[meteorite-list] Michael Casper

Tue Mar 18 16:18:41 EDT 2008

Steve, do you mean the world's tallest?

As for Michael Casper:  He was(is?) the 'adjunct curator' (there was no 
chief curator) of the meteorite collection at Cornell, held by SPIF.  
Just ask Rick Kline at Cornell's Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility 
(SPIF).  I am sure he could comment on the details of interest.  Like 
whether it was an informal title or official within the University.

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/research/projects/SPIF//INVENTORY/105meteorites.html

They need to do a little updating of their website...seems mostly 
dormant since 2005, but it is the University website.

Can anyone tell us details of exactly how Michael Casper 
'singlehandedly' destroyed the artificially high price level of 
diogenites (was it Bilanga because it sure sounds like it, this must 
have been a heartbreaking situation for many?) by undercutting the 
market in ca. 1999?*  More detailes on the 2000 space.com articles that 
featured some of our favorite restauranteers, college students, 
plumbers, and photographers...

Best wishes from the eye of the hurricane gusts - what a welcome home 
today!  If you are in South Texas make sure you chain down your 
meteorites incase they become airborne - it's comin' your way.

from space.com:
*Casper's business practices occasionally irritate other meteorite 
dealers. He is willing to sell large pieces at prices well below the 
prevailing market value for that particular meteorite.  He did that 
recently with a rare and exotic type of meteorite called diogenite, 
much to the irritation of other dealers who were holding large amounts 
of the rare type and seeking a price between $40 and $60 per gram.  
With one sale of several pounds of diogenite at a price that some 
report to be about half the market value, Casper single-handedly cut 
the world price of diogenite meteorites, critics say. "It just goes to 
show you, if you think you got it all, you better do some research," 
said stalwart meteorite dealer Robert Haag. Haag is one of the few 
dealers who have been buying and selling meteorites for more than 20 
years.  The people who were stung when Casper undercut the market were 
those who misjudged the availability of diogenite in light of several 
recent finds, Haag said.  "The guys that held it too long blew it. They 
blew it," he said. "Because one guy had 7 kilos stashed away in 
Belgium, and he didn't want anybody to know about it. But in the 
meantime another 25 kilos has been pieced out and distributed."  It led 
to a price war that ended with a buyer's market for diogenite, Haag 
said. It could ultimately help everybody who wasn't left holding a box 
of it.  For Casper it was just good business: buy low, and unload fast 
for a profit. To a large degree, the meteorite market is a speculator's 
business, a fact that other dealers acknowledge is just a part of life 
in the meteorite trade. You can't count on the fact that any price will 
be kept artificially high to protect other trader's investments.

-----Original Message-----
From: MeteorHntr at aol.com
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 1:02 pm
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Michael Casper

And I thought Mike and Bill Jensen  were the world's largest meteorite
dealers?

Steve

In a message  dated 3/18/2008 1:43:13 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
meteoriteguy at yahoo.com  writes:
It IS NOT TRUE, he lives near Cornell, and traded/sold
them  specimens. He also came on the scene, and within
about a week proclaimed  himself the worlds largest
meteorite dealer. People can say anything they  want,
that doesnt make it true.
Mike

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