[meteorite-list] Speck Issues - Reply to this subject

[MeteorHntr at aol.com]

Hello Walter, Frank, Mike and All,
 
I agree, there is a potential problem with fraud.
 
I would say, that a lack of ability to confirm certain meteorites as being  
what they are, is one of the factors that is keeping the hobby from exploding  
(even more so) in popularity.
 
Of course on the rare items, if they are large enough, anyone can go  through 
the trouble to get their own third party testing done if they  really want 
to.   The Ordinary Chondrite Hammer stones are a bit  different, no matter what 
the size, but especially with the smaller  ones. 
 
I think there is room for extra value to be added to certain hammers (or  
other historical OCs) if the seller(s) will go through the extra effort to  
document what they have is from where they say it is.  
 
Maybe this requires (microscopic?) photographic documentation, with  notary 
public documentation on the dealer's signature(s) for some?  Who  knows?
 
If an unknown buyer knows that he or she can buy and then later  resell a 
certain specimen, with the integrity of that specimen intact,  then I think more 
people will want to risk buying them, and that will only help  their values.
 
We are still in the "Wild West" age of meteorite collecting.   If a collector 
is educated, and thus more self sufficient, it is  still a great time to jump 
in and build a great collection.  As the hobby  matures, some of these things 
will be ironed out, and values will rise (and some  may fall).   
 
I think Frank's observation about this is very valid from a  collector's 
point of view.   No doubt if a dealer has two part  slices, (or two crumbs) of 
equal quality, from a meteorite that hit a  house, but one had the specimen 
photographed on a signed ID COA card, and  the other one didn't, and both were put 
on Ebay, one would be sell  for more than the other one would.  
 
If the dealer also had a notarized copy of the exchange agreement with a  
major museum, where the specimen came from, that would only help that much more  
to add to the provenance and thus to the value.  
 
In this electronic age, making a 1 min video of the hammer hitting the  slice 
and the crumbs being immediately identified could be enough to satisfy  most 
people.  
 
Entrepreneurism is great.  As needs arise, watch the solutions that  will 
emerge.  Frank has pointed out a valid need.
 
The best is yet to come.

Steve Arnold
Arkansas
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/3/2008 5:08:18 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
waltbranch at bellsouth.net writes:
>Guys, there is no problem  here.

There is a potential problem.  When a dealer buys say,
a  collection, who is to say that the seller has not
substituted one specimen  for another.  For example,
Claxton, in the size of a speck, looks like  any other L6.
A well intentioned, well meaning, completely honest  dealer
has to trust that the seller is being honest with them
and of  course, on down the line.

-Walter Branch
(going home now.  I hear  a chillie cheese dog (or dawg, as we say here) 
calling my name.)
 



**************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & 
Finance.      (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)