Mike wrote:
"I paid $2000.00 for the 2 kilo sphere, now with seller premium, I lost
at least $200 and the time to mess with it."
Let's see, didn't you lose $560.00 if the $2000 is a hard figure?
Isn't there both a 20% premium on hammer for the buyer as well as a 20%
of hammer commission? Please correct this if it is wrong, but it
appears they 'earn' from both buyers and sellers. This is my
understanding:
seller gets $1,440
hammer price $1,800
sale price $2,160
with tax $2,333
don't even ask about shipping fees...
So, unless Mike was cut a special deal on his sphere and didn't have to
pay 20% seller-side commission of the hammer price, he lost $560 plus
the shipping fees to get it to the auction plus the hassle. May more
for cataloging and promotional fees. Of course, these fees are not
applied equally to all sellers in the auction. If you happen to know
who is administering the sale, they might give you a lower commision
under the radar. I didn't say under the table - it's just an auction,
not a moral venture.
Thus Udei Station's seller should have received per gram:
$ 1.32
sale price:
$ 1.98
with tax:
$ 2.14
The total markup of auction house on consigned goods at sellers risks
of providing, before tax, btw, is an even 50% if I a correctly
understanding the terms. Something to keep in mind when bellyaching
about ebay and Blood's Auction. This auction company took gross profit
off meteorites $14,708, assuming they charged everyone the 20% and
didn't cut special deals for preferred sellers. 25% of their profit
and the total auction sales in meteorites was the single LA002 Martian
lot.
All in all, the hammer came down on $ 36,769
The auction house technically grossed $ 14,708
But offered on the block (low end) $ 225,719
Total sold: 16.3% of offerings' value. WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Which should be compared to 22/40 lots sold (>half full?), the best
piece of news from a lackluster auction which the optimists can use as
a judge ...
Martin, you're right - all looks hunky-dory!
(Hey Martin's the only one that reads this, gotta get his attention)
Happy Holidays,
Doug
Sr. Businessman dreaming about free meteorites and nightmares of
hunters that pay for the pleasure
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Farmer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Jason Utas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Meteorite-list
<[email protected]>; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 7:55 pm
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Bonhams Auction Results
Yes, however, the Esquel (mine) did not sell, it did not meet reserve.
I am sick
at these prices, I could have done better on ebay.
I paid $2000.00 for the 2 kilo sphere, now with seller premium, I lost
at least
$200 and the time to mess with it.
Mike
--- On Sun, 12/7/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Bonhams Auction Results
To: "Jason Utas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Meteorite-list"
<[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, December 7, 2008, 5:49 PM
OMG - should have bid.
Do these include the buyers premium?
Matt
Matt Morgan
Mile High Meteorites
http://www.mhmeteorites.com
P.O. Box 151293
Lakewood, CO 80215 USA
-----Original Message-----
From: "Jason Utas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 16:17:18
To:
Meteorite-list<[email protected]>
Subject: [meteorite-list] Bonhams Auction Results
Hello All,
I read through the legal print in the front of the catalog,
and it
looks like it's ok to post the results publicly.
1086 - 315g Gibeon Sphere - $475
1087 - 140g Gibeon Egg - $190
1088 - 490g Gibeon Slice - $375
1089 - 321g Gibeon Slice - Pass
1090 - 2 Gibeon Slices (281 + 262g) - $325
1091 - Gibeon Part-Slice $475
1092 - 552g Gibeon Slice - $400
1093 - 2.6kg Gibeon Cut Block - $1,700
1094 - 7,150g Gibeon Slice - $3.250 - Pass
1095 - 1,361g Muonionalusta End - $500
1096 - 136g Chinga Slice - $120
1097 - 494g Seymchan Slice - $425
1098 - 121g Udei Station End - $200 (!)
1099 - 276g New NWA Iron (silicated) slice - $600
1100 - "7lb" Sikhote Shrapnel - listed as
"oriented" - $1,500
1101 - 1,304g Sikhote Individual - $2,900 (!)
