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

From: Mike Fowler <mqfowler_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Mar 6 17:10:03 2006
Message-ID: <6BA53B66-1D1E-4BE5-B867-98A05FE2B71C_at_mac.com>

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your thorough response to my post.

The absence of response up till now had led me to believe that I was
the only one on the list who didn't go to Tuscon, and that everyone
else was already in the know!!

Mike Fowler



> 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
>
Received on Mon 06 Mar 2006 05:06:07 PM PST