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

[Michael Farmer]

Ok, there is potential for fraud, but hey, if you eat
a hamburger, perhaps it will be contaminated with
E-COLI, you could die, but I bet most of you will
continue to eat hamburgers. There is no solution to
this problem, so buy from trustworthy dealers.
Michael Farmer
--- MeteorHntr at aol.com wrote:

> 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.)
>  
> 
> 
> 
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