Mohrox
Registered: April 26, 2007
Posts: 5
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Reply with quote | #1 |
Enjoying this financial free fall everyone? I'm finding bruises where I didn't know I had flesh. Today I found flesh missing.
Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to what the short and long term ramifications of this financial "unpleasantness" will be to our mineral passion?
I recall one missive from John where he expressed his bewilderment over when the price bubble in specimen prices might top out. I think we might have bumped against a ceiling of sorts here. How much exuberance is going to get kicked out of the pricing of what types of minerals is beyond my comprehension. I had enough trouble understanding the global inflation of prices other than too many folks had too much money chasing too few samples. The price rises of some mineral species and specimen type I could understand, but the rather broad based price increases eluded me. Then again, I'm on the customer end and have only incomplete knowledge from the vendor aspect.
What are your thoughts on this? Heaven knows I've tired of the shouting heads on the straight financial channels and there isn't a mineral channel to break the ugly monotony. Excepting this one of course. |
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johnveevaert
Moderator
Registered: April 19, 2007
Posts: 47
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Reply with quote | #2 |
I think the recent poor showings in some of the auctions at Heritage portend a pricing correction. The last two Heritage auctions have been pathetic. I have not heard about any other large auction house results but they are good bellweathers on the future. Frankly, mineral pricing for many things, is seriously out of whack. At Denver there were contemporary fluorite specimens of decent to moderate condition and aesthetics from Africa listing out $5,000 and $10,000. This is an order of magnitude above what they should be and I did not see many moving at that price. There is a frenzy in that circle of dealers that is not supportable over the long term. Now with the $ strengthening again vs the Australian Dollar and Canadian Dollar I would not be surprised to see that segment of the market diminish. The Euro has also weakened a lot in the last two months so all of these currency changes will have an effect on pricing. But the big one is the tremendous loss of wealth in the past 10 days on Wall Street. A lot of the nouveau collectors who have been buying "mineral art" are probably going to try and move some of their "art" to cover their 401 k losses and be sadly depressed when they go back to the dealers they bought from thinking they were investments... Using the term investment in the same sentence as mineral collection make sense ONLY when it is used in the following: A mineral collection is not and should not be viewed an investment that will bring a return in the future.
The best thing any collector can do is educate your self and develop a goal or focus for your collection. The next best thing is to buy mineral specimens because you enjoy them.
That said I think a lot of us have a lot more to worry about than our mineral hobby in the short term horizon.
Cheers..............?
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John Veevaert
Trinity Mineral Co. |
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rockyfeller
Registered: April 28, 2007
Posts: 32
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Reply with quote | #3 |
I've been watching collectors slow their purchases dramatically in recent weeks, and I've seen collectors taking advantage of discounts and poor auction performance to get some better buys. I do think that the many over priced specimens ( my personal opinion) on the market are going to have a hard time finding buyers for quite awhile. There are dealers out there that have had the big reputation and had a high end customer base with lots of money and sometimes not a lot of sense. There will continue to be great specimens at increasingly better prices as this economic meltdown plays out. I am going to look for the good deals and take advantage of the buyers market in minerals that now presents itself.
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