[meteorite-list] Michael Casper

[Mark Grossman]

I sent an email message to Rick Kline earlier today about this but haven't
heard back.

Mark Grossman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mexicodoug at aim.com>
To: <MeteorHntr at aol.com>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Michael Casper



> Steve, do you mean the world's tallest?

>

> As for Michael Casper:  He was(is?) the 'adjunct curator' (there was no

> chief curator) of the meteorite collection at Cornell, held by SPIF.

> Just ask Rick Kline at Cornell's Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility

> (SPIF).  I am sure he could comment on the details of interest.  Like

> whether it was an informal title or official within the University.

>

>

http://astrosun2.astro.cornell.edu/research/projects/SPIF//INVENTORY/105meteorites.html

>

> They need to do a little updating of their website...seems mostly

> dormant since 2005, but it is the University website.

>

> Can anyone tell us details of exactly how Michael Casper

> 'singlehandedly' destroyed the artificially high price level of

> diogenites (was it Bilanga because it sure sounds like it, this must

> have been a heartbreaking situation for many?) by undercutting the

> market in ca. 1999?*  More detailes on the 2000 space.com articles that

> featured some of our favorite restauranteers, college students,

> plumbers, and photographers...

>

> Best wishes from the eye of the hurricane gusts - what a welcome home

> today!  If you are in South Texas make sure you chain down your

> meteorites incase they become airborne - it's comin' your way.

>

>

>

> from space.com:

> *Casper's business practices occasionally irritate other meteorite

> dealers. He is willing to sell large pieces at prices well below the

> prevailing market value for that particular meteorite.  He did that

> recently with a rare and exotic type of meteorite called diogenite,

> much to the irritation of other dealers who were holding large amounts

> of the rare type and seeking a price between $40 and $60 per gram.

> With one sale of several pounds of diogenite at a price that some

> report to be about half the market value, Casper single-handedly cut

> the world price of diogenite meteorites, critics say. "It just goes to

> show you, if you think you got it all, you better do some research,"

> said stalwart meteorite dealer Robert Haag. Haag is one of the few

> dealers who have been buying and selling meteorites for more than 20

> years.  The people who were stung when Casper undercut the market were

> those who misjudged the availability of diogenite in light of several

> recent finds, Haag said.  "The guys that held it too long blew it. They

> blew it," he said. "Because one guy had 7 kilos stashed away in

> Belgium, and he didn't want anybody to know about it. But in the

> meantime another 25 kilos has been pieced out and distributed."  It led

> to a price war that ended with a buyer's market for diogenite, Haag

> said. It could ultimately help everybody who wasn't left holding a box

> of it.  For Casper it was just good business: buy low, and unload fast

> for a profit. To a large degree, the meteorite market is a speculator's

> business, a fact that other dealers acknowledge is just a part of life

> in the meteorite trade. You can't count on the fact that any price will

> be kept artificially high to protect other trader's investments.

>

>

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: MeteorHntr at aol.com

> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com

> Sent: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 1:02 pm

> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Michael Casper

>

>

>

> And I thought Mike and Bill Jensen  were the world's largest meteorite

> dealers?

>

> Steve

>

>

> In a message  dated 3/18/2008 1:43:13 P.M. Central Daylight Time,

> meteoriteguy at yahoo.com  writes:

> It IS NOT TRUE, he lives near Cornell, and traded/sold

> them  specimens. He also came on the scene, and within

> about a week proclaimed  himself the worlds largest

> meteorite dealer. People can say anything they  want,

> that doesnt make it true.

> Mike

>

>

>

>

> **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on

> AOL

> Home.

> (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolh

> om00030000000001)

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