[meteorite-list] Canadian Material for Americans has to wait

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Ryan,

I'm not sure I understand your  logic here.

If you wished American Institutions would care enough to pay  a fair retail 
price to the legal owners of new meteorites, then I think we would  all agree 
with you.

But America has the principles of freedom and  property rights that go 
strongly against confiscation laws. I think the ACLU  would even consider stepping 
in if such a law would be proposed. 

When I  find anything that I think a museum or a research collection would 
like, either  to purchase or to trade for, I eagerly approach them at the start. 
 But  most take so long to reply, or don't reply at all.  Some do, but 
express  that they are not interested.  And then occasionally some do reply wanting  
to make a trade.  But unlike in Canada, here in the States a very tiny  
percentage of institutions will pay cash for anything.  

And due to  some of the red tape that is involved with some places, I would 
LOVE it if the  transaction could happen in less than 6 months time.  I think 
hoping for  any bureaucracy to do anything in as little as 3 months is a bit 
overoptimistic.  

And I am not sure how if US institutions would have had first dibs on  buying 
any and all of the Park Forest specimens found would have helped YOU get  a 
Park Forest specimen for your collection?  

In fact, during your  2-3 days in Park Forest IF you had found something, and 
the government  confiscated it from you, and paid you $1/g or $5/g or $20/g 
or whatever they  determined was fair, my guess is that you probably would not 
like the idea so  much.

Steve Arnold #1
www.SteveArnoldMeteorites.com 


In a  message dated 12/6/2008 11:34:33 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
yellowengine at earthlink.net writes:
I think the next time the U.S. has another  significant fall (..like Park 
Forest), American collectors and instituntions  should have first dibs on the 
material. You know, a good 3-6 month head start  over non-Americans. I still 
don't have a nice piece for my collection, and I was  in Park Forest for 2-3 days!

I'll bet there are plently of other  collectors who will agree with me on 
this one. 

Ryan  

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