[meteorite-list] Tucson Thank You & Brenham Info

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Hello List,

While this is coming a little late, I wanted to take the  opportunity to 
thank everyone that came to visit us in our room at the Inn  Suites, our booth at 
the Main Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, and the Meteor Mayhem  Birthday Bash.  
It turned out to be an amazing show for my family  (attending for the first 
time this year) and for me.

A very special  "Thank You" needs to be extended to all of you on this list 
that participated in  the positive support and "vote" that Phil and I should 
receive a special  "Peoples Choice" Harvey Award.  While the secret was out as 
soon as Greg's  initial post hit this list, and the replies started coming in, 
it was still a  great honor to receive.  

Geoff Notkin and I thought it would be  cool several years ago to start 
giving out awards at our party for a couple of  reasons. The party is a great venue 
for giving the awards since so many people  in the Meteorite Community gather 
in Tucson each year.  Geoff and I  realized early on that we really do have 
an amazing group of men and women in  our field of collecting.  It only seemed 
fit that someone attempt to  recognize these people and their great 
accomplishments.  And if it wasn't  us, then who?  The Fossil guys?  I don't think so!  
How about the  gem stone people?  Not a chance.  If it was going to be done, 
it had  to be done by someone within our field, so Geoff and I decided to run 
with  it.

We have always said that the party is around 2% about our Birthdays,  and 98% 
about an excuse for meteorite people to get together and have some  fun.  
While we like to toss in some humorous Harvey Awards at times, it  really has 
grown into a very respected event.  And this year being on the  receiving end 
really was very special.  

As I write this, I am now  back in the Brenham strewnfield area trying to tie 
up some of the loose  ends.  Things like dealing with poachers, doing a 
little more hunting  before the wheat starts growing, and of course marketing the 
specimens we have  found. 

Speaking of poachers, I think most of you know this, but I do  want to 
reiterate this just to be sure:  The Brenham specimen that was  placed into Michael 
Blood's auction then had to be removed from the auction at  the last second 
due to the fact that it was illegally poached (and the true land  owner found 
out about it and caught the poachers before it was too late), WAS  NOT one of 
our (Brenham Meteorite Company's) specimens! 

I want  everyone one to know that we have legal title on ALL of our  
specimens.   We have video footage of them coming out of the ground,  usually with the 
land owners present in the filming of the dig.  We offer  Certificates of 
Authenticity, that establish provenance for each and every  specimen.  It is our 
intention to establish and obtain a premium on our  specimens with each COA, 
just as receiving an ID car with a specimen from Wards,  AML, or AMM adds value 
to those specimens.  Only we hope that we don't have  to be long dead for 
that added value to be established.  :-)
 
Rest assured that when you buy one of our specimens, you don't have to  worry 
about an angry land owner showing up after your money is gone, demanding  his 
specimen back!

While our recovery project has garnered some great  publicity due to the 
1,430 pound find, there is more to come.  We have  hired a professional cameraman 
who has been recording each dig for our upcoming  TV documentary. Now there 
are things that could go wrong and prevent the  documentary from being 
completed, so it is not guaranteed, but it is our full  intention to press through to 
make it a reality.  This type of exposure  will only help increase the value of 
our Brenham specimens over the Non-BMC  Brenham specimens.

So keep that in mind if you are shopping for Brenham  in the future. We are 
not sure what else might get poached and brought to the  market, and of course 
there are very legal specimens that have been found in the  past.  Just 
remember if you are considering buying a Brenham, if there  isn't the BMC 
documentation with it, you will want to factor that into the price  you are willing to 
spend.  

Right now, we are the only ones selling  BMC Brenham specimens. As time 
passes other dealers will offer BMC Certified  Brenhams.  With each one expect to 
receive documentation of when it was  found, where it was found, by whom it was 
found, and from which specimen it came  from (if it is a slice).  We give out 
COAs with the PURCHASERS name on the  document.  So if you buy one of ours 
from someone else, request that  documentation of your purchase from them (and 
the COA from us to them) be  included to preserve the provenance of your 
historical piece.  A couple  moments of effort now could very well add substantial 
value to your piece down  the road.  And if your piece happens to become a "TV 
Star" by showing up in  the documentary or elsewhere, then you will have one 
more thing to brag  about.

Speaking of acquiring Brenham specimens, people have been asking,  and we 
will have some Brenham specimens and slices up for sale on our website  
www.BrenhamMeteoriteCompany.com soon.  Stay tuned for that announcement,  likely to 
come from our awesome webmaster Geoff Notkin.

Also, if you are  a dealer, and you have a customer that might be interested 
in something we have,  please contact me ASAP to discuss how we might be able 
to work out a win-win  arrangement. 

I did another interview for a major magazine this  week.  This particular 
article appears to be more about meteorite hunting  and collecting, and the 
adventure side of it all, instead of highlighting the  Brenham Main Mass.  It 
should be a good article and I will let you know  more when it is ready to come 
out. 

We are expecting 2006 to be a great  year!  Thanks again to all of you who 
have already helped make it a stellar  year!

Steve Arnold

P.S.  I am going to post an ad here on the  list very shortly that will 
contain some of the remaining few items from the  Eugene Cornelius Collection, for 
those of you who did not get a chance to see  them in my room in Tucson.