1102 - 8kg Corroded Sikhote (*no* remaining fusion crust) -
$6,500 - Pass
1103 - 334g Fukang Part-Slice (shattered crystals) - $3,750
1104 - 520g Esquel Part-Slice - $12,000
1105 - Pair of Campo Ends (206g and 430g, one silicated) -
~$400 -
Pass (Passed at $400 for 600g of Campo....right)\
1106 - 1,886g Campo Indiv (nice) - $300
1107 - 3,146g Canyon Diablo (fairly nondescript) - $1,300
1108 - 42.5lb Campo (good shape, no glypts - corroded) -
missed price
1109 - 1,220 lb butt-ugly Campo - $19,000
1110 - 127 lb Canyon Diablo - Special Note
This iron looks great in the auction photo. It's not.
The back of it
was...ruined somehow. It looks like the owner sandblasted
the back
down to a quasi-3D widmanstatten surface, and then coated
it in some
sort of plastic/sealant that tinged it all (only the
backside, but the
entire backside) a nasty light-green hue, and gave it a
smooth, shiny,
plastic-ey look and feel. I don't know what the hell
s/he did to it,
but we decided ahead of time that we didn't want it, no
matter the
cost.
That said - $18,000
1111 - 385g Slice of NWA 1941 L6 (the "blue" one
Michael Farmer's been
selling) - $950 (!)
1112 - 34mm diameter NWA XXX Sphere (no weight given,
listed as NWA
869, but not NWA 869) - $350
1113 - 1,994g NWA XXX Sphere (4in diameter, again listed as
NWA 869,
but a different meteorite) - $1,800
1114 - 2.0g Murchison frag, no crust - $400 (!)
1115 - Arroyo Malo 75.1g - $500 (slightly less than $50/g)
1116 - Arroyo Malo 202.5g - $850 (again, somewhat less than
$50/g)
1117 - Libyan Glass Pair (183g light + 77g dark) - missed
the number,
at least $400
1118 - 1,451g Libyan Glass (numerous large chips) - $1,400
1119 - Collection of Six Lunar and Martian Meteorites -
0.05g to
0.054g in weight - $1,800 (...I estimate its value, based
on the
specimens, their weights, and current market prices, at no
more than
$300)
1120 - Set of Five Medals w/ Meteorites
(Campo/869/482/2995/2986) - $275
1121 - 1.85g DaG 476 Slice - $950
1122 - 2.718g NWA 4880 Sherg. Indiv. (broken) - $4,500 (!)
1123 - 5.85g of LA002 - $9,000 (!)
1124 - 90.5g Shergottite Indiv - Special Note
This stone had a chip not pictured - just above and to the
left of
what would be visible in the photographs posted in the
auction.It was
a fresh chip - looked as though a curious nomad had knocked
the corner
(unfortunately the leading edge) off of it. Go figure. My
only
question regarding the stone was that the edge of the chip
was painted
black. It was definitely some sort of paint; not only was
it less
glossy and darker in colour than the rest of the stone,
but...it
rubbed off. The only possible explanation we could come up
with was
that it had been put on the stone so as to hide the edge of
the chip
in the auction photograph. It is visible in the photograph
just to
the left of the top of the stone as a thin edge of grey of
a different
hue (slightly) than the rest of the stone, running about
half-way down
that top-left side. It looks like a result of the lighting
in the
photo, but it's definitely not that...
Very odd. - $30,000 - Pass
1125 - 1.3308g Dhofar 1428 Slice (Feldspathic IMB) - $1,600
1126 - 1.0064g DaG 400 Part-Slice (Anorthositic Breccia) -
$1,400
So...nothing -too- surprising. The low end was the Udei,
at $1.67/g,
and the high-end, well - a good few things. The bidders
who went over
market tended not to be meteorite enthusiasts; I heard a
phone-bidder
assuring her client that the $950 purchase of the $385g
slice of NWA
1941 (L6) was a "very good deal." Granted, it
was a nice slice, but
if you take the 20% commission and 8% tax into account for
it (and all
other items), well...that Sikhote was nothing special, and
it cost the
buyer close to $4/g...
It looked like the buyers generally went with what looked
flashier or
more interesting. The Murchison was listed as a piece of a
comet, and
the NWA 1941 was listed as the "Blue Galaxy
Meteorite" - something
like that. The better the listing made things sound, the
more they
fetched. Something like Udei, which looked particularly
bad in their
case, which, in all fairness, didn't have adequate
lighting for such a
specimen, attracted little-to-no attention from...anyone.
Regards,
Jason
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______________________________________________
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Meteorite-list mailing list
[email protected]
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
______________________________________________
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Meteorite-list mailing list
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