XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, alt.books.arthur-clarke

a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> wrote:

On 4/22/2020 9:54 AM, Alan Baker wrote:

On 2020-04-22 8:54 a.m., a425couple wrote:

On 4/20/2020 12:13 PM, Alan Baker wrote:

On 2020-04-20 11:29 a.m., a425couple wrote:

On 4/20/2020 10:46 AM, James Nicoll wrote:

In article <r7kjfu0n4a@news2.newsguy.com>,
a425couple? <a425couple@hotmail.com> wrote:

"There's a lot of wealth in space. A 79-foot-wide asteroid
could hold 33.000 tons of extractable material, including
$50 million worth of platinum. The 2-mile-wide asteroid
1986 DA could be worth $7 trillion.

I wonder if increasing supply by a large amount affects price?

Of course.
And I'll propose it will be several strange pricing curves.

I'd bet, the first 10 pounds of gold, or platinum recovered
from an asteroid (or where ever) will, when they hit the
market as 'one of a kind' jewelry, bring a real special
high premium price for the super rich.

And what will prevent people from simply scamming you by claiming
that their gold and platinum is from an asteroid?

There are many areas of investment, that depend upon
expert appraisers and examiners of provenance.

"Provenance is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location
of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in
relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses in a
wide range of fields, including archaeology, paleontology, archives,
??manuscripts, printed books and science and computing."

Some gold and silver coins have special value because it can
be documented they came from a 400 year old famous shipwreck.

Same with some old race cars, or works of art.

Yes, L, I know what "provenance" means.
How are you going to show the provenance of a base element?

Seriously Alan, you are failing to understand the many
things that a forensic examination of an object (jewelry etc.)
can produce. No item made, could be a pure "base element".

I am too lazy to fully explain, but about 35 years ago,
a Canadian was hanging out in a skeezy Vancouver bar,
and looking for a profitable exchange. He obtained
a yellowish gold object of over 5 ounces, but felt
because of the overall environment, that it was probably
stolen goods. So he had a bright idea, and decided
he would be safe bringing it down to Seattle area to
sell. Well,,, sadly for him I had for a couple months
been pestering all business's in the area with information
to be on the lookout for someone selling over 4 ounces
of gold. Bingo, I got it. It was unique, and quite a few
scientific types were happy to examine it to further
establish exactly what it was and where it came from.
No 'base element' is simply, an untraceable 'base element'.

As an aside and OT to boot, this seems like an excellent denouement for
a _Columbo_ episode. Beings _Columbo_'s as formulaic as anything on TV,
it doesn't seem that it should be all that difficult to cook up a DIY
script...

☮

Thank you,

--
Don.......My cat's )\._.,--....,'``.
telltale tall tail /, _.. \ _\ (`._ ,.
tells tall tales.. `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

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