[meteorite-list] Personal Thoughts, pairings, and insomniactic ramblings

[Mark]

Hello Herman

I'd like to comment a little on this whole gathering of minds and a 
particular comment of yours.

"I believe we need to protect our collections from outside unclassified 
infiltration whether intentional or accidental.Someday we will want to know 
the
collection we have amassed will at least be worth what we invested into 
it,(money that is ) the time part is called HOBBY i think."

I have been watching a couple dealers on ebay market meteorites which could 
well fall into just this situation, that of an influx of material which 
could drive value down. The one thing which kept those pieces offered 
attractive was the provenance of those pieces. The dealers had purchased 
pieces from another dealer who, either kept a good record of the piece and 
marked it accordingly, or bought it from another collection with an equally 
traceable history (Ninninger and Moning pieces come to mind).

Although these pieces would not be troubled by the recent NWA influx, there 
is a distinct possibility that some current or future meteorite hunter could 
find new pieces of the meteorites they did collect and add to the total 
recovered weight. Will that change the value of a Ninninger or Moning piece? 
I doubt it. And as long as the collection co-ordinates are recorded of the 
new finds, and proper classification done as well, all it would do, in my 
opinion, is make available to the market material previously restricted in 
volume. These new pieces would not have the history though, and that history 
is as much a part of the collected item as anything else and they keep 
prices up on an otherwise (please forgive my base use of terminology here) 
common find.

I like to collect, when within my reach, historic falls.
I'm not impressed if they hit a house or kill a dog (although it makes for 
good conversation sometimes), but I am impressed by the fact that they were 
recognized as such during a time when science was very much under attack and 
struggling to establish a solid foundation.
I also collect anything which strikes my fancy which could just be a great 
deal on ebay.

NWA 869 is a great example of market flooding. Many different descriptions 
for what appears to be one big fall. Good looking rock and there is a lot of 
it. But the sources are drying up and prices are climbing, ever so slightly, 
and as time goes on, and as the findings of the ongoing investigation become 
published, I'm sure a new interest will emerge and prices will climb a 
little and those that hold large quantities of this rock will release a 
little at a time and make back their investment with a little interest as 
long as they don't count storage costs. That's the commercial end of it, but 
in there, there is this research as well, which, on the surface, is looking 
at the many facets of this stone and how it can be classified so many ways.
Someday, this research might lead to the filling of a gap in our knowledge 
of how the solor system formed, at least in one region. And then, all those 
classifications of meteorites from North West Africa which all bear 
different names, but have full analysis behind those names, will get looked 
at to see how they fill in or fit into, the big picture. It will at least 
get some researcher a paper I'm sure. And one day, the Antarctic meteorites 
will will follow as well.
But the recognized institutions which can do classifications will release 
the information as they can and it may well be long after we become history 
as well. And until we can travel to a distant proto star formation and study 
first hand, the formation of bodies, meteorites are our best and most easily 
gathered evidence of how things work. And as long as a good record is kept 
even on these unclassified NWA's, when purchased, from whom, and if we're 
lucky, who they bought from, its possible, however unlikely, that even these 
bargin stones might shed some light when classified, and that too can 
increase the value of them. If nothing more, they make great handouts for 
our young future scientists and also make great inexpensive teaching tools 
for our current students who wish to study the stars.
Mark Ferguson







----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Metorman46 at aol.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 5:20 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Personal Thoughts (Adam Hupe)


> Hi Adam; I am a collector of meteorites.And as such i prefer to acquire
> properly classified specimens. ( personally ).And in doing so i also 
> prefer that
> the specimen be in the TKW range for that particular classification.I 
> think
> your  personal thoughts post covers that and more.If we aren't careful 
> we'll
> have  purchased a piece of x meteorite at 100g TKW for the higher price 
> that a
> small  TKW fetches,only to find some years later that for some reason 
> there
> exists  1000g in collections and more coming on the market.That flood will 
> drive
> the  price down for other buyers ( which is good for them ) and reduce the
> value of  the original specimens when traded or sold.And this hobby is 
> about
> money.Especially when it comes to acquiring the special specimen for our
> collection that is unique in its TKW and availability.All collectors 
> eventually
> realise that fact when one day the old bank account is negative or 
> worse.But  that
> is the nature of the beast,i guess.
>
> I believe we need to protect our collections from outside unclassified
> infiltration whether intentional or accidental.Someday we will want to 
> know the
> collection we have amassed will at least be worth what we invested into 
> it,(
> money that is ) the time part is called HOBBY i think.
>
> Just my personal thoughts and no malice towards anyone,except me for
> enjoying meteorites so much i just gotta have that special one.I love it!!
>
> Herman.
> ______________________________________________
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>