[meteorite-list] Bonhams Auction Results

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 17:26:48 -0800
Message-ID: <93aaac890812071726l2a244fa7oe948c0784762bdc6_at_mail.gmail.com>

No, buyers' premium was 20% and California sales tax (without a resale
number) is 8%.
...So add 28%
Jason

On Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 4:49 PM, <mail at mhmeteorites.com> wrote:
> OMG - should have bid.
> Do these include the buyers premium?
> Matt
> Matt Morgan
> Mile High Meteorites
> http://www.mhmeteorites.com
> P.O. Box 151293
> Lakewood, CO 80215 USA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Jason Utas" <meteoritekid at gmail.com>
>
> Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 16:17:18
> To: Meteorite-list<meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Bonhams Auction Results
>
>
> Hello All,
> I read through the legal print in the front of the catalog, and it
> looks like it's ok to post the results publicly.
>
> 1086 - 315g Gibeon Sphere - $475
> 1087 - 140g Gibeon Egg - $190
> 1088 - 490g Gibeon Slice - $375
> 1089 - 321g Gibeon Slice - Pass
> 1090 - 2 Gibeon Slices (281 + 262g) - $325
> 1091 - Gibeon Part-Slice $475
> 1092 - 552g Gibeon Slice - $400
> 1093 - 2.6kg Gibeon Cut Block - $1,700
> 1094 - 7,150g Gibeon Slice - $3.250 - Pass
> 1095 - 1,361g Muonionalusta End - $500
> 1096 - 136g Chinga Slice - $120
> 1097 - 494g Seymchan Slice - $425
> 1098 - 121g Udei Station End - $200 (!)
> 1099 - 276g New NWA Iron (silicated) slice - $600
> 1100 - "7lb" Sikhote Shrapnel - listed as "oriented" - $1,500
> 1101 - 1,304g Sikhote Individual - $2,900 (!)
> 1102 - 8kg Corroded Sikhote (*no* remaining fusion crust) - $6,500 - Pass
> 1103 - 334g Fukang Part-Slice (shattered crystals) - $3,750
> 1104 - 520g Esquel Part-Slice - $12,000
> 1105 - Pair of Campo Ends (206g and 430g, one silicated) - ~$400 -
> Pass (Passed at $400 for 600g of Campo....right)\
> 1106 - 1,886g Campo Indiv (nice) - $300
> 1107 - 3,146g Canyon Diablo (fairly nondescript) - $1,300
> 1108 - 42.5lb Campo (good shape, no glypts - corroded) - missed price
> 1109 - 1,220 lb butt-ugly Campo - $19,000
> 1110 - 127 lb Canyon Diablo - Special Note
> This iron looks great in the auction photo. It's not. The back of it
> was...ruined somehow. It looks like the owner sandblasted the back
> down to a quasi-3D widmanstatten surface, and then coated it in some
> sort of plastic/sealant that tinged it all (only the backside, but the
> entire backside) a nasty light-green hue, and gave it a smooth, shiny,
> plastic-ey look and feel. I don't know what the hell s/he did to it,
> but we decided ahead of time that we didn't want it, no matter the
> cost.
> That said - $18,000
> 1111 - 385g Slice of NWA 1941 L6 (the "blue" one Michael Farmer's been
> selling) - $950 (!)
> 1112 - 34mm diameter NWA XXX Sphere (no weight given, listed as NWA
> 869, but not NWA 869) - $350
> 1113 - 1,994g NWA XXX Sphere (4in diameter, again listed as NWA 869,
> but a different meteorite) - $1,800
> 1114 - 2.0g Murchison frag, no crust - $400 (!)
> 1115 - Arroyo Malo 75.1g - $500 (slightly less than $50/g)
> 1116 - Arroyo Malo 202.5g - $850 (again, somewhat less than $50/g)
> 1117 - Libyan Glass Pair (183g light + 77g dark) - missed the number,
> at least $400
> 1118 - 1,451g Libyan Glass (numerous large chips) - $1,400
> 1119 - Collection of Six Lunar and Martian Meteorites - 0.05g to
> 0.054g in weight - $1,800 (...I estimate its value, based on the
> specimens, their weights, and current market prices, at no more than
> $300)
> 1120 - Set of Five Medals w/ Meteorites (Campo/869/482/2995/2986) - $275
> 1121 - 1.85g DaG 476 Slice - $950
> 1122 - 2.718g NWA 4880 Sherg. Indiv. (broken) - $4,500 (!)
> 1123 - 5.85g of LA002 - $9,000 (!)
> 1124 - 90.5g Shergottite Indiv - Special Note
> This stone had a chip not pictured - just above and to the left of
> what would be visible in the photographs posted in the auction.It was
> a fresh chip - looked as though a curious nomad had knocked the corner
> (unfortunately the leading edge) off of it. Go figure. My only
> question regarding the stone was that the edge of the chip was painted
> black. It was definitely some sort of paint; not only was it less
> glossy and darker in colour than the rest of the stone, but...it
> rubbed off. The only possible explanation we could come up with was
> that it had been put on the stone so as to hide the edge of the chip
> in the auction photograph. It is visible in the photograph just to
> the left of the top of the stone as a thin edge of grey of a different
> hue (slightly) than the rest of the stone, running about half-way down
> that top-left side. It looks like a result of the lighting in the
> photo, but it's definitely not that...
> Very odd. - $30,000 - Pass
> 1125 - 1.3308g Dhofar 1428 Slice (Feldspathic IMB) - $1,600
> 1126 - 1.0064g DaG 400 Part-Slice (Anorthositic Breccia) - $1,400
>
> So...nothing -too- surprising. The low end was the Udei, at $1.67/g,
> and the high-end, well - a good few things. The bidders who went over
> market tended not to be meteorite enthusiasts; I heard a phone-bidder
> assuring her client that the $950 purchase of the $385g slice of NWA
> 1941 (L6) was a "very good deal." Granted, it was a nice slice, but
> if you take the 20% commission and 8% tax into account for it (and all
> other items), well...that Sikhote was nothing special, and it cost the
> buyer close to $4/g...
>
> It looked like the buyers generally went with what looked flashier or
> more interesting. The Murchison was listed as a piece of a comet, and
> the NWA 1941 was listed as the "Blue Galaxy Meteorite" - something
> like that. The better the listing made things sound, the more they
> fetched. Something like Udei, which looked particularly bad in their
> case, which, in all fairness, didn't have adequate lighting for such a
> specimen, attracted little-to-no attention from...anyone.
>
> Regards,
> Jason
> ______________________________________________
> http://www.meteoritecentral.com
> Meteorite-list mailing list
> Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>
Received on Sun 07 Dec 2008 08:26:48 PM PST