Dear Randall, meteorites in general are so exorbitantly rare - we're speaking about 600 tons in total, whereof 90% are covered by the 20 largest iron meteorites, but on the other hand so cheap - that from an economical point of view, they are so insignificant, that very most nations never though about creating an own legislation for meteorites.
For evident reasons other existing laws, like for resources, treasure finds, artefacts, natural monuments ect. can't be applied on meteorites. E.g in Germany and Austria we had this year a court decision, which awarded the third stone of the famous Neuschwanstein solely to the finder, because no single one of the existing laws fitted, nor demonstrated the land owner the will to accroach the stone, as they weren't searching for it at all. Therefore most of us would ask you kindly to be more careful with your word choice. If you want to bring forward moral arguments, keep in mind, that the largest US-American and European institutional collections would have then to be dissolved, as they were built up with bought pieces. The legal status of the Antarctic meteorites isn't clarified neither. More credibility would have your moral concerns at least to me, if you would hand some additional money in to the land owners later, as the material has to be evaluated somewhat higher than 0.5$/g. (I personally woud guess, that - if not a considerably larger amount will be found - collectors would pay 30-50$ per gram for usually dimensioned slices). My thoughts, only Martin -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Im Auftrag von Michael L Blood Gesendet: Montag, 1. Oktober 2007 19:02 An: Meteorite List Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] another Randall post Gentlemen, (Please post to the list for me) I have in total 4,740 gms. of the Carancas meteorite with an option for another 500 gm. of material. Of this, a total of 259.6 gms. will be sold. Fusion crusted material comprise a total of 128.8 gm. I consider this to be legally mine, since I bought it from the land-owner and his family. The stones purchased from the family were also blessed by a Catholic priest in the town of Desagaudero. The rest I bought from thieves. Theft is wrong in the eyes of the government and God. The bulk of what I have, I consider it to be stolen and I will not sell any until I talk to the land owner and work out an agreement. Just before I left Desaguadero, I paid $2,000 for the 4 kilo piece from local authorities that was collected (stolen) shortly after the meteorite fell. Any Carancas meteorite over 50gms. that hits the market was obtained illegally. I want to petition the court in Desaguadero to declare anything outside of what was purchased directly from the family to be illegal. Australia and Brazil have National Treasure laws, Peru has laws regarding archeological artifacts, and the United States has private property laws. I will ask that the material currently in scientific institutions be exempted and will ask the land owner and the church in Desaguadero to allow them to keep what they have in the interest of science. Imagine that a meteorite fell onto your property and your local police, newspaper reporters and neighbors came in an took pieces of this meteorite until there was nothing left for you. What would your reaction be? What is Ebay's policy regarding the sales of stolen material? Some people will try to sell this stolen material on Ebay. My question to you, gentlemen, is what moral responsibilites do meteorite dealers have and what percentage of meteorites in the market do you believe to be stolen? Randall ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
