account. [Now, that I respect, but it strikes me as greedy - note to
Doug: put this statement in the opinion section, you have no right to
imply this is bad form until you, Doug, are faced with your own private
Esquel])

I applaud your enthusiasm but do ask you to consider alternate
situations which don't fit your concept of a meteorite passing from
hand to hand in a neat little chain, since this is a very complicated
can of sardines that doesn't lend itself to blanket statements. As we
all know a chain is as strong as its weakest link, and if someone is
dishonest it really becomes an issue for independent scientific
verification - because then and only then - the stone must speak. No
pile of papers unless photo documented in a Dewey decimal system is
beyond a con artist's talent in this day and you must come to grips
that sometimes asking to see the pier and stilt foundations of an old
houseboat isn't going to happen, even while falling in love with the
updated cabinetry in the kitchen!

The bottom line is, the buyer has the right and obligation to his own
wallet to make his own valuation and not lose his head in a speculative
excitement. A set of provenance tags works in some cases, but in most
cases it doesn't.

That was intended to be more analytical than opinionated. Now let me
give my opinion:

Micros should *never* be purchased for a higher $/g rate than macro
specimens. While I always wince when hearing how I must do something
to guarantee the future of my children, if I could figure a way to do
this, l would say the same thing. Maybe that's one of the
non-scientific reasons I am so in love with the Tatahouine meteorite.
When you break it - it's worth less, and it is refreshing to know that
except for a few talented slicer folk out there experimenting with
sections, most of the large pieces will be conserved for posterity,
always convincingly recognizable, and this, because the market
determined value the way *I said*. Ok, now I apologize, I understand I
am lucky to be participating in the meteorite world and I have a debt
of gratitude so great to all of my peers and giants before me, that I
am not entitled to preach this thought to other good people doing an
honest day's work.

Kindest wishes
Doug
PS flame away ;-)
______________________________________________

Visit the Archives at
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Tue 14 Feb 2012 08:54:01 PM PST