Some meteorite
dealers buy only small quantities from one dealer, who has much more
material left or different dealers buy single stones from the same material
and each one let his stone classify elsewhere, getting an own NWA number and
then they rush the collectors into buying with the low-tkw-gimmick: Hush,
hush - small find weight, soon all will be gone!
Sadly this is all too true. I recently noticed an auction on ebay that had a TKW of right under 1 kg listed for a rare type of achonderite. I emailed the seller informing him that the TKW was signifigantly higher than that >10 kg or so as I had a 2kg specimin of the same material sitting on my desk at the time. His response was that he know the TKW was probably around 15 kg, but it COULD have been much more - he said that for all he knew there could be tons of the material - so he just uses the TKW as published in the bulliten - even if he knew the official number to be much lower than it actually was.
boardering on outright deception IMHO
But in general, I remember the times before the desert rush, the today's collectors can't complain as in history the prices for the rarer classes were never so dirt cheap than now.
Well, yes and no. It wasnt TOO long agao that millbillillie and camel donga were selling for 2.5$ a gram, and zagami for 100$ a gram - 50$ a gram if you bought a decent sized chunk of it. granted there was less on the market in terms of the ultra rare stuff, but it WAS moderatly priced 'back in the day (think haag's 10th aniversary field guide).
with regards to to todays prices - i agree that the collector doesnt have too much to complain about. the FedEx dude just dropped of a 600g 99% crusted piece of amgala this morning that has wounderfuly fresh crust and some of the best thumb printing I have ever seen. Not bad for 3$ a gram - although I would be kicking myself in the rear if i bought it at the original 10$ a gram price that some dealers said on the list that they didnt think would go down any. then again, If martian/lunar material is 10$ a gram and 'common' achonderites are selling for .25$ a gram in 10 years i think we ALL will be kicking ourselves in the rear! :) I love collecting and I love my purchases regardless of price but I think we would all like to see them retain SOME value! :)
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