[meteorite-list] Re: Emil Cohen's Market Trends of 1899 - Old prices in today's $ - Part I.

From: martinh_at_isu.edu <martinh_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Apr 10 11:38:45 2005
Message-ID: <38982e3859ef.3859ef38982e_at_isu.edu>

Outstanding job Martin! Thank you.

It was like reading the old school report cards of my grandparents.

I wonder what a stock analysist would think of our 'investments'?

Looking forward to C-Z!


Martin H


----- Original Message -----
From: Martin Altmann <Altmann_at_Meteorite-Martin.de>
Date: Sunday, April 10, 2005 8:19 am
Subject: Emil Cohen's Market Trends of 1899 - Old prices in today's $ - Part I.

> Dear list,
>
> last year I acquired following article:
>
> E.Cohen: Ueber den Wuelfing'schen Tauschwerth der Meteoriten im
> Vergleichmit den Handelspreisen.,
> published in: Mitth. aus dem naturwiss. Ver. f?r Neu-Vorpommern u.
> R?gen,XXXI. pp 50-66, Greifswald 1899.
>
> (Wuelfing's trade value of meteorites in comparision with the market
> prices).
>
> Emil Cohen (1842-1905) was a mineralogist, geologist and an eminent
> meteorite researcher of his times, from 1885 on professor at the
> universityin Greifswald. He started to write a monumental
> comprehensive wor
k about
> meteorites, his "Meteoritenkunde", but died before the third volume
> waspublished.
> In 1889 E.Weinschenck honoured him in naming that silvery iron
> carbide found
> in iron
> meteorites "Cohenite".
>
> This article was a reply to Wuelfing's suggested formula for the
> determination of a trade value of a meteorite specimen, depending
> on total
> weight of the class and total known weight of that find or fall,
> which was
> published two years ago in 1897.
> Cohen examines there, whether W?lfing's values are reflecting
> actually the
> prices asked on the market.
> Furthermore he makes some remarks about the behaviour of dealers and
> collectors and wonders about the sometimes strange affectations of the
> collectors (private meteorite collecting wasn't invented by Nininger).
> (His observations seem not directly unfamiliar to me...)
>
> For the comparison Cohen publishes a list of prices for more than 300
> meteorites, which he collected during several year
s until 1899!
> It contains the average price per gram, the lowest and the highest
> price.
> Now with this old price lists we have the problem, that we don't
> know, what
> would be the old currencies in what the prices are given be worth
> today? How
> to find out the purchasing power of the old currency to have an
> equivalentor how to convert in this case the Mark of 1899 into US-$
> of 2005?
> Long term indices for the purchasing power I couldn't find. Old single
> prices, wages, salaries aren't helpful, as for instance manpower
> was cheap
> at that times, foods expensive - today in the first world it's
> otherwayround.
> Thus here my approach:
> Cohen's prices are given in Pfennige of Mark (german Goldmark). The
> Mark was
> a gold-backed currency, consequently I calculated my adaptation via
> the gold
> price. I had the fine gold contents of the Mark, keeping in mind,
> that the
> gold price at that time was subject of manipulation by the national
> governme
nts, I chose the New Yorker fixing of that year and in
> virtue of
