[meteorite-list] Movie uses

[Notkin]

Guido posted:

> Would somebody tell me what earthly good does it do for the monetary  
> value (usually grossly inflated) of meteorites to be publicized to  
> an unsophisticated public


Dear Guido, Adam, and Listees:

This topic has been discussed before, and explained clearly and in  
some detail by my co-host Steve. Since it's come up yet again, I am  
happy to share my perspective.

I agree with Guido to some degree. Although I am a full-time meteorite  
hunter and dealer, I typically do not sell pieces that I find. They  
have a value to me that's greater than money, and I'm in this business  
because I love space rocks. In the "Meteorite Men" pilot there were  
only a couple of brief mentions of the value of our finds. In the  
later episodes a decision was made (not by us) to display approximate  
cash values of our finds on the screen. Steve and I do our best to  
make an engaging, informative and entertaining show, but  
determinations about what appears on screen are entirely the purview  
of our network.

The reasoning for including cash values on the show goes something  
like this: As meteorite enthusiasts and professionals we all know,  
roughly, how much a 50-gram Buzzard Coulee is worth on the collectors'  
market. On the other hand, an audience of millions of laypersons sees  
Steve or myself pick a little black rock up from a cornfield and to  
them it's just a little black rock, unless the value is explained. I  
hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the show is not being made for the  
microcosm of meteorite collectors, but for the world at large.

"Meteorite Men" fan mail is directed to my office, and I have received  
a number of comments (interestingly enough, every one of them from  
meteorite people or geologists) stating that they didn't much care for  
the way in which the monetary value of meteorites is presented on  
screen. I forwarded those comments to our executives for their  
consideration. Unfortunately, we live in a society where money is what  
most people are most interested in. I've been fielding phone calls for  
well over a decade from people who think they've found a meteorite,  
and one of the first questions typically is, and always has been: "How  
much is it worth?" This is nothing new! And when professional hunters,  
high-end collectors, or enthusiastic amateurs come into my showroom in  
Tucson to look at meteorites, the first thing most ask is: "How much  
does this one cost?" So let's be realistic here, and not pretend that  
the financial values of meteorites are unimportant.

I wasn't sure if Guido's comments about "usually grossly inflated"  
referred to our show, or media stories in general. There certainly  
have been an abundance of news stories that presented inaccurate  
values of meteorites and the best we can hope to do to prevent that is  
educate and inform journalists.

Steve and I have been buying, selling, and finding meteorites for  
about 35 years between us, and I think we have a pretty good idea of  
values. The network asked us to estimate possible retail values of our  
finds, and those values were mostly based on actual cash transactions  
that we witnessed or took part in. An exception were the Whitecourt  
Crater irons. Since no Whitecourt material had legally made it to  
market, we had to guess what they might be worth. Guido is entirely  
correct in one case, however: The value of the Buzzard main mass was  
estimated by somebody else, without consulting us, and that value was  
highly exaggerated.

I think the fact that eminent meteoriticists such Drs. Alan Rubin,  
Laurence Garvie, Meenakshi Wadhwa, Chris Herd and others gave  
generously of their time to appear on the show clearly demonstrates  
that it's not all "bucks and Buck Rogers"  --  great "Right Stuff"  
reference, by the way  : )

Finally, "Meteorite Men" was just given a 2010 Telly Award in the  
documentary category and received stellar ratings (beating out the  
Olympics and even "American Idol" -- gasp!), so I guess the public  
likes it.

On to Season Two.


Respectfully,

Geoff N.

www.aerolite.org
www.meteoritemen.com