[meteorite-list] Fake moon and mars meteorite NWA's

From: info at moonmarsrocks.com <info_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:15:22 -0700
Message-ID: <20120607161522.b86ea499b59be1b7298b47d2f1127a77.7f84f95dea.wbe_at_email13.secureserver.net>

Hi Rob,
 
Thanks for your note.
 
One of the problems with the steelhorse1994 fakes is the guy was for the
most part targeting lower end gift shoppers by pricing auctions at a
penny to start and ending up selling 25mg rocks in a nice display for an
average of $17. When I did the statistics on his average sale price, I
knew something was wrong. He couldn't have sold a 1000 displays and
stayed in business with that kind of pricing. On a good day, the cost of
just the meteorite sample that size exceeds $17. Then add in ebay fees,
paypal fees, material costs, shipping costs, etc. It didn't add up,
unless of course he was grabbing granite rocks from his backyard!
 
The other side of this ripoff coin is this: I had a customer tell me
recently that she and her son were at Knots Berry Farm last week where
they saw "genuine" moon & mars rock displays similar to the ones I sell,
and they wanted $400 for the pair! She and her 8 year old were thrilled
to find mine on ebay and a $350 difference.
 
Your point on being careful about what and from whom you buy is well
taken, especially at the collector level where bigger pieces and bigger
prices are involved. But, the average Jane and Joe gift shoppers were
perfect foils for this fraud, which is why we all have to be diligent
about policing what we see around us on in our marketplace.
 
Best regards,
 
Daniel

 

Daniel Noyes
info at moonmarsrocks.com
www.moonmarsrocks.com

 
 
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Fake moon and mars meteorite NWA's
From: Rob McCafferty <rob_mccafferty at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, June 07, 2012 3:20 pm
To: info at moonmarsrocks.com, meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

Hi list

I would like to thank everyone for this informative thread. I have not
bought any lunar/martian meteorites for quite a few years now but as the
owner of a decent collection of planetaries, bought from a small number
reputable dealers whom you will all know well that i(we) trust
implicitly, it's nice to be kept up to date on the frauds out there.

I display my modest collection frequently and often loan them out to
museums and i'm often asked the usual questions, "how do i know they're
real" and "can anyone buy them".

My advice has always been to do you're homework thoroughly before taking
any chances since you are paying a lot of money for not a lot of
material. Following this thread, I now know to give explicit warnings to
people and what to watch for.
So many thanks

Rob
Received on Thu 07 Jun 2012 07:15:22 PM PDT