[meteorite-list] What private collector has the most localities?

From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:45:49 -0400
Message-ID: <CAKBPJW_-C-K02eE8Y30zaL4gLj3byxgr8ko0W6iJJwtR9LW2vg_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi List,

Some very interesting replies, here and in private. I want to thank
everyone for indulging me on this question.

A couple of thoughts about specimen "viability" or "validity" in terms
of size. As someone who deals mostly in sub-gram micromounts, I have
had a lot of dealings with collectors who purchase tiny micro crumbs
and specks. In my experience, I have not met any collectors who
acquire tiny specimens by choice. I have never met a collector who
could afford a larger specimen, but turned it down to buy a speck.
100% of the time, in my experience, the buyers of sub-gram micros are
constrained by economics. I'm sure all of them (myself included)
would love to collect only large 1kg specimens, or at least something
big enough to see and handle without using tweezers and a loupe. But,
many of us have to choose between buying food or gasoline, and buying
meteorites, so rather than forgo having a given specimen in our
cabinets, we'd like to have *something* represented in our
collections, so we purchase low-cost, sub-gram micros.

Having said that, a collection of 1000 localities represented solely
by crumbs and specks, is never going to compare to a 50 or 100
locality collection comprised of macros or large specimens. But, that
is all some of us can hope for (crumbs), so we cling to our checklist
of localities and take pride in having as many specimens as possible,
even if they are tiny and of little scientific or monetary value - it
is what these crumbs represent, not what they are.

When my own collection peaked at over 100 localities, over half of
those specimens were sub-gram micros. I was slowly in the process of
upgrading the micros to larger macros, when I had to sell off the
entire kit and kaboodle to keep bill collectors from harassing me
mercilessly. Now I only collect very specific types of specimens,
regardless of size - very rare classifications, historicals, hammers,
and larger aesthetic pieces. Many of these are specks. I'm not
satisfied with them, but they are stop-gap measures until I can build
another collection with larger pieces. And I am not alone in that
respect apparently, because these specks and crumbs are flying out the
door faster than I can acquire them. There is a hungry market of
financially-limited collectors who want a meteorite represented in
their collection, regardless of how small the specimen is. I'm happy
to help them out in that regard, because I am in the same boat as
them. And to throw them (and myself) a bone, I'd like to include them
on my curiosity leaderboard of collection numbers. :)

So far, in private, a few collectors have admitted to having 2000 to
3000+ specimens and localities in their collections. Almost all of
those collections have a sizeable number of sub-gram micros - because
even the wealthiest collector would be sore-pressed to amass that many
localities represented by big grapefruit-sized specimens. So by
virtue of necessity, we have to include the speck collectors when it
comes to ranking collections by overall number of localities. It
doesn't make these speck collections more valuable or interesting than
the larger pieces, it just gives them a place in the greater spectrum
of collectors.

Best regards,

MikeG

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Galactic Stone & Ironworks - MikeG
Web: http://www.galactic-stone.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GalacticStone
RSS: http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516
-----------------------------------------------------------
On 3/21/12, John Lutzon <jl at hc.fdn.com> wrote:
> Hello Al, Mike and All,
>
> I'm not sure that I can spell subjectivity.
>
> However, I do have the difinitive answer....my ailing mother has the best
> collection. Everyone knows her and her name as she has been very generous
> with her giving ways to all of us, such as O, H2O and countless food
> compounds.
>
> The word is, one of her sons, me, has the next best collection. She has many
> daughters and sons that have made this same claim---THEY'RE WRONG!!
>
> John L
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <almitt2 at localnet.com>
> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 4:33 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] What private collector has the most
> localities?
>
>
> Hi Mike and all,
>
> There are speck collections, micro collections, macro collections, and
> on up. I tend to collect in the 200 gram range myself but have
> specimens as large as 20kg range and small as 1/4 gram.
>
> Someone could have a speck collection totaling 400 to 800. It would be
> harder to collect the same in the other ranges and as the collection
> size goes up. To me a collection piece has to be large enough to be
> scientifically valuable.
>
> Bottom line, someone could boast the most collection pieces and maybe
> only have 50 or 60 grams total weight. A collection like some that you
> mentioned could weigh in at several thousand pounds or well over
> 1,500,000 grams.
>
> I'd define collections by size type and number of specimens in them for
> a more realistic composition count on collections. Just my thinking.
>
> --AL Mitterling
>
> Quoting Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike at gmail.com>:
>
>> Hi List,
>>
>> This is a curiosity-based question. I know many list members have
>> outstanding and enviable collections. The Hupes, Farmer,
> Cottingham,
>> Strope, and Kilgore come to mind as dealers/collectors who have
> insane
>> collections of meteorites that most collectors would drool over.
> Main
>> masses, football-sized planetaries, coffee-table sized slabs of
>> pallasite, and historical rarities populate many high-end
> collections.
>>
>> But, what I am curious about is - number of localities. What
>> collector has the most localities represented in their collection?
>> This number could include sub-gram micros, so I am thinking that
> the
>> "biggest" collection (in terms of localities and not specimen size)
>> might not belong to one of the obvious heavyweights we would
> expect.
>>
>> If there was a leaderboard for number of localities, who would be
>> sitting on top of that list?
>>
>> Using the EOM website as a rough guide, it seems that Gerald
> Armstrong
>> has an impressive catalog of localities. But not every major
>> collector uses the EOM, so who is top dog?
>>
>> For the record, my own collection numbers about 80 localities.
> This
>> number fluctuates frequently because my collection has a high
> turnover
>> rate, and I have had to sell off my entire collection three times
> to
>> pay bills. My locality count has dipped as low as 10 and peaked as
>> high as 130. Of course, this is small potatoes. LOL.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> MikeG
>>
>> --
>> -----------------------------------------------------------
>> Galactic Stone & Ironworks - MikeG
>>
>> Web: http://www.galactic-stone.com
>> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
>> Twitter: http://twitter.com/GalacticStone
>> RSS: http://www.galactic-stone.com/rss/126516
>> -----------------------------------------------------------
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>
>
>
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Received on Thu 22 Mar 2012 12:45:49 PM PDT