[meteorite-list] Fw: Comments; Meteorite Collecting, NWA Africa, Pricing....

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From: MeteorHntr_at_aol.com <MeteorHntr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:42:02 2004
Message-ID: <51.664831d.279bac18_at_aol.com>

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In a message dated 1/20/01 7:11:06 PM Central Standard Time,
deanbessey_at_hotmail.com writes:

> Why a meteorite is worth 5 times as much because of some accident 2 billion
> years ago that delayed a meteorites hitting the earths atmosphere by 9
> hours so that it fell in alaska rather than somewhere in the sahara is
> behond my comprehension.
>

Hello List et al.;

Well, I suppose I need to jump in here too. Now come on Dean, please tell us
that you were exaggerating as to why you cannot understand the difference
between the two meteorites you mention above?

We are all involved in this great collectible because it is just that, one of
the greatest collectibles in this part of the Universe. One of the great
things that makes meteorites so fantastic to collect is that no matter what
your personal taste is, there is room for you here.

Whether you like to collect $10 specimens, 1 inch square specimens, full
slices, whole stones, pieces from a certain state, a specimens from each
state, a representative sample from each class, only achondrites, only
carbonaceous chondrites, only SNC's or Lunar's, witnessed falls, historic
finds, finds or falls with strange stories or ones starting from each letter
of the alphabet, there is room for you here!

I think the bottom line is that there is some semblance of supply and demand
that drives this market. I asked a dealer the other night "what is the
cheapest witnessed fall available?" Gao and Zag came to mind first, then it
hit me a little later that Sikhote Alin seems to be the cheapest. And it is
the most beautiful meteorite out there! Why is it so cheap? Supply and
demand. Why are the NWA OC's so cheap? Right now, there just isn't as much
demand for them and the supply seems to be pretty strong.

One common theme most collectors have (no matter what they collect) is a
desire to impress other people. Now that may mean to simply impress other
collectors of the same field, or to impress friends, or in some cases even to
impress total strangers (especially if they ever decide to donate their
collection to a museum sometime in the future.) Most people want the
strongest "wow" appeal they can get for their buck.

And as I said before, no matter what your personal preference is, there are
both collectors and specimens available to match about every taste.

Do I wish there were more collectors of full slices of large American OC's?
YES. Why? Because I have some of them to sell. Do I wish there were more
collectors of $10 specimens, 1 inch square specimens, whole stones, pieces
from a certain state, a specimens from each state, a representative sample
from each class, only achondrites, only carbonaceous chondrites, only SNC's
or Lunar's, witnessed falls, historic finds, finds or falls with strange
stories or ones starting from each letter of the alphabet? YES. Why?
Because I have some of all of those to sell as well.

My only caution to the collectors reading this on the sidelines, is to
understand that if someone is overly promoting a certain perspective, it
usually is because that person has something to gain if you accept what they
are saying. Now don't get me wrong, I have a college degree in Marketing, so
I understand and appreciate marketing; there is nothing wrong with romancing
what one is selling.

However, I think it is very important that the collectors realize that there
is no automatic direction that this market will go in the future. This
reality is evident by the different emails we have read the last couple of
days. I really like to discourage anyone from buying meteorites from an
"investment" perspective, yet there are very few collectors that would like
to see their personal collections go down in value dramatically as the years
progress. I think if there is a real lesson here, it is that you need to
find out what you personally like to collect, and if you do look at your
collection as an investment, my advice would be to put 25% to 50% of your
meteorite dollars into diversifying your collection into areas that you do
not specialize in.

Hedge your bets if you will.

I have no idea what the meteorite market will hold in the next 5, 10 or 50
years, but I do know that some specimens will do better than others. And the
great thing about the internet and Ebay specifically, is that the collectors
have a way of liquidating some or all of their specimens easily and
efficiently. So even if you end up collecting some specimens that don't fit
into your personal niche, down the road you will have trading material to
acquire more of what you really want.

And last of all, if you find something that you really fell is a great
bargain, then buy extra of it while you can. Down the road, if your gut
feeling was right, it won't kill you to part with some of your surplus.
Where if you only have one of your "1 inch square" collection pieces, no
matter how good of a deal you got, you won't want to part with it later.

