[meteorite-list] Meteorite sales falling with the stock market?

From: Impactika at aol.com <Impactika_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:49:02 EDT
Message-ID: <cde.38cfaf6a.3623f4fe_at_aol.com>

Hello List, Al and Mike(s),

Excellent market analysis, Mike (Bandli). I agree with most of it.

Personally I believe that the planetary meteorites will keep on losing their
value (except maybe some exceptional falls) as they become less and less of a
rare occurence. At the last Tucson Show, there were no less than 3 new lunars.
When is the last time we had a new Aubrite (a real one)?
 
And business is about the same as last year. And I am hoping to close soon on
a very nice trade, so I will have even more new "stuff". No complaints here.

Anybody else?
 
Anne M. Black
_http://www.impactika.com/_ (http://www.impactika.com/)
_IMPACTIKA at aol.com_ (mailto:IMPACTIKA at aol.com)
Vice-President, I.M.C.A. Inc.
_http://www.imca.cc/_ (http://www.imca.cc/)
 

In a message dated 10/12/2008 4:25:20 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
fuzzfoot at comcast.net writes:
At this point in time, my view is that the economic crisis has had little
immediate effect on the meteorite market. My observation has been that
historical and older witnessed falls continue to rise and sell quickly
(especially from the Old-World). More and more rare/historical falls are
reaching the $100+ a gram price, whereas a few years ago they were 'only'
$50/g. I believe there are several reasons for this:

1. Less museums and institutions are exchanging historical material.

2. More historical material is being sectioned down into smaller pieces and
macros making them more expensive (and larger pieces difficult to find).

3. I believe that more and more collectors are aspiring to collect
historical falls.

4. Hard Provenance. Provenance can add exceptional value to a piece and more
and more dealers are providing it pre-sale. (copies of old museum or
collector labels, chain of ownership, etc.).

On the other hand Dessert Finds, USA finds, and planetaries are cheap and
seem to be on a small decline. I believe there are several reasons for this
as well:

1. Dessert Finds: Many collectors have filled their type-collections making
otherwise rare types a little less desirable. Exceptions would be extremely
fresh material, new sub-types, or aesthetic pieces. Look how cheap CV3's
are!

2. USA Finds: There seems to have been a flood of this material over the
last few years - supply/demand. Exceptions would include ultra-rare irons,
rare localities, or old labels/provenance.

3. Planetaries: I'm not entirely sure what is happening here, but Lunars and
Martians could be purchased very cheap (in bulk) in Tucson. Perhaps supply
has overgrown demand. $1000/g planetaries are, for now, a thing of the past.
I believe that they will re-bound in several years, however, making them a
smart buy now.

These three groups may also suffer more as a result of the long-term
economic crisis as collectors begin prioritizing their collections.

I have been keeping a pretty close eye on this and it seems that eBay, for
the most part, is not the place to sell right now. The upside is that eBay
has some great bargains for buyers. As a result, I predict that more sellers
will discontinue the .99 cent selling format and begin using fixed prices on
eBay.

I also get the sense that some dealers are hoarding and/or are on selling
freezes. I haven't purchased much in the last few months only because there
is little for sale that suits my collection requirements. It will be
interesting to see where things are in February at Tucson.

Just my opinion and personal observations... Others' may be different and I
look forward to more posts on this topic.

Regards,

Mike Bandli
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Received on Sun 12 Oct 2008 08:49:02 PM PDT