[meteorite-list] Mifflin Mud Monster

[Adam Hupe]

Hi Walter and List,
 
I understand what you are saying. There are a lot of honest people out there 
just trying to make ends meet. I remember purchasing pieces from you and just 
about everybody else that was around years ago and never had to worry about what 
I was getting. It was nice to be naive and worry free.  I can’t say this any 
more.
 
This latest incident has me thinking too.  I stopped chasing falls after Park 
Forest where I witnessed much greed and backstabbing.   I would rather quietly 
pursue finds without all of the tension.   Perhaps Jack Schrader had the right 
idea about keeping Arizona’s most recent fall under wraps.  These high-profile 
chases start out well enough but end badly.
 
The last five years have been rough.  Maybe the hobby has evolved to the point 
where it is attracting the wrong kind of people. Self-paired stones, faked find 
locations, rigged silent auctions in Tucson, shameless self-promoting at the 
cost to others, broken promises to land owners, self-appointed spokespeople, bad 
press and now outright fraud have all taken their toll. It takes a lot of joy 
out of a once exciting avocation. 

 
As the song goes, “Everybody is searching for the next plateau.”  “You make it 
the top and what do you find, a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about 
birds.” 

 
This avocation needs to evolve in order to survive.  Just talk to any American 
Civil War collector and you will find that the fakes have brought down the 
prices on legitimate artifacts.   Supposedly, if you believe Carl E., now we 
have a faceless, nameless phantom from Mifflin defrauding the meteorite 
community. I will call this entity, "The Mifflin Mud Monster" because he has a 
way of muddying up the market.

 
 
Happy Collecting,
 
Adam