[meteorite-list] provenance

From: Adam Hupe <raremeteorites_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:03:35 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <1329278615.5012.YahooMailNeo_at_web30707.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

I noticed that the price of recent falls has plummeted.? Some were overpriced at several hundred dollars a gram for ordinary chondrites to begin with. Collector confidence in recent falls seems to be at an all time low due to a handful of bad people placing questionable material on the market.? >From what I was told by several dealers, they were having a very difficult time selling any falls, with the exception of the recent Martian fall, at the Tucson show this year. I now avoid high-priced falls and will no longer stock any.? Once my very limited inventory of them is exhausted, I will not replace them.

To me, they no longer represent a sound investment due to a few casting doubt on the rest of the good material. I will however continue to offer very rare finds, planetary material and a few very inexpensive witnessed falls.? One exception might be the new Martian Fall once the price settles in since it is unique looking and would be hard for somebody to substitute bogus material for.

The gemstone, artifact and other collectable markets have already been through this.? I was given an estimate by an authenticator that over 40% of the artifacts listed on auctions these days are fakes.? They call the people who sell them "artifakers".? I have had several artifacts killed (fail to paper) with different authentication firms so I know what it feels like to be taken. I go after these people who sold me fakes with a vengeance and usually succeed in getting a refund. There is little more that can be done. I am getting pretty good at spotting fake artifacts since there a lot of things to look for.? Meteorites are a completely different game since many are very similar in appearance.

Fortunately for artifacts and gemstones, there are a lot of decent authentication services available at reasonable costs (~US $25.00/item).? Unfortunately for meteorite collectors, it takes a laboratory with expensive equipment and a highly educated staff to paper them.? This places the burden on meteorite dealer's reputations which are being questioned more and more due to few unethical a-holes who do not care about everybody else, only themselves!_at_

Here is hoping for more positive discussion like finding that first North American lunar meteorite.

Kind Regards,

Adam
Received on Tue 14 Feb 2012 11:03:35 PM PST