[meteorite-list] Ash Creek the most expensive ordinary chondrite?‏

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 15:52:41 -0800
Message-ID: <93aaac890911021552r1ceb1ed0t85c11a46c1684ac8_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello Melanie,
It is indeed an expensive fall, but it is by no means the most
expensive ordinary chondrite.
Stones priced comparably include Ensisheim, and rarer european falls -
too many to list.
Other examples include Zunhua, Peekskill, Worden, Claxton, and the
like - all of which were made somewhat more valuable when the cosmic
forces that be pointed them towards various relicts of mankind.
No, Ash Creek is an example of the sheer irrationality of the
meteorite market. A fall from Morocco is worth $1-2/g, and a fall
from North America is worth ten to twenty times that.

Which raises the question - what makes a meteorite valuable?

There are the obvious reasons - rarity of its classification,
scientific importance, novelty appeal (eg, martians, lunars),
aesthetic qualities, or perhaps its historic value. There are people
who desire each of these traits in a meteorite, and as such, demand
for each category determines relative prices. And there's overlap,
etc. to keep in mind.

Jeff also noted some unequilibrated chondrites. I wouldn't include
such meteorites in a list of "ordinary chondrites" - especially when
you're comparing pricing to an ordinary L6.
Yes, they may be "ordinary," but to one who knows their scientific
value, they're far from "ordinary."
They're also much more uncommon in general; if a stone were to fall
through my roof tomorrow, there's good reason I'd prefer it were an
L3(.1) rather than an L6.
I'd be happy with either one though.......

With Ash Creek, I think the issue was as follows: first and foremost,
many people made the journey to find their own stones. And not many
of these people lived in third-world countries (and they were thus
unaccustomed to getting very low prices for their meteorites). As
such, prices started out high simply because you had finders who knew
that they could ask $50-100/g for a stone and actually get it.
But - of those who went, relatively few had the intent of selling their stones.
Those who did were generally collectors who travelled there hoping to
find enough material to cover their travel costs - and then to keep
the remainder of their finds.
So there wasn't much being sold, and most of the finds were being sold
directly by finders as opposed to the typical market scenario where we
see 1-2 dealers with 5-10kg each, purchased at low prices from the
local population.
So the finders were looking to make the most of their sales with very
limited material: hence, even higher prices.
In this case, the hype surrounding the fall was enough to overcome the
heavy financial burden that the sellers were asking - the fact that
most of the stones were generally very small also helped to get them
sold. In other words, many people bought, say, 5g stones - instead of
the 20-30g stone they could have gotten if it were a more reasonably
priced fall. But prices seem to have leveled off at $20-30/g - on the
high end for a non-african fall, but not overly exorbitant. It's
about two times the average price for an American fall. In the end,
I'm not really sure why that is now that demand seems to have
deflated, but at the same time, I think that most visible prices
reflect dealer listings at prices that were "more accurate" a few
months ago.

Regards,
Jason


2009/11/2 Melanie Matthews <spacewoman2775 at hotmail.com>:
>
> Could Ash Creek/West Texas be the most expensive ordinary chondrite on
> the meteorite market (or one of the most expensive)? They seem to cost way more than Buzzard Coulees..
> Sure it is still a pretty resent observed fall, but I get blown away by
> the prices per gram... Is it also because of its somewhat 'marbled'
> matrix?
>
> Guess it would be some time before I could obtain a decent specimen.. :D
>
> -----------
> Melanie
> IMCA: 2975
> eBay: metmel2775
> Known on SkyRock Cafe as SpaceCollector09
>
> Unclassified meteorites are like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get!
>
>
>
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Received on Mon 02 Nov 2009 06:52:41 PM PST