[Rockhounds] TUCSON: Another perspective

[Tom Corson]

Hi all,

Having read the numerous comments, here and elsewhere, about the high price
of mineral specimens, I have another perspective I'd like to share with you.

First off, some basic comments. I agree that there are a lot of cases (far
too many) of exorbitant pricing out there (online, shows, take your pick).
I've seen pricing at Tucson and elsewhere that I truly feel is just plain
nuts. What I want to convey is that I think that a lot of what has been said
and written on this is overly simplified - there's a lot more to this.

As some of you may know, I have had a booth for the last two years on the
main floor of the TGMS show at the Tucson Convention Center. I have just
returned home from the backbreaking chore (at least for these old bones) of
taking it all down, repacking it all, and bringing it "back to the barn" for
some future day. The amount of work (and associated costs) that dealers such
as myself undertake to do one of these shows would truly amaze you, were you
to walk in one of our shoes, even for a day, at a major show such as TGMS.
It wasn't until I got into this business that I had even a remote
comprehension of how much work it is. I have run numerous businesses in my
career (non mineral related) and I can tell you that being a mineral dealer
is the most labor intensive business I have ever seen - bar none.

When I sell a specimen to someone, I treat the person who buys a $20 rock
(or even no rock!) with the same courtesy and attention that I would someone
who buys a $2000 piece. Why? Because a) I believe that what you put out into
the universe tends to be what you get back and b) because I hope they will
remember that they were treated well, given as good a deal as possible, and
come back (and hopefully tell their friends too). In short, I do not look at
the customer who comes to me as an opportunity for me to extract every last
cent I can from that sale, I view it as an opportunity to obtain (or keep) a
repeat customer.

I don't "demand price" my specimens. If I get a better deal when I buy the
specimen, that is reflected in the price. I'll give an example. I was out of
cavansite, so before the main show started, I bought a flat of 12 - cabinet
sized, good color, they were nice. I got a good deal on them. Cavansite is
still very popular and I could have priced them at $100-125 each based on
what others were selling similar ones for. I priced them at $60 each. The
whole flat was gone very quickly. Did I make a killing? No. Did I make a
reasonable margin? Yes. But most importantly, will that person remember that
they got a really good price on their cavansite and come back? I think (and
certainly hope) so. Had I sold them at $125 they most likely would and
viewed their purchase as average or high and have forgotten who I even was.
So, the good news is I sold all my cavansite. The bad news? Now I'm out of
cavansite again.... :-)

So, in summary, while I agree that there are numerous cases of pricing that
are patently ridiculous, do bear in mind that not all of us are money
grubbing fiends. :-)

I deliberately did not go in to all of what has to happen to make a specimen
available for sale in order to keep this post to a reasonable length. I
think some of you might find it interesting. If so, I'll start another
thread on it.

I also have some observations of how some of this pricing craziness has come
to pass and would be happy to share this as well if there is any interest.

Best regards,
TC 
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Thomas W. Corson	 	 OBG International	 
corson at infodyn.com	 Green Valley, AZ 85614	 

http://www.obgrocks.com	 
World-Class Minerals For World-Class Collectors	
________________________________