Amen to that Geoff!
or........C'est la Vie!
David R Childs
----- Original Message -----
From: "Aerolite Business" <b...@aerolite.org>
To: "IMCA List" <i...@imcamail.de>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 10:56 PM
Subject: Re: [IMCA] End of an Era - The California fall.
Dear Guido:
As a relative newcomer to the field I feel you are basing your doom-
and-gloom prophesy on recent events only, without looking at the big
picture. You may not be aware of the fact that -- in nearly all cases
-- the price of meteorites has been rising *steadily* for as long as
there has been a market for them. There are, however, exceptions: In
1998 I saw Zagami sell for $1,700/gram; two years ago I saw it (not
selling) for $400/gram.
In the late 1960s you could acquire a beautiful Canyon Diablo with a
hand-painted H.H. Nininger number for dollars a pound. In the late
1990s, the few existing wholesale dealers could barely find buyers for
stunning sculpted Gibeons at $35/kilo. Now it's $500/kilo if you're
very lucky, and the price has gone up incrementally every year; a
result of supply and demand, not because of some sort of "media
sensation." The same thing has happened with space memorabilia,
military history artifacts, transportation memorabilia, and probably
every other collectible of which there is a limited supply.
While I agree with you that that there are many more amateurs out in
the field looking for the California fall -- no argument there, it's
obvious -- how much would an example of Mighei cost you today, if you
could find one? I wouldn't be surprised if it was pretty close to
$1,000 a gram. I wouldn't pay $1,000 for a little scrap of this new
fall; I'd much rather have a a multi-kilo Campo del Cielo, but that's
me. Some collectors will be ecstatically happy to pay up for a
witnessed fall American carbonaceous chondrite, and god bless 'em.
Every collector's passion is different.
There are more meteorite collectors today than at any time in history.
Value is primarily determined by rarity and I am quite sure you
appreciate how rare meteorites are. The Internet is primarily
responsible for growth in the popularity of meteorites, as are books
like the excellent "Rocks from Space," my television show, and the
frequent high-profile natural history auctions by I.M. Chait,
Heritage, and other houses. In the pre-Internet days it was extremely
difficult to connect with other collectors; you might happen upon
Blaine Reed's small ad in "Astronomy" magazine, or find a rock shop
that carried a couple of modest specimens, but there was no meteorite
community. The Internet made it possible for enthusiasts to find one
another, and the field blossomed -- very rapidly -- between 1997 and
the early 2000s. That was *way* before any significant media interest.
Increased awareness means more finds, and at least ten important new
meteorites (that I know of) have come to light as a direct result of
my TV show and other media attention. That's a good thing. New finds
will continue to be made and new collectors will continue to come into
the fold. Meteorite collecting is no longer a weird niche market that
nobody has heard of.
Love it or leave it, but there's no point in grousing about it. Cool
things become popular. That's just the way it goes.
Geoff Notkin
www.aerolite.org
www.meteoritemen.com
www.meteorites.co
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