[meteorite-list] Michael Blood's Meteorite Market Trends

From: Michael L Blood <mlblood_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Mar 6 16:37:55 2006
Message-ID: <C031EB8E.292B5%mlblood_at_cox.net>

Hi Mike and all,
        Mostly good questions, so, I will attempt to respond to them
one at a time:

on 3/5/06 8:02 PM, Michael Fowler at mqfowler_at_mac.com wrote:

> --Since The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show is the most
> --significant single event yearly influencing the meteorite
> --market, as usual, I will devote the March article to
> --reporting on same.
>
> I was very disappointed that Michael Bloods always entertaining, and usually
> informative column gave a report of
> the Tuscon show without a single word, not even a hint as, to the trend of the
> meteorite market.

Sorry...

> Was the show well attended? >More or less than past years?

    Yes, while it is impossible to tell, really, how many attended, the
BDBash appeared to have more people than ever. The auction definitely
had more people attending than ever, as was reported in my column.
In addition, for the first time, over 100 bid cards were assigned - I
believe last year was higher than the previous year and last year was
like 71. So, about a 43% increase over last year. I believe part, though
not likely all, of this increase was due to the students and other
interested parties attending the lectures put on by the U of A SWMC.

> Were the auctions well bid? More or less than past years?

This is always "a mixed" aspect... though I believe overall bidding
went higher on the higher priced items than has been the case up
'till now. On the other hand, some small lunars with very low
TKW were purchased at very thrifty prices, while the "historic falls"
tended to be inconsistent - with some going high and some going
low.

> Were certain meteorite types hot this year? If so which ones?
The "hottest" types I noticed were the oriented S-A specimens Mike
Farmer, Jim Strope and Eric Olsen were selling. There were a couple
that were KILLER, and not cheap - but, as I said, killer stinking pieces!
Some of those were snatched right up.
ET had some very low priced unidentified NWA as did Hans, who usually
only carries New Campos - which, by the way, this year were almost all
very small (relatively speaking).

> Were some meteorite types over supplied this year with little demand? If so
> which ones?
Hans did not seam to come close to selling out all those little New Campos,
but that is just one dealer. UNDER represented seamed to me to be Fukang
and Symchin.

> Has the meteorite market general began to recover from it's depressed state of
> the last several years?

Always a good question, but with meteorites there are SO many variables that
I believe this question can only be answered a few years after the fact. I
noticed the price of S-A speicmens is definitely increasing while the
quality seams to be decreasing (lack of totally fresh - some rusting, etc).
While there was a brief - bottom fell out - pricing of D'Orbigney, that
seams to be past and everything available is back at $5K/g.
        Anne Black had a great stock of macromounts that seamed unusually
low and tempted me, as a dealer, to purchase many for resale.
        The price of Brenham is WAY up - partly because of the spectacular
1400 LB oriented individual Steve and Phil recovered and partly because
much of the smaller specimens all appear to be from a dry matrix and
hope is high they will yield stable specimens when cut - as most of you
know, most Brenham available to collectors up to now came from a matrix
which resulted in specimens that would eventually be oozing Lawrencite
puss, so, this development could be the beginning of a Brenham
renaissance.
>
> Shouldn't some or all of these developments be discernible by an astute
> observer at the USA's largest
> gathering of Meteorite People?

Yes

> Is there any reason why this information should be kept from the rest of us?

There is a deeply concealed plot, but if I tell you what it is, I will have
to kill you....

> Is any one else as disappointed as I am?

Ya, I got you beat by a mile... my wife broke bones in both her feet and my
best surviving friend died.
        Best wishes, Michael

>
> Mike Fowler
> Chicago
> ebay-starsandrocks
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-- 
"He is not a lover who does not love forever." - Euripides (485-406BC)
--
* If Jimmy cracks corn and no one  cares, why is there a song  about  him?

Received on Mon 06 Mar 2006 04:37:18 PM PST