[meteorite-list] "Falling Stars" Book, Meteorite Prices, and the CR2 Predicament

From: Mark Fox <unclefireballmtf_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:55:50 2004
Message-ID: <20020124010645.77227.qmail_at_web14911.mail.yahoo.com>

January 23, 2002

Greetings Meteorite Enthusiasts!

Just recently I purchased two meteorite books, one of
which was highly recommended on this list:
"Meteorites: Their Impact On Science And History".
The other is entitled "Falling Stars: A Guide To
Meteors And Meteorites" and contains about equal
portions regarding those topics --- each of which I
strongly feel a meteorite/meteor enthusiast should
know of rather than just one or the other. It is
another good book, to be sure, although not as well
illustrated as "Meteorites", of course.

Nevertheless, "Falling Stars" is the only book I have
bought that includes a neat "price guide" in one of
the appendixes for 30 famous or otherwise popular
meteorites. It gives you an idea of what one is going
for by comparing its approximate value a decade or so
ago to an average recent price, sometimes as recent as
2 years ago. According to the figures given, most
meteorites on his list have risen in value over the
years, sometimes by breathtaking bounds when you take
into account of just how big a gram is. Even the
Brahin Pallasite has increased rather significantly
--- from $7.58 a gram in 1993 to $30.00 in 1999.
Nevertheless, a few exceptions exist, namely the
Nantan iron from China which was valued at $2.00 a
gram in 1992 to a mere 10¢ in 2000. The reason for
this one, of course, is that it's a notorious ruster
sadly.

When dealing with a cleaned, very worn, or otherwise
damaged coin, (an old Indian penny for example), there
will be only a few coin collectors willing to buy it
up unless it bears a rare date and/or mintmark, and/or
is a scarce mint error. Most collectors of Indian
cents in such a situation would look for a better coin
of the same type instead, if it is not too terribly
rare that is. This logic is strikingly similar to
what I think many meteorite collectors have done with
"problem" meteorites such as Nantan and even to some
degree with very weathered meteorites. Thus, it is
likely that
all non-NWA meteorites will not always either
appreciate in value or remain stable for this reason.


However, for rust sensitive or quality-challenged
meteorites to be worth a plug nickel per ounce someday
is unlikely. While the meteorite collectors who
specialize in high quality, and/or freshly preserved
falls may pass up such meteorites, the collectors who
wish to complete a full set of space rocks of a
particular class or from a specific area will not.
Meteorite collecting as it is enjoyed today is still
quite young, and with the passage of time, more
collectors may become interested in completing actual
sets much like coin collecting. What's more, if more
work is accomplished in waging a victory over
lawrencite and the like, the declined prices of some
problem meteorites may recover.

As for the recent and marvelous discovery of those
beautiful CR2s from Morocco, I must agree that their
supposed devaluing of the meteorite market when
carbonaceous chondrites are concerned will not last
long. A possibly good comparison for this interesting
event would be the past gold rushes in California.
Despite the current low price of gold, all the yellow
metal gathered from the days of the great rush and
later rushes has, and could not put an end to its
allure or high value. Of course, the value of gold
did slump for awhile during the great rush, thus
making this comparison even more interesting...

My humble advice for Mr. Matteo Chinellato is to keep
whatever he has left of his intriguing Moroccan CR2s
and hold them for a time, which may not be too long.

My e-mail is unclefireballmtf_at_yahoo.com.

Long strewn fields!

Mark Fox
Newaygo, MI USA

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Received on Wed 23 Jan 2002 08:06:45 PM PST