2009 Tucson Show

8.5 CARAT, 13MM HEXAGON STAR, COMBINATION CUT, Natural New Hampshire  aquamarine

8.5 carat, 13mm Hexagon Star, combination cut, natural New Hampshire Aquamarine

The Tucson show ended last weekend. I have not been to the show in the past 5 years. So the next best thing is checking on the blogs about the show. Just checking out the pictures of the area makes me warm. If you have never been to the show I highly recommend it. In addition, if you live in New England just getting away from the winter weather is great.

The main them with the dealers this year as with all things is the economy. Therefore, a lot of spin was put on how good things are with the upper dealers and how the mid dealers had a tougher time. Nevertheless, what made me come to the Tucson topic was the grousing about the Stacks mineral auction. The main grips were that the lots had very high reserves and that the Item descriptions were overly touted. So I checked out the Stacks Tucson auction-winning bids at Stack’s web- site. What I found did not blow me away and what sold was not out of line. So why the grousing.

My take on it is that the auction soaked up mineral money that the established mineral dealers thought was theirs. Moreover, why did they think it was theirs? Because and especially the upper tier dealers think they are the only ones that are qualified to sell an expensive rock.

The Stacks coast to coast auction results:

23% of the mineral specimens sold (Stacks 8-08. auction 61% sold).

30% of the gemstones and jewelry items sold (Stacks 8-08 auction 90% sold).

55% of the fossils sold

63% of the stock certificates sold

Therefore, the auction was not a good one. Though it sucked up enough Tucson show money to aggravate some dealers. Auctions are transparent, that’s why they are a good indication of the health of a market.

That’s it for now.

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