[meteorite-list] Meteorite Men - Where do the dollar values comefrom?

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:29:05 -0800
Message-ID: <93aaac891002172129u26a2a1e6i126868403eb036e5_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hell Mike, Steve, and List,
Right, but you're applying the price per gram that would apply to
small pieces in retail to a much larger stone.
A single gram may be worth a thousand dollars (in this case, it's
probably justified, given what comparable material is known to sell
for), but the simple fact of the matter is that it would take decades
to sell off 700 grams at that price in small pieces. Ask any dealer
who's held a stable asking price for material for which they are the
only source.
As a complete stone, I estimate that the highest offer on it would
reach $60-70,000. Don't get me wrong - it could sell for more,
but...it's wholesale.
Yes, it might be "worth" more in a sense, but I believe that the
general consensus here has always been that these rocks are "worth"
what people were willing to pay for them. I haven't asked Sonny, but
based on what I know of the market, I doubt that he's gotten an offer
as high as 100k for it. He might well get a better offer, but that
would make it one of the more costly meteorites to actually sell - in
the past decade.

So, no. I think it's safe to say that $700,000 is not close to a
reasonable estimate.
Even if you assume $1000/g for smaller pieces, you're not taking
cutting losses into account, which would take it to at most $500k, or
thereabouts, and it would take so long to sell that simply stating a
price like that is rather deceptive.

There's a reason that the asking price for the 420kg Fukang main mass
is in the 2-3 million dollar range (about $5-6/g), as opposed to being
$16.8 million. Fukang may be "worth" $40/g. That doesn't mean that a
large piece is worth that much.

And the same principle applies across the board - a single acre of
land will run you more per acre than will an acre of land in a
hundred-acre parcel. And if you buy ten cars from a dealer, they'll
probably give you something of a discount, whereas if you buy only
one...not so much.

I appreciate the optimistic quote from the market's perspective,
but...it's just not reasonable to say that the rock is worth that much
when it wouldn't fetch that on the market.

Jason




On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:40 PM, <meteorhntr at aol.com> wrote:
> Hi MikeG and List,
>
> In this episode, Sony's CM1 is one of only two found outside of Antarctica. The other one, as I understand, sold out quickly at several thousand dollars per gram. Sony has placed a value of $1,000 per gram thus the estimation of his 699g rock at $700,000 is probably reasonable for a US find.
>
> I was quoted as saying these ordinary chondrite pieces were probably worth $1 per gram but I will probably list them on eBay for $5 per gram (for the 2-10g size pieces) and see how they do.
>
> Steve Arnold
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Galactic Stone & Ironworks" <meteoritemike at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:11:37
> To: <Metorman46 at aol.com>
> Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite Men - Where do the dollar values come
> ? ? ? ?from?
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> Is it just me, or do the dollar values for some of the meteorites
> shown on Meteorite Men seem a little inflated? ?This is not a
> criticism, but just a straight question. ?As a collector and part-time
> dealer, the prices given for some of these specimens seems a bit on
> the optimistic side.
>
> >From a dealer's perspective, ?if the public thinks a meteorite is
> worth more than it actually is, the dealer charge more for them.
>
> >From a hunter's perspective, if the public thinks a meteorite is worth
> more than it actually is, they can have unrealistic expectations for
> what their rocks are worth.
>
> Steve has spoken about this on the List previously, because landowners
> will have unrealistic expectations of what their specimens are worth -
> and this gives hunters fits who are trying to buy specimens or cut
> deals with landowners.
>
> So, where exactly are these dollar values coming from? ?Who is setting
> them and putting them on the screen during the final edit?
>
> Best regards and happy hunting,
>
> MikeG
>
>
> On 2/17/10, Metorman46 at aol.com <Metorman46 at aol.com> wrote:
>> Hello Michael;
>>
>> I highlighted your statement from a previous post because i think it says
>> all that can simply be said about their great program.It energizes me to
>> watch ?Geoff and Steve do the thing that most of the worlds meteorite
>> collectors would ?like to be doing.But,we are too busy with our work- a-
>> world lives
>> to ever do ?much of that kind of activity.It sure is pleasant to sit in an
>> easy chair,warm ?or cool and enjoy seeing it done while educating the world
>> community about the ?joy of the hunt and even profitable sometimes.There
>> probably will be a lot of ?new interest in meteorites and collecting
>> them.(Get
>> ready dealers and collectors ?that sell specimens).It"s a coming!
>>
>> Thanks to all for the great posts;Herman Archer IMCA # ?2770
>> ______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Mike Gilmer
> http://www.galactic-stone.com
> http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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Received on Thu 18 Feb 2010 12:29:05 AM PST