Hola from Costa Rica to "Team Meteorite". That's my impression of how the folks on this bulletin board have come together over the last couple of years to become a self-policing body of collectors, dealers, hunters and researchers. The discourse here is now civil, informative, personal, supportive and energetic. I take my daily dose of world met events by way of the list archives and enjoy reading your comments covering the personalities, business, sales offers and breaking news of world falls. Just excellent! I'm glad I stuck around.
These days, I'm interested in reading about your hunting adventures, seeing your photos, and learning more about the mets that interest me. And because I write about meteorites from time to time, I do want to know your opinions about this hobby, as per my request this week for views on your collection habits to help me respond to a magazine feature to be written by someone else. I was pleased that "team member" Richard Montgomery asked me to share my thoughts about the publication on the m-list of the results of the Blood auction in Tucson this month. I think this is important, too. I also have comments on two other current topics, the usefulness of a meteorite "price list" and about transparency in this hobby. In my recently released "2011 Global Meteorite Price Report" I state: "I hope to continue to educate and inform collectors and dealers while encouraging market transparency. We all want to acquire fine specimens at a fair price." The price list I compile is based on "prices dealers are asking", i.e. "retail." Later I add, "I do not do not collect data from auctions, eBay or from sources that represent circumstantial, limited or privileged exchanges." Respected dealer Matt Morgan wrote today, "... coming up with meteorite price lists is a joke. They don't account for all the sales that are dealer-dealer, dealer-collector, collector-collector, ebay, etc." Price lists for stamps and coins don't report "dealer-dealer, collector-collector, ebay..." but are surely considered a tool of the trade. The real problem with coming up with average dealer ask prices for mets is in determining the value of the same specie that are sold in slices, fragments, as individuals, with crust, with regs.... This is not easy, it is subjective, and when someone comes up with a better way, I will step aside. Because I set up a methodology years ago before eBay or the Blood auction, the results and trends of my work are consistent. And yes, the results of these other "classes of sales" is relevant. The more data collected leads one to make better purchasing/selling decisions. But one has to start somewhere. Use my price report and do more due diligence before pulling the trigger on that buy. Be confident in your decision. Many in the dealer community consistently purchase my "Global Price Report", voting with their cash as to its usefulness. Written from a collectors point-of-view, I believe it helps keep the market transparent, helps people guess-ti-mate the value of their collections, (my personal reason for doing this work) and provides clear trends for many specific and classes of meteorites. I'm emailing Matt a courtesy copy of "The 2011 Global Meteorite Price Report" for his re-consideration. (to be continued...) Kevin Kichinka Tambor de Alajuela www.theartofcollectingmeteorites.com www.LaQ-CostaRica.com ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list