>>I have said this before and I am saying it again! The meteorite comunnity needs to take some lessons from the rare coin dealers and start sellling specimens in packages with standards. Hermatically sealed specimens of standard size and provanance, sealed in thin collector sized cases. To create an investor market we need to sell 1 cm square slices 4mm thick in sealed dessicated containers that are tamper proof and graded like collector coins. this would be a lot better than the current method of selling irregular chunks sent in a baggy with a business card. by establishing a standard of grading for collector meteorites we will create a larger market of collector specimins with a higher value which will allow them to be traded like gold or silver on the commodities market. and dramitically increase the vALUE OF METEORITES FOR EVERYONE ON THE LIST. I may have problems trying to figure out if a meteorite is a 4 or a 5 but if its in a dime sized container graded and authenticated by the imca. it would be a win win situation>>
You gotta be kidding? I for one wouldn't want small pieces like you describe. If the meteorite community did some how agree to such a hair brain idea, I'd still seek out the sizes I would want and ignore the 1 cm square pieces. I also bet there would be enuf folks out there that would do the same. I can just see now people cutting up their favorite Sikhote-alin individuals into little chunks, so they can be fitted into their little hermatically sealed containers. As for gold and silver, well I've done some gold prospecting and sold a fair amount of gold on ebay in the years past. One thing I became keenly aware of, you can sell natural gold nuggets for a higher price than the same weight of gold bullion. Also the gold nuggets is not as pure as the bullion. Over time, I've converted my gold bullion into natural gold nuggets, knowing that some day I can sell the same amount of gold for a higher price, just because they are now in the form of natural nuggets. When it comes to meteorites, if such a scheme was put into motion, I think you'll find those that didn't went along with it will have a more successful time. GeoZay ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list