[meteorite-list] Special Martian Meteorite Auction on 5-12

From: Adam Hupe <adamhupe_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun May 2 20:20:50 2004
Message-ID: <00de01c43947$ba102ce0$ad971018_at_attbi.com>

Hi Martin and List,

Martians bottomed out two and a half years ago according to our data base.
Zagami could be purchased for $140.00 a gram then and DAG 476 for $120.00.
Both sell for around $300.00 a gram now. It is understandable that the
SAU005 and DAG 476 series would be at the low end of the feeding chain
because of the amount of supply. I feel Zagami (a witnessed fall selling
for less than NWA Martians) is under priced right now because most of it has
now been distributed and larger specimens are becoming increasingly
difficult to find. Nakhla (another witnessed fall selling for less than NWA
Nakhlites) is the least expensive Nakhlite right now but has held steady at
around $1,200 a gram for several years making it a relatively safe
investment. It looks like TKW is the factor that most influences the price
of Martian material. Surprisingly, it does not seem to matter that some are
witnessed falls according to our database which tracks auction prices not
dealers. Martians were one of the first type of meteorites to depreciate
and are among the first to recover from the downturn of a couple years back.
They have outperformed everything the last two and half years according to
our collection database.

Lunar on the other hand seems to be under appreciated right now. We feel
that it was priced way too high four years ago and the price seems to have
over corrected itself. We have improved our collection greatly taking
advantage of these low prices as have several other collectors so you wont
hear us complaining. At a fraction of the weight of Martians, Lunar
represent the biggest bargain right now, in our opinion.

I feel as a whole, the so-called market is still adjusting itself.
Witnessed falls were among the last items to drop in price and still
continue to decrease sharply according to our database that represents most
available falls contained in our collection. The low petrologic type
chondrites and rare material having been holding steady lately indicating
the demand is good and the price has been beaten down about as far is it is
going to go. If the supply were to suddenly drop you can count on rare
material to be among the first to show a sharp rise in price according to
our predictions.

Cataloging our collection has given us some insights into how valuable
different types of meteorites really are. The good news is that overall the
so-called market is recovering in most sectors and most items have remained
steady or increased slightly over the last quarter. It is too soon to tell
if it has to do with the economy as a whole.

Wishing everybody the best,

Adam and Greg Hupe
The Hupe Collection
Team LunarRock
IMCA 2185
Received on Thu 13 May 2004 08:09:25 PM PDT