[meteorite-list] Meteorite Pricing/Values

From: dean bessey <deanbessey_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Dec 23 15:10:19 2005
Message-ID: <20051223201016.64299.qmail_at_web31514.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

I dont think people will ever agree on a "value" for
meteorites. I am a member of coin and stamp
disscussion groups with excact catalog values and a
big part of the postings to coin and stamp discussion
groups are bickering over values. And those are
products with known mintages, grading systems and
other stable and predictable factors.
The current (And unfortunate that should never have
started) thread concerning Esquel makes a perfect
example. $40 was always a "benchmark" value for esquel
but ebay prices range from $10 to about $60 and I have
seen faceted crystals offered in the jewellery trade
for a couple thousand. Esquel is a meteorite where a
single particularly nice crystal can affect the value
of an otherwise identical piece. Its sort of silly to
complain that somebody is overpricing esquel by $10 a
gram.
With my NWAs I can list 20 on ebay that are similar
and some will sell for 10 cents and others for upwards
of a dollar. But I often get less than some other
dealers for them just because I flood the market with
so many all at once (An often unconsidered factor that
affects the value - the amount a dealer wants to sell
fast). Dealers may need for money or a big collector
wanting to upgrade makes a difference also.
The overall size affects the value also (Smaller
generally more per gram). For years in the stamp trade
I made a lot of money buying blocks of stamps and
breaking them up selling them as singles because you
can walk into any stamp store and the quoted price for
a block of 8 will only be say 4 or 5 times the price
of a single (Or a block of 4 triple the single price).
Check that out the next time you see a stamp shop.
Same is true of meteorites where people dont want to
spend $100 on every sample but would rather have four
1/5th size specimens at the same price.
But what I am writing this email for is to comment
about auctions. I hear time and time again (Including
from my good friend Michael Blood who will provide
what will probably be the cheapest way for a collector
to acquire a meteorite during Tucson) that auctions
set the price of something. If you consider ebay and
the wide variations it has (Just look how cheap
farmers Ureilite went for yesterday on ebay - you are
not going to be able to duplicate that price every day
for a ureilite). I sell meteorites that just a few
days earlier a similar meteorite went for half or
triple the price. Same is true about other things that
I sell on ebay. So ebay has an auction certainly dont
set the price of anything.
But if they did meteorites would be unique as far as
pricing went. Consider other collectibles. If you go
to any stamp or coin auction - wither it be small city
dealers, the swiss money fair auction or the Waldorf
astoria auction in New York next month, you will
notice something peculiar about the bidders. Even
though anybody can attend the majority of people in
attendance are dealers. Maybe 90% will be full time
dealers. And the dealers will buy almost every lot. If
you go to a christies art auction where people spend
millions of dollars it will be almost all dealers. The
Hong kong pearl auction will be attended almost
exclusively by dealers. Michael Bloods meteorite
auction has fewer dealers than almost any other
auction you can attend (Because it is a getogether of
people who only see each other occasionally in
addition to simply an auction - Blood is providing a
social setting in addition to an auction and many
attendees will not buy anything) but dealers are the
biggest byers (With a couple exceptions as they were
will 5 or 6 deep pocketed collecters in attendance). I
think I bought 17 lots the last time I attended Bloods
auction.
Think about it. Dealers dont attend auctions because
they have to pay retail for their stock. Auctions are
a great way to aquire something for the most part
(That includes ebay in a lot of cases)
Of course the scatter lot goes for big bucks as two or
3 bidders
get out of hand and these lots always get the media
attention - since auctioneers like telling everybody
about the high realizations so that future people will
consign more and to give them more prestige. But the
dealers who are the auctions main buyers have dropped
out long ago on lots that this happens to.
There are to many factors to put a firm value on any
meteorite. The fact that many are used for display
purposes makes every meteorite a unique item that
cant in any way be duplicated exactly and a buyer may
find one extra thumbprint or shock vein or something
else like a cute weathering spot that makes that one
specimen somehow special and would make him pay mor
for it rather than similar items. If another almost
identical item went for 25% less a few minutes later
it dont mean that the first buyer got ripped off.
Meteorites has more vairables than most other
collectibles and even with those other collectibles
you cant put firm values on anything. Your local
retail coin store in a mall will charge (And get) a
lot more than coins will sell for at the waldorf
astoria auction next month.
But as with all the other discussion groups prices
will always be a major topic of discussion with the
met list. And should be as it gives people an idea of
what the market is like (Even if it is usually
slightly behind).
In the coin industry you often hear that "There is a
grade for buying and a grade for selling". And for
esquel it is supposed to be $40 and if you are selling
and it is supposed to be $15 if you are buying. But
you can bet that every esquel transaction over the
next year is not going to be exactly the same price
that everybody on the met list says is the "correct"
price (Even if matteo and farmer agreed on the correct
"Not in ruin" price that big steve should sell his
esquel at) - say $27.
Bethany Sciences (While I hate bringing him up) offers
(And gets) from his flashy catalog much higher prices
than anybody (Including matteo on the few meteorites
that are "Not in ruin" price wise) who sells on this
list or on ebay. But no matter what anybody says about
him Bethany does sell meteorites and the price is not
in line with what anybody on this list will agree is
within the accepted range of what a meteorite is
"worth".
So trying to nail down a certain value of any
meteorite is lost at the end of the rainbow.
But meteorites have fallen in value across the board
by 90% because of the great NWA (Maybe I should say
desert) rush. Affordable and attracting lots of new
collectors. I think it is now a great time to be a
meteorite collector as I personally believe that these
current low prices will not last.
Once prices start rising everybody will want in.
I will draw one last parallel with another industry
before I go. I herd a commodies dealer once (A friend
from my stockbroker days) say that "at $280 nobody
wants gold. If it went up to $600 tomorrow people
would be beating down my door begging to pay $600".
I wonder how meteorite collectors will reach once it
becomes obvious that the desert has dried up and there
will be shortages in the future.
Cheers
DEAN



        
                
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Received on Fri 23 Dec 2005 03:10:16 PM PST