FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[BizKey]

[Peter Megaw]

This thread was started 5 years ago. Given that the Tucson Show is just over...with many dealers professing to have had their best show ever...or close... it would be interesting to see how much certain specimens in the writers' collections have appreciated...or depreciated. I realize that asking prices may be different from what you can get, but overall prices have continued to climb across the board....perhaps enough to make it possible to realize a tidy profit on things bought relatively recently by average collectors.

I will start this by mentioning a top-end specimen I bought in Denver in 2008 for 3.5 "units" was purchased by a dealer at this show for 10 units. A more middling quality piece showed a similar increase but with fewer digits to the left of the unit decimal point.

I would also mention that there are collectors of very high end specimens who maintain that that level of specimen has appreciated an average of 20% per year for the last 25 years.

Mick's book is great...miss him a lot

[Rich Loose]

Peter-

All very interesting. I had hoped to go the the Tucson show this year but had some eye surgery that grounded me. Dang it, but I can now see my collection better! As to prices, I have a big problem. I have some specimens that I bought when I was in the 7th or 8th grade. These were all from Mexico and I was living in El Paso TX at the time. They could not have cost very much considering my income at the time. Since then I have collected and purchased quite a few more and decided to stick to carbonates. There is no way for me to collect them all! Problem is that I never wrote down the cost of any of them. I might have a couple with the price on the label, but no records. I am surely not at the high end since my most expensive specimen was less than $100.00 For me, I just enjoy seeing them sitting on their shelves. I think they are almost all beautiful.

Rich

[Peter Megaw]

Rich...love to see you out here some year

I don't think many of the FMF participants "value" their collections in monetary terms...most of us are in it for the aesthetics and scientific interest....however we perceive that personally. However, we are increasingly competing with folks who do, and/or for whom monetary value is a critical component in how they perceive their collections. '

This has good and bad repercussions

Bad: we have to pay more for the rocks we want...especially if we have what I will snobbishly refer to as "highly developed aesthetic sensibilities"...aka we like REALLY good rocks.

Good: The good rocks we already have are worth more so we have an appreciating currency with which to acquire new rocks...as long as we are willing to part with existing things.

Bad: the population of kindred spirits who are more interested in the minerals than the money is diluted.

Good: The influx of money has completely changed the economic realities of specimen mining/acquisition and as a result we are seeing more and more high quality specimens emerging from new places or from mines operated primarily for specimens...by people who know what they're doing.

Bad: the very best rocks produced by the above go to high dollar collectors for amounts wellbeyond the reach of most "regular" collectors.

Good: there are a LOT of very good to excellent rocks in the next tier down that are available to everyone. In fact, many of these would have been the top rocks previiously so if we never see the new top rocks we don't know waht we're missing.

Bad: folks keep publishing really high quality mineral books with great pictures of the best rocks...so we are aware of what we're missing.

Last one is tongue-in-cheek

[Joan Kureczka]

Good summary Peter.

The problem is parting with good rocks to buy even more expensive good rocks. Hard thing to do!

[Ed Huskinson]

Right on Joan!! Just do as I do and keep everything you get your hands on. Peter has pointed this out several times in this forum. I've made my share of "mistakes" (haven't we all?), like buying the skeletal galena specimens that Jessica skewered so magnificently. But overall, I've enjoyed everything I have ever acquired, even these galenas, which I consider a tribute to man's ingenuity. Still on the hunt for an Epitonium scalare rice paper copy.

Remember when the theme of the show was AFRICA?. I put in a small display of Tsumeb specimens using the original dealers' label with prices. Thought it would be a giggle to do so. I remember going past my case and hearing someone say "What??!!!??? He paid $12.00 for that dioptase?" I pointed out "Yes, but that was 18 years ago" (or whenever).

It pays to have a good eye I guess.

As for prices, you never know. Like when the Chinese stibnites first showed up. You looked it all over and paid the price for the best specimen you could afford. One of two things would happen. No more would ever be found, and your specimen would appreciate in value (and rarity) greatly. Or, they would mine a bazillion tons more, and you would be able to pick the stuff up for what amounts to pennies on the dollar relative to your first acquisition. You never know, just toss the dice and buy what gives you pleasure.

Remember when the Hotazel rhodos first showed up?? Ridiculous prices (or so it seemed to me, anyway) were charged for these gorgeous rocks. I refused to participate in the feeding frenzy, would not be drawn into it. "They'll find more, lots more of them." was my thinking. Yeah, right. We all know how that turned out, eh?

Now you know why I keep my investment portfolio in a manilla folder labelled "Financial blunders". I've been saying it for years: It's the power of legitimacy. Paying these ridiculous prices for minerals legitimizes the lunacy. Of course, I have to admit that If I had the disposable income, I'd be right in there, swinging for the fences.

Gail: feel free to repost the photo of me in repose in Dave Bunk's booth with the thought balloon that says "I wish I had a billion dollars" (or whatever). I think you were actually reading my mind at the time. Or maybe I was just thinking about a 'burger, I don't know....

That's it, no real point here, other than that I agree with everyone who expressed the sentiment that you should collect for your own enjoyment, and it is nice to share with others through exhibiting and so forth. You may have the world's finest most desirable metaVon Huneyite, so you should share the specimen with the rest of the mineral community, right? If not, then what are you going to do, die with it clutched to your chest?? Better to share, que no?

OK, rant's over. I have no regrets about the 2012 show other than the fact that I was unable to attend the FMF get-together, eat some paella, and extend my best wishes to the retiring curators. I do so now.

Thanks,

Ed in Kingman (well, Shafter, Texas, anyway)

[Jordi Fabre]

[John Medici]

Lots of good advice above. In my own case, mineral and other collecting has passed through many stages, with field collecting being close to the forefront throughout. One nice thing about field collecting is that you have the option to keep the best things collected. Nearly everything I buy is bought because I like it and it probably fills a slot in one of my collection category interests. The more time one spends accumulating information on a subject, especially one that is of great interest to you, the more value conscious one should become. Although awareness of future value possibilities is a good thing to consider, the best route to take may be to buy things you really like, and consider that you have gone through the normal supply and demand route in obtaining it. Then, no matter what the future brings regarding prices, etc., it should remain a valued piece in your collection.
An added note on the highest cost specimens: they are easy to handle regarding volume, but I've had more than one friend who consistently bought low end material in quantity for resale and often did better on his investment than many of the exclusively high-end dealers. (A different way at looking at investing and economics!)