And skeptically remember, that the main reason I am promoting this diverse
approach, is because I have (and I plan to continue to acquire) a wide
variety of different types of specimens in my sales inventory. :-)

Steve Arnold
www.meteoritebroker.com

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<HTML>In a message dated 1/20/01 7:11:06 PM Central Standard Time,
 deanbessey_at_hotmail.com writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Why a meteorite is worth 5 times as much because of some accident 2 billion
 years ago that delayed a meteorites hitting the earths atmosphere by 9
 hours so that it fell in alaska rather than somewhere in the sahara is
 behond my comprehension.
 </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 Hello List et al.;
 
 Well, I suppose I need to jump in here too.  Now come on Dean, please tell us
 that you were exaggerating as to why you cannot understand the difference
 between the two meteorites you mention above?
 
 We are all involved in this great collectible because it is just that, one of
 the greatest collectibles in this part of the Universe.  One of the great
 things that makes meteorites so fantastic to collect is that no matter what
 your personal taste is, there is room for you here.
 
 Whether you like to collect $10 specimens, 1 inch square specimens, full
 slices, whole stones, pieces from a certain state, a specimens from each
 state, a representative sample from each class, only achondrites, only
 carbonaceous chondrites, only SNC's or Lunar's, witnessed falls, historic
 finds, finds or falls with strange stories or ones starting from each letter
 of the alphabet, there is room for you here!  
 
 I think the bottom line is that there is some semblance of supply and demand
 that drives this market.  I asked a dealer the other night "what is the
 cheapest witnessed fall available?"  Gao and Zag came to mind first, then it
 hit me a little later that Sikhote Alin seems to be the cheapest.  And it is
 the most beautiful meteorite out there!  Why is it so cheap?  Supply and
 demand.  Why are the NWA OC's so cheap?  Right now, there just isn't as much
 demand for them and the supply seems to be pretty strong.
 
 One common theme most collectors have (no matter what they collect) is a
 desire to impress other people.  Now that may mean to simply impress other
 collectors of the same field, or to impress friends, or in some cases even to
 impress total strangers (especially if they ever decide to donate their
 collection to a museum sometime in the future.)  Most people want the
 strongest "wow" appeal they can get for their buck.   
 
 And as I said before, no matter what your personal preference is, there are
 both collectors and specimens available to match about every taste.   
 
 Do I wish there were more collectors of full slices of large American OC's?  
 YES.  Why?  Because I have some of them to sell.  Do I wish there were more
 collectors of $10 specimens, 1 inch square specimens, whole stones, pieces
 from a certain state, a specimens from each state, a representative sample
 from each class, only achondrites, only carbonaceous chondrites, only SNC's
 or Lunar's, witnessed falls, historic finds, finds or falls with strange
 stories or ones starting from each letter of the alphabet?  YES.  Why?  
 Because I have some of all of those to sell as well.
 
 My only caution to the collectors reading this on the sidelines, is to
 understand that if someone is overly promoting a certain perspective, it
 usually is because that person has something to gain if you accept what they
 are saying.  Now don't get me wrong, I have a college degree in Marketing, so
 I understand and appreciate marketing; there is nothing wrong with romancing
 what one is selling.  
 
 However, I think it is very important that the collectors realize that there
 is no automatic direction that this market will go in the future.  This
 reality is evident by the different emails we have read the last couple of
 days.  I really like to discourage anyone from buying meteorites from an
 "investment" perspective, yet there are very few collectors that would like
 to see their personal collections go down in value dramatically as the years
 progress.  I think if there is a real lesson here, it is that you need to
 find out what you personally like to collect, and if you do look at your
 collection as an investment, my advice would be to put 25% to 50% of your
 meteorite dollars into diversifying your collection into areas that you do
 not specialize in.  
 
 Hedge your bets if you will.
 
 I have no idea what the meteorite market will hold in the next 5, 10 or 50
 years, but I do know that some specimens will do better than others.  And the
 great thing about the internet and Ebay specifically, is that the collectors
 have a way of liquidating some or all of their specimens easily and
 efficiently.  So even if you end up collecting some specimens that don't fit
 into your personal niche, down the road you will have trading material to
 acquire more of what you really want.
 
 And last of all, if you find something that you really fell is a great
 bargain, then buy extra of it while you can.  Down the road, if your gut
 feeling was right, it won't kill you to part with some of your surplus.  
 Where if you only have one of your "1 inch square" collection pieces, no
 matter how good of a deal you got, you won't want to part with it later.
 
 And skeptically remember, that the main reason I am promoting this diverse
 approach, is because I have (and I plan to continue to acquire) a wide
 variety of different types of specimens in my sales inventory.  :-)   
 
 Steve Arnold
 www.meteoritebroker.com</HTML>

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Received on Sat 20 Jan 2001 10:06:00 PM PST

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