[meteorite-list] Huge Increase in Meteorite "help me" or "buy me" emails.

[almitt2 at localnet.com]

Greetings Mike and all,

Good topic and I want to comment on it. Not aimed at anyone person, but 
perhaps aimed at new dealers or collectors who might want to try to 
identify meteorites.

It is important to not dismiss samples too quickly when checking them 
out. Going through the proper tests and taking time to really look is 
important. There is ALWAYS a possibility that some new type material 
might be found that doesn't fit in to the norm of meteorites you might 
have or have seen. Nininger pointed this out. Try to look for fall 
features, structure on a micro level, crust and the many other features 
an sample might have. If you can't dismiss it too easily then you might 
want to send it to a good lab to have some testing done on it. I am 
sure there have been specimens found that didn't fit in the norm and 
were thrown out as wrongs.

Checking out specimens is a big responcibilty to the owner of the 
material and must be done in the most cautious way so no item is 
overlooked. Best

--AL Mitterling



> Hi List!
>
> Are any of the other dealers noticing a big increase in emails from
> unknown people wanting you to ID their suspected meteorite or buy
> their suspected meteorite?
>
> In the last couple of weeks, I have gotten a flood of emails from
> people around the country and the world - all wanting me to identify
> their obvious meteorwrong, or to purchase their meteorwrong.  One guy
> claimed to be in China, but had a Russian email address, and he
> attached some photos of an obvious industrial slag which he claimed
> was a meteorite and he even had a bogus "lab report" to prove it.
> Some of these are honest folks who are confused or misinformed, but
> many are scammers.  Do the scammers think because we deal meteorites,
> we must be dumb or something?  Because some of these so-called
> "meteorites" they try to push on me are obviously bogus - so bogus a
> blindman or a fool could tell they are not meteorites.
>
> Is this another after-effect from the Meteorite Men TV show?  Or just 
> a fluke?
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG