by Michael Blood of Michael Blood Meteorites

(Auction Photos by Matt Morgan ­ all other photos by the author)

Well, finally a little pick up in activity has taken place in the meteorite market. Prices have changed little, but the amount of selling and purchasing has taken an upward turn.

One would never have guessed this from the Denver Show, however, if one looked at the number of dealers in rooms. A good many dealers that did not have rooms, however, did show up. Very interesting.

Those not there AT ALL, included the Labennes, the Kilgores, Erich, the Pimentels, Bruno & Carine, Ivan, etc. Others were there, but had no rooms included Bob Haag, Darryl Pitt, Al Lang, meteorites.com, Adam & Greg Hupe, Eric Olson, Edwin Thompson, Mike Jensen, Matt Morgan, The Big Collector, Al Mitterling, & the dynamic duo of Mike Farmer & Jim Strope, etc. (Those whom I left out, please do forgive my Swiss cheese memory).

This left very few dealers with rooms. The only US dealer with a room I can think of, in fact, is Blaine Reed, although, Anne Black had a booth in the retail show, I believe (I almost never attend the retail show). In fact, aside from Alain Carion, just a few doors down from Blaine, there were VERY FEW meteorite dealers with rooms at all ­ though there were more than a few who included meteorites in their stock, such as Sahara Overland, and several Russian and Australian mineral dealers. In addition, Serguy, Viacheslav and Hans were on the higher floors.

In spite of the lack of dealers, activity was better than might be expected and certainly better than it has been in some time. There were some good buys on some good material, such as stable Brahin slices and some exceptional small New Campos, in particular. Matt Morgan and I got ALL the 100% fusion crusted small Bensour specimens at the show. Juanchang has just about disappeared. There were many very nice Taza specimens. However, they sell at top price, individually, and are so fine, they continue to sell well. As a result, no amount purchased could get you a wholesale price on them. In addition, NWA 801, the fabulous CR2 is beginning to vanish and you can expect the price of that material to go up, considerably, as a result and particularly because it started out so cheaply, at $25/g.

The auction also turned out to be quite interesting. The COMETS had decided to do their own auction, but, on the actual day the two auctions were to occur, we all decided it would work to our mutual advantage to combine them, so, the first "United Auction" of Denver was held ­ and with a good deal of success, too. The crowd was larger than the previous two years and so were the total sales.
 

The highlight of the auction was a storage tank from the Soviet Space Station which had landed in Patagonia. This specimen is very similar to Rob Elliott's, with fabulous reentry markings and small craters from micro meteorite strikes. Ironically, no one opened the bidding with the minimum $6,500, but everyone was delighted to see such a specimen up close & personal ­ especially after seeing the article of Rob's in METEORITE Magazine.

For most items, the bidding was fast and furious, and a lot of fun. Few items had a minimum, and of those that did, most achieved an opening bid and were off to the races.

Anne Black provided splendid record keeping and Gary Curtiss, who was instrumental in uniting the two auctions, coordinated specimen management. Several other COMETS lent a hand ­ it was a true united effort & a ton of fun.

Perhaps the most impressive specimen purchased was offered by Oscar; a large full slice of Covert, which was beautifully brachiated. Fred Hall, who offered several books in the auction, himself, walked away the proud owner of this fine specimen.

The COMETS' Party took place Saturday evening and was cozy and enjoyable. Though it was smaller than in previous years, I had to leave early due to a very early plane flight home and more people May have arrived after I had to depart.

I am indebted to Matt Morgan and his wife, Karen for their exemplary hospitality. In addition to seeing all the fine people in Denver and visiting the Show, Matt turned me onto the "Dekota Hogback" and the dinosaur footprints near his home. What fun.
 

Let's all hope the prices stay low, the material keeps coming and our collections keep growing.

Until next month. Happy Hunting!