[meteorite-list] The Trials and Tribulations in Dealing with Lando wners

From: Michael Gilmer <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:33:52 -0500
Message-ID: <AANLkTimQ6fyCU12Mzi_uu_yKsrr+B1H4LxboBthcx53g_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Martin,

No worries. Take the pill that is filled with lunar dust and your
senses will return. ;)

The anti-collector attitude that you speak of is a common affliction
in society today - not just with meteorites. What I mean is this -
sometimes it is much easier to point fingers at others than it is to
search within one's self and point the finger inwards or towards
something we cherish. How many times is a person cornered by
irrefutable logic and that person refuses the logical conclusion and
continues to repeat their tired and broken argument, rather than
concede defeat or fault? It happens in politics, religion, and
culture - so why not meteorites?

The great, dirty, unwashed, under-educated, masses of laymen make a
much better target than the foibles of science itself, or the mistakes
of curators, or the prejudices of elitists. Point the finger at the
collector and what can he do in response? Not much. The collector is
not tenured, doesn't have a post-hole-digger (PhD), and certainly has
no grad students at hand to pen a perfect response.

Of course, it doesn't help the layman's cause when our brethren are
treating meteorites like common trinkets : fashioning them into
resin-coated baubles, gold plating iron slices into gaudy mockeries,
and generally treating them with disrespect. Such behavior makes all
collectors look bad by association. And it doesn't help when private
hunters lie about find coordinates, conceal coordinates for decades,
engage in illegal behavior, swindle landowners, leave cattle gates
open, etc. In academics and scientific circles, such trangressions
result in penalties that will discredit or disenfranchise the
offender. In private circles, such things are swept under the rug
and/or talked about in hushed tones on closed members-only mailing
lists.

Sometimes the stereotype has a kernel of truth hidden in it, and
sometimes the collector is the collectors' worst enemy.

The best we can do, as collectors, is build our collections using
ethical means only and to contribute to science in a positive way any
time we get the opportunity. Anything less will give more ammunition
to those who want to legislate away the ability of private people to
find, own and trade meteorites.

Best regards,

MikeG

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites

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On 2/21/11, Martin Altmann <altmann at meteorite-martin.de> wrote:
> Hi Mike,
>
> I changed my pills. And saw how stupid I am. (o.k. that isn't really new).
>
> We simply have to switch the perspective!
>
> 10 years ago, if a dealer sold 1 gram of Moon in a month and nothing else,
> than he had a good life,
> and when he did so 15 years ago, a very very good one.
> Or 10grams of a howardite per month, and his children were proud on their
> daddy.
>
> Today 10g Howardite bring you 100 lousy bucks and 1g Moon 1000$ without
> costs yet and before taxes.
>
> Nothing more to say about the good ol'times...
>
> ...and there STILL some curators exist who seriously state, that commercial
> trade and private hunting/collecting would cause damage to science
>
> and that especially in these very times they wouldn't be able to compete
> anymore because of the privateers making meteorites so unaffordable for
> them.
>
> Unbelievable - but you can read that everywhere.
> And that makes any discussion so difficult, because you'd have to start at
> zero, at the basics with them.
>
> (And I thought natural science would have to do something with exact figures
> and numbers :-)
>
> And I bet a Martian main mass, that after they have brought the find rates
> so down with their prohibition,
> that meteorites will cost then 10, 20, 30 times more than today,
> that they will then again pass the buck to the dealers/hunters/collectors
> making them responsible for the horrible prices. You'll see!
>
> Good Night!
> Martin
>
>
> -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Michael Gilmer [mailto:meteoritemike at gmail.com]
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 22. Februar 2011 01:35
> An: Martin Altmann
> Cc: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] The Trials and Tribulations in Dealing with
> Lando wners
>
> Hi Martin, Steve and List,
>
> Martin said - "This we will hear in a hundred-voiced chorus in 10
> years from now about the
> period of 2000-2010, the REAL golden times of meteoritics..."
>
> So true. And this illustrates the gap (Grand Canyon sometimes)
> between the pre-NWA collectors and the newer class of collectors who
> have graduated from NWA university.
>
> As a meteorite collector, my third purchase was a lunar. I bought a
> micro crumb of NWA 3163 for the amazing sum of $4. How many
> collectors from the "golden age" had a lunar in their hands within
> weeks of beginning to collect?
>
> There is always a certain romanticism for days gone by and the
> meteorite world is not immune to that same nostalgia. Older things
> from older times are always somehow better than the same thing that
> appeared yesterday. I feel that way when I hear the music kids are
> listening to today. Surely Led Zeppelin is better than Justin Bieber
> right? Surely a classic Shelby Cobra is better than a 2010 Dodge
> Charger? And Rocket Richard's goals were prettier and more skillful
> than those of Sidney Crosby or Steven Stamkos, right?
>
> I won't argue against anything Steve said in his reply about
> meteorites and the market. Those were indeed heady times and I wish I
> could have experienced them - to buy specimens from David New via
> telephone. But, I am fully cognizant that we are living in the
> greatest age of meteorites ever. Only in the last 10-15 years has the
> internet, social networking, email, and the hot deserts combined to
> make a perfect storm for collectors. Ordering meteorites today is
> like ordering Chinese take-out from the menu - 2 howardites, a
> brachinite, an olivine diogenite, a Martian, and a side order of fried
> rice please!
>
> Many years from now, the new collectors will look back on the NWA Gold
> Rush and genuinely pine for the old days. Today, we do it because
> it's expected and it sounds good.
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG
>
>
>
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--

Received on Mon 21 Feb 2011 09:33:52 PM PST