[meteorite-list] Meteorite Collector's Dirge - Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!

From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:11:02 -0400
Message-ID: <e51421550908311611y2924a4c0q7a8f5c8d99b25b9f_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hi Folks!

These are just a few musings, so take them with a Bessey-speck of
salt. Actual mileage may vary.

My apologies to Michael Blood - this is not a market analysis. This
are just some random observations from my recent marketplace
experiences.

It seems that the market is swollen with certain materials. This is a
good thing...mostly....I think.

First, who is cutting up all of the Gibeon into tiny "fantasy shapes"
? There is a ton of this stuff on the market lately. Not just on
eBay, but on dealer websites as well. Some of it has attractive
prices per gram, but most of the pieces are small geometric shapes in
the <10 gram range. Individual pieces have little display value,
although a group of them artfully arranged in a Riker box might be
interesting. I just can't help but think - where are these tiny cuts
coming from? I hope someone isn't dicing up perfectly-good large
slices of Gibeon to make these tiny souvenirs. I would pray they are
made from "scrap" pieces of Gibeon that broke off when cutting larger
slices. I'd hate to think that a larger display-quality full-slice of
Gibeon was sacrificed to make a dozen 7-gram triangles. Well,
regardless of where they come from, I am happy that they are not
gold-plated. Whoever is selling the gold-plated Gibeon slices -
please knock it off and find something else to gold plate.

Tata-Fest 2009 continues. Tatahouine is everywhere! 1-gram lots,
10-gram lots, kilo-lots. Big individuals ranging from 10gr to 30+
grams. I have heard, numerous times in the past, that Tatahouine in
pieces over 30 grams was truly rare and I should jump on it if it's
offered. Well, in the last month or two, I have seen several Tatas
larger than 30 grams for sale. The prices were attractive too,
especially on Mexico Doug's larger pieces. I was very tempted to buy
a larger piece, but I was already spread too thin with several other
irons in the fire. I hope someone out there is taking advantage of
the deals.

I have seen some beautiful UNWA stones being offered up - both from
the Moroccans and from dealers stateside. But, the prices are
continually going up. While the aesthetics of some specimens were
tempting, the prices didn't blow my skirt up. Finding a UNWA with
*fresh* crust for less than $1 a gram is getting a bit difficult now.
Anything with some black remaining in the crust generally goes for
over 50 cents a gram. I recall getting the latter variety for 10
cents a gram in kilo lots back in early 2007. Now I am being offered
the same material at .50 cents a gram or more. It makes me wish that
I had more money to invest.....several years ago.

Despite legal rumblings from Argentina, I don't see much change in the
price of Campo irons. I still see them everywhere, in all sizes, for
nickels a gram. Viva La Campo!

It seems that micromounts are still all the rage. Bessey Specks is a
term that is falling out of usage, but the tiny speck-like micromount
occupies a prominent place on the market. eBay is the king of
micromounts and a quick search reveals hundreds of specimens that are
so small that static electricity could move them. (my apologies to
Martin for borrowing this description!) ....About half of my 100
localities were tiny micromounts less than one gram (some of them a
mere 1mg) - I have now sold off about 40 of my smallest localities.
Now I have very few specimens remaining that are less than 1 gram. I
had no problems selling my specks and I had several offers on my 1mg
specks of Sylacauga and Lafayette. If I had a dozen of each, I could
have sold them at premium prices. Interestingly enough, I received no
offers on my Peekskill micro-slice or Claxton microslice. (both
weighing a little less than a quarter-gram) - Either my prices were
too high, or the interest wasn't there. The Peekskill was probably my
price, while the Claxton was probably market forces. There are micros
of Claxton selling on eBay that are silly-cheap. I recently saw a
sample of about 300mg sell for $15 - it's no wonder I didn't get
offers on my 200mg piece. A few months before the $15 bargain, I saw
a specimen similar to mine (about 200mg) sell for $90. So go figure.

I find myself using eBay more to buy than to sell. Selling on eBay
eats up too much of my profit margin - the fees have steadily climbed
since the late 1990's and there is no end in sight. Worse, I don't
see any increased benefit or sales for the new "features" being
offered on eBay. I flirted with listing a dozen or more micromounts
at a time - trying my best to emulate the Farmers and Hupes. But I
found the process to be tedious and the rewards minimal. By the time
I paid my eBay and PayPal fees, I was walking away with nickels and
dimes. I don't know how the big guys are doing it - it must be all of
those NWA 482 cocktails they drank. ( I tried eating a biscuit made
from Pallasovka cutting fragments, but I cut my tongue and got nothing
but cramps. ) So I have quit selling on eBay (with the exception of
one auction a week just to maintain a token presence) and I now rely
on my website and email mailing list.

Well, dinner smells like it's almost ready......

Best regards,

MikeG

-- 
.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Florida, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
Website - http://www.galactic-stone.com
FaceBook - http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/fine_meteorites_4_sale
Twitter - Twitter - http://twitter.com/GalacticStone
eBay - http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/maypickle
..........................................................

Received on Mon 31 Aug 2009 07:11:02 PM PDT