[meteorite-list] More Tucson prices

From: Starbits_at_aol.com <Starbits_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:54:05 2004
Message-ID: <137.98da594.29a07b22_at_aol.com>

    Since there has been some discussion of meteorite prices lately I thought
I would put a little perspective on meteorite prices. Listed below are
prices I saw today at the Tucson show of some common gemstones. I have
coverted all the prices to $/gm for an easier comparison to current meteorite
prices. I did not look for either high or low prices I just wrote down a
bunch of what I saw. Keep in mind the price of your favorite meteorite when
you read the list.

Cubic zircon $5 /gm
Ametrine $15 - $25
Citrine $175 to $635
Peridot $170 to $320
Spinel $175 to $635
Green Tourmaline $225
Blue Tourmaline $300
Grossular garnet $600 to $750
Mali Garnet $800 to $900
Tanzanite $875 to $1250

     Note that I did not have to list diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, etc
to get to Martian and Lunar prices. Prices are low on meteorites because
there is little demand for them not because there is a huge supply of them.
If you want the value of your meteorites to go up all you have to do is
convince women that meteorites are better than jewelry, chocolate or flowers
for valentine's day. That may be a tough sell, I haven't even convinced my
wife of that yet ;-) So is a 5 carat (1 gram) Mali garnet worth 2-3
kilograms of unclassified NWA? The market says it is. Would you trade hot
desert Martian straight across for tourmalines? Hardly seems like a fair
trade, but check the prices.
      Just thought everybody might like a different slant on meteorite prices.

Eric Olson
http://www.star-bits.com
Received on Sat 16 Feb 2002 10:18:58 PM PST