[meteorite-list] Moroccan business meteorite is suffering

Mon May 30 19:40:22 EDT 2011

Greg, said, Adam ,
This is all very depressing news. 
It sounds to me like you are all right. 
I think Adam also pointed out in a recent post that the media. Specifically the NYT article along with a bunch of Scientist's from around the world have done a very good job of helping drive down the prices in the US of meteorites. One was even quoted as saying "It's a black market".
Well.
 "when they own the information, they can bend it all they want" (John Mayer).
"possession is not nine tenths of the law it's nine tenths of the problem" (John Lennon)
Now it sounds like  we have Hedge fund types artificially inflating prices in Africa?  
 What's next?
Carl

---- "Greg Hupé" <gmhupe at centurylink.net> wrote: 
> Hello Said and All,
> 
> Typically when there is more competition, the prices are driven down. In 
> this situation where prices are going up, I would suggest that this is 
> another sign that supply is indeed drying up in the Sahara. The fact that 
> the Algerian finders are going direct is not unlike Moroccan dealers going 
> direct to collectors a few years ago, they simply want to larger piece of 
> the pie and no longer want to go through the old fashioned 
> Finder-Broker-Wholesaler-Retailer model that used to work.
> 
> With technology advancing so much from the 'early days' of the Moroccan 
> 'gold rush' some 15-20 years ago, it is a simple matter of getting online, 
> post an ad on this List, Facebook or emailing people directly, everyone has 
> some sort of device that allows them to 'connect' with buyers. I remember 
> when I was amazed 12 years ago when I was on the border of Morocco and 
> Algeria going from Berber tent to tent asking if any of the nomads had 
> stones for sale -- the amazing part was that one of the nomads pulled a cell 
> phone out from under his robe and made a call from way out in the middle of 
> the desert! Turns out that countries like Morocco and others have had a far 
> more advanced communication infrastructure compared to the US at the time. 
> It was only a matter of time before the finders got 'connected' and grabbed 
> their piece of that pie.
> 
> The one aspect that Said was referring to that I do not like is that some of 
> these newer 'brokers' make claims they own particular stones they offer 
> around the world, where in fact as Said points out, they have ZERO financial 
> risk involved. I suppose they are smarter than the rest of us old timers who 
> still believe in the archaic 'cash-n-carry' mentality!
> 
> Sounds like a new "Market Trends" article Capt. Blood! ;-)
> 
> Best Regards,
> Greg
> 
> ====================
> Greg Hupé
> The Hupé Collection
> gmhupe at centurylink.net
> www.LunarRock.com
> NaturesVault (eBay)
> AncientDiscoveries (eBay)(formerly 'NaturesVault')
> IMCA 3163
> ====================
> Click here for my current eBay auctions, I have two accounts now:
> 1) NaturesVault - http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnaturesvault
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> 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Said Haddany
> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 6:12 PM
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Moroccan business meteorite is suffering
> 
> Hi  all,
> the issue about the shortness of the material and also the high prices of 
> meteorites in morocco has nothing to do with the world economy..
> this is becuase even there was bad economy there were some meteorites that 
> were sold at a very good price,,,This is not our issue ..
> the problem we try to talk about is the reasons why prices of meteorites are 
> going up recently in Morocco..
> Not the Moroccan dealers who are the responsible of this,but the prices are 
> way too high from the native suppliers who are Algerians or few Moroccan 
> nomads ...US AND European and Moroccan dealers are complaining about this 
> not only US or European dealers because we,moroccans,buy stones also from 
> other people..We are all the same like you all in the market...
> Lets go back to the reasons why the prices are too high,,
> In Morocco we have some brokers who,have nothing to do with this 
> business,jumped on the market and destroying the proper manner of buying and 
> sellling ..They got on contact with some algerian via moroccan nomads and 
> made a bad competition and they sometimes offered high prices to Algerian 
> trying to overdominate the market and they make the suppliers or the finder 
> keep dreaming with crazy prices ..
> cheers
>   Said Haddany
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 5/30/11, Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > From: Adam Hupe <raremeteorites at yahoo.com>
> > Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Moroccan business meteorite is suffering
> > To: "Adam" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> > Date: Monday, May 30, 2011, 12:00 PM
> >
> > Yes, most Moroccan dealers fail to realize the world
> > economy is in the worst
> > downturn since the great depression and barely showing
> > signs of recovery.  For
> > example, they are stilling asking $10.00/gram for Eucrites
> > when only $5.00/gram
> > can be realized on eBay, even after suffering a cutting
> > loss. In the end, they
> > will find out how tough a market it really is. No amount of
> > hype or press will
> > bring the prices up on the open market. It is a supply and
> > demand issue.  Maybe
> > once the stockpiles which are dwindling are exhausted the
> > prices will go back
> > up.  Until then, I will be purchasing older U.S. finds
> > which are priced most
> > reasonably at a few dollars per gram.
> >
> > Happy Hunting,
> >
> > Adam
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