[meteorite-list] Newcomers and the Meteorite world

From: Richard Kowalski <damoclid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:31:26 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <213441.84528.qm_at_web113616.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

Good question Greg.
Interesting answers so far too.

I'll comment as someone who collects and has never been a dealer. 20 or so years ago when I started collecting coins, I found that most of the better dealers were the ones that collected as well. They had the knowledge and enthusiasm of a collector and often understood the mentality of the collector better than those who were just out to sell.

I found that many of these better collector/dealers would collect something other than what they sold. For instance, they sold Morgan Dollars, but their personal collecting was Half Cents. If noticed this a bit with meteorite dealers who collect. I recently was visiting a local dealer who is focusing his personal collecting on rare falls. Not exactly what he is necessarily known for selling, but you could see how excited he was in by his micros, even though he had much larger and attractive specimens in stock that I was drooling over.

I would imagine that most dealers got their start as a way to fund their collecting, and I suspect that almost all collect something, even if their collecting habits are not meteorites.

--
Richard Kowalski
Full Moon Photography
IMCA #1081
      

Received on Sun 15 Aug 2010 09:31:26 PM PDT