Well stated Martin, and I am in complete agreement. All my dealings
with Moroccans have been mutually favorable, and I am appreciative of
the service they provide to meteoritics - both collectors and research
scientists.
Mistakes can be made - we are human, but when misidentification
happens, the Moroccans have been most accommodating to either take
back material, or credit the difference. I have not done business
with anyone who has deliberately misrepresented material to me in
Morocco, and thatʻs more than can be said of at least one dealer in
the US.
gary
On Nov 13, 2009, at 11:54 AM, Martin Altmann wrote:
Good Evening,
maybe I should tell our experiences with our Moroccan colleagues,
as NWA is our main field of our occupation and Stefan was in Morocco
from
beginning on of the NWA-period.
Because some of the assertions made here are in our eyes not
acceptable.
First of all we all have to bring to our minds to whome all this
wealth of
new meteorites that we have today is due to.
I'm old enough to remember the days before the NWA-rush, where
dealers,
collectors and scientists traded forth and back always the same few
stones.
Nowadays we got in roughly 10 years more new meteorites than 40
years of
Antarctic hunts will yield, we have all the rare types, where we
could only
dream of the hundred years before. And we have them at prices, that
finally
each and every collector can take part in that fascinating world.
We got from Morocco stones, of which no scientist could divine, that
something like that could exist at all.
NWA was the historical boost for science, for the collectors and
partially
also for the meteorite trade.
And who made this all possible?
The Moroccan people and the people of Maghreb. Full stop.
We hear here on the list so often rants and words of haughtiness
about the
Moroccan dealers, hunters, colleagues, experts.
What I never will understand, how people could speak so bad about
them;
people, who built up their wealth and their reputation, they pride
themselves today, with the stones the Moroccans delivered to them.
Why they then weren't going searching for meteorites by their own in
the
deserts, if their business partners were so lousy as they tell?
Ask the US-hunters, ask the Oman-hunters, how many stones you have
to pick
up, until you have a mediocre eucrite or a CV3, those stones, we all
take
for granted.
The people in Sahara are doing an incredible job.
Yes of course, there are also black sheeps in Morocco - but those we
do have
also among the Western dealers.
And of course down there is simply not the infrastructure, that one
would
get each stone perfectly and readily classified and that the weights
and the
find data would be known.
But that is a hundred times balanced, by the often lower prices
there and by
the circumstance that one gets there such great stones at all!
Of course it can be here and there risky for a private collector,
because
they often can't know the dealer yet, but why shall professional
dealers
complain about the Moroccans? It is plain & simply part of their
job, to
recognize the stones there, to recognize pairings, to buy them in
Morocco
and to bring them to classification. If they don't want to do that,
then
they shall sell classic and historic meteorites.
And some of the recent posts here on the list ignore the positive
developments, the Moroccans made. First of all you find a lot of true
experts there, who know their stones very well. Partially they
started to
send samples to classification. Note also, that we started to
integrate the
Moroccans into IMCA.
And that sweeping blow, condemning all Moroccans - we can't confirm
that
perspective in no way.
Our experience is rather, that our partners, if a stone turns out to
be a
pratfall, often are exerted to limit the damage, in taking back
stones or in
balancing it with the next deal.
And why?
Because there exist a very simple rule. Not only for Morocco, but
for life:
Treat your partner with respect and fairness
and he will treat you the same way too.
Our opinion.
Good night!
Martin
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Gary Fujihara
AstroDay Institute
105 Puhili Place, Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 640-9161, [email protected]
http://astroday.net
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