> today's goldprice's, I converted the Goldmark in today's US-$. (In
> fact I
> did it last year, when the ounce was at 400$).
> I got out: 1Mark = 4.61$
> (of course the purchase power of gold was see-sawing through time
> too, but
> do you have a better suggestion?)
>
> Or in other words, the following price list is that, what you have
> effectively to pay, if you'll run tomorrow to your bank, buy gold,
> jump in
> the time machine, travel 106 years back and purchase meteorites.
>
> In the following list, I use the meteorite names according to the
> Catalogueof Meteorites, I added the type, an asterisk indicates an
> observed fall.
> Given is the average price, in brackets lowest and highest price.
> Meteorites marked as "pseudo" were at Cohen's times already known as
> pseudometeorites.
> Some finds of the same meteorite (most already known and listed by
> Cohen to
> be paired) were sold seperatel
y at different price levels.
> A "(?)" is found in thuse few cases, where I wasn't able to
> identify the
> meteorite:
>
> And here we go!
>
>
> Agen* H5 16.34$ (14,29-18.44)
> Alais* CI1 66,85$ (41.49-92.90)
> Aleppo* L6 6.92$
> Alfianello* L6 3.00$ (0.92-4.61)
> Ambapur Nagla* H5 19.59$ (13.83-25.36)
> Angra dos Reis* ANGR 110.64$
> Arlington IIE 17.52$ (16.14-19.36)
> Assisi* H5 18.44$
> Augustinovka IIIA 8.07$
> Ausson* L5 21.21$ (6.92-34.58)
> Avilez (*) H 83.90$
>
> Babb's Mill IrUNGR 12.91$
> Bachmut* L6 18.44$
> Ballinoo IIC 2.77$ (1.75-3.92)
> Barbotan* H5 20.75$ (11.76-27.66)
> Bath* H5 6.45$ (3.00-9.22)
> Beaver Creek* H4 9.22$ (3.92-12.68)
> Bel
la Roca IIIAB 4.38$ (3.69-4.84)
> Benares* LL4 55.32$
> Bendeg? IC 4.15$ (2.31-5.99)
> Bishopville* AUB 43.33$ (27.66-65.92)
> Bitburg IAB 44.26$ (42.64-46.10)
> Black Mountain IAB 19.50$
> Bluff(a) L5 2.77$ (1.84-3.46)
> Bohumilitz IAB 4.61$
> Bori* L6 20.05$ (11.53-23.05)
> Borkut* L5 23.05$
> Brahin PAL 26.28$ (12.68-35.27)
> Braunau* IIAB 16.14$ (9.22-23.05)
> Bremerv?rde* H3.7 17.52$ (4.61-27.66)
> Brenham PAL 3.69$ (1.38-7.61)
> Bridgewater IID 7.15$ (5.07-11.06)
> Burlington IIIE 7.84$
> Buschhof* L6 46.10$ (15.67-77.22)
> Butler IrUNGR 6.92$ (3.00-11.53)
>
> Cabezo de Mayo* L6 47.02$ (17.92-76.53)
> Cambria IrUNGR 7.38$ (4.61-10.14)
> Campo
del Cielo 17.98$ (4.61-31.35)
> Cangas de Onis* H5 18.90$ (12.91-25.82)
> Canyon Diablo IAB 1.84$ (0.46-4.61)
> Cape of Good Hope IVB 11.53$
> Carlton IIICD 4.38$ (2.03-7.38)
> Carthage IIIB 4.15$ (2.31-5.99)
> Cereseto* H5 21.44$ (15.67-27.66)
> Chantonnay* L6 10.37$ (4.61-15.67)
> Charsonville* H6 20.98$
> Chateau-Renard* L6 11.29$ (6.92-16.60)
> Chesterville IIAB 6.45$ (4.84-8.30)
> Chulafinnee IIIAB 10.14$ (9.22-10.83)
> Chupaderos IIIAB 7.61$
> Coahuila IIAB
> - Butcher Iron 2.31$ (0.46-3.69)
> - Saltillo 9.22$
> Cold Bokkeveld* CM2 41.49$ (36.88-46.10)
> Colfax IAB 9.68$
> Collescipoli* H5 13.83$ (7.38-23.05)
> Copiapo IAB 9.22$
> Cosby's Creek IAB
> - Cocke Co. 4.61$ (2.54-7.84)
> - Sevier Co. 5.53
$ (3.46-9.68)
> Cowra IrUNGR 38.72$ (25.82-51.63)
> Crab Orchard MES 2.31$ (1.57-3.04)
> Cranbourne IIICD
> - Beaconsfield 3.32$ (2.21-4.84)
> - Melbourne 4.15$ (3.92-4.61)
>
> ...to be continued, if you think, that it's interesting enough ...
>
> Buckleboo!
> Martin
>
>
Received on Sun 10 Apr 2005 11:38:42 AM PDT