[meteorite-list] Re: Blood Auction Results

From: David Freeman <dfreeman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Feb 17 22:19:14 2005
Message-ID: <42155EB6.4090507_at_fascination.com>

Dear Michael;
If the auction is such a bad deal for all the dealers, why do the
dealers so eagerly attend the auction? I think that is the issue, buy
low sell high. Isn't that related to your non disclosure issue?
I should think that some information on what was paid by
happy-to-disclose-select-individuals would seem to bolster attendance at
next years auction for all the great deals....

A free and unregulated press....
Dave F.

Michael L Blood wrote:

>Hi Ryan,
> I happily report price of sale to individuals who placed an
>absentee bid on a given item.
> The reason I do not post prices is out of consideration of
>all the dealers in Tucson - and even those not at Tucson. For some
>reason, people are under the misconception that the price at an
>auction means something about the "value" of said material. I have
>even heard a DEALER state that price at auction DEFINES market
>value! I could not disagree more. What the price at auction means
>is that
>1) Given all the other items up for sale AND
>2) Given the priorities of the bidders at that particular auction
>3) at that particular time
>4) and given the amount of money they have to spend at that moment
>5) and relative to weight and
>6) visual appeal of the item
>7 relative to all other items and the bidding pattern on them and
>8) the bidding activity on the given item
>one person was willing to pay that amount, at that time, etc.
> In other words, it means NOTHING in terms of the market.
> Have you ever heard of someone buying a house at a tax auction
>for less than 10% of the "market" in the area? Or someone paying 5 times
>the "market value" of a meteorite on ebay? These are only a couple of
>instances demonstrating my point.
> Yet, people will go to a dealer the day after the auction and try to
>beat him down on a price of something saying, "At the auction this
>sold for XXX a gram and your asking YYY a gram. That's way more than
>what it is worth."
> Of course, the perspective buyer is trying to get a deal, but if
>what he was saying were really true, he wouldn't be trying to buy it today,
>as he would have bought it at the auction. Frequently the dealer is offering
>a much smaller piece, possibly with more eye appeal, etc.
> So, no, I quit publishing prices because people kept beating up
>dealers with them. Of course, when I tally up everything after an auction,
>I inevitably beat myself up for letting more than a few TERRIFIC buys get
>past me! I do not, however, pretend I should be able to find those prices
>anywhere else.
> Furthermore, dealers in Tucson almost all had to:
>A) Travel a long distance
>B) Rent a room & buy meals daily
>C) Tie up capital in their stock
>D) put in countless hours to make all this happen
> 1) packing,
> 2) planning
> 3) renting the room in advance
> 4) getting airline tickets or driving great distances
> 5) etc)
>E) Usually buy a nice display box of some kind
>F) Rent display cases for the show
>G) Make labels, keep records, etc. etc.
> They do not need to then have their prices held up to completely
>arbitrary comparison to a one night a year auction. In addition, I have
>never heard of a single incident of a buyer saying, "Gee, this sold for
>MUCH more per gram at the auction! You aren't charging nearly enough.
>Can I pay you more?" Though you can be sure the opportunity to
>do so happens quite often.
> NOTE: this statement is not aimed at anyone in particular, so,
>if anyone is taking it personally, you are mistaken.
> Best wishes, Michael
>
>
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Received on Thu 17 Feb 2005 10:19:18 PM PST