http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/michael-farmer-meteorite-broker-1278.php
I too often chow down on these tasty morsels. Just this morning I had a
bowl of crunchy anorthosite cereal, though I hate the way the plagioclase
feldspar sticks between your teeth!
Phil Whitmer
Meet Michael Farmer, aka Meteorite Guy
In the exclusive world of meteorite brokers, his rise has been, well ...
By Jay MacDonald
Twelve years ago, a stock boy at Target purchased a chunk of space debris at
the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show that changed his life forever.
He has not only held pieces of the moon and Mars in his hands -- he has
tasted them.
"I've eaten a piece of every moon rock and Mars rock that I have purchased
or found, just to say I did it," he chuckles. "We are all made of space
rock."
Welcome to the out-of-this-world life of Michael Farmer, aka Meteorite Guy,
one of only about 20 professional meteorite brokers -- on this planet
anyway.
Building a rock-solid empire
Farmer was a 25-year-old college student attending the University of Arizona
on the G.I. Bill, stocking shelves part time and vaguely drifting toward a
career with the CIA when he happened to wander into the largest gem and
mineral show on earth.
"I bought a rock (meteorite) for $70 and got so fascinated with it that it
changed the course of my life," Farmer recalls. "When I saw it, I thought,
'Wow, I'm holding a piece of outer space!'"
Anxious to find more, he scoured the gem show site until he met an old-timer
who had a box of 40 meteorites hidden under the table. His asking price:
$4,000 for the box.
"I had no money at the time, so I had to beg and borrow to buy the box,"
Farmer recalls. "When I started researching the meteorites, I found that
that they were from a very rare collection, and I quadrupled my money on
those stones in about 48 hours. That's when I realized you could actually
make money doing this."
Within a year, Farmer had earned enough to make the first of dozens of trips
to Africa, initially focusing on the Sahara Desert.
Why the desert? Prepare to be mentally humbled.
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