FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[MrOHBrown]

There's some Tellurium on eBay right now, in a matrix, a few crystals $1500.

The item is native Tellurium from Fiji. Now I am wondering how much you would pay for the Tellurium. You see, I'd love to get some and have an uncle in Fiji who may be able to hunt some down for a cheaper price.

All I really need is an indication of what is a fair price, or what I could be asked to pay if I was lucky and got a bargain! I am new to all this and would appreciate info about tellurium or any good links regading mineral pricing.

Thanks,

Owen.

[Jordi Fabre]

Owen,

This is not a commercial forum, so for this reason your message, looking like a commercial post, should be deleted. Anyway, considering that, as you mentioned, you are "new to all this" I will try to answer a little bit your questions.

The value of the native Tellurium is very high ONLY if it is really native Tellurium and not a gold or silver Telluride, like Sylvanite, more common on the Fiji deposit. The problem is that both species looks very similar and ONLY with a serious analysis, well done for a serious analyzer, we can be sure if the species is a pure native Tellurium or just a Telluride (still rare, but not so rare).
I have not idea if the eBay sellers analyzed properly their native Tellurium or not, so I can't tell you if his offer is serious or just something to catch money from beginners.

Second question is "of what is a fair price" for a mineral species. This is a main topic, very complex, and honestly I prefer to leave other people from this Forum to give to you a detailed answer. We already discussed largely about some topics related with mineral's prices and qualities. You can read about them following this two links:

https://www.fabreminerals.com/forum/Message-Board/viewtopic.php?t=182

and

https://www.fabreminerals.com/forum/Message-Board/viewtopic.php?t=162


Jordi

[MrOHBrown]

Hello Folks,

I have purchased a significantly cheaper Tellurium sample.

Please see the attached photograph. It's the best pic I have at the moment.

I haven't contacted the seller yet, but I wanted to ask you guys first.

It contains native Tellurium and Telluride Crystals. Can you see in this photo which is which?

Thanks,

Owen.

[Jordi Fabre]

Owen,

Probably you misunderstood my previous message. Only with a serious analysis you can know what your specimen is and/or contains. If the seller don't have this analysis, then you don't know what do you have.

Plus your last posts looks a little bit too commercial, so please stop on that way. Thank you.

Jordi

[MrOHBrown]

Jordi... You've hit the nail on the head regarding my ignorance re: identifying specimens...

However please understand, through my persistent postings, that I only ask questions out of curiosity as a collector. The expensive Tellurium I originally mentioned, I had NO intent of buying it, but genuinely wanted to know as a collector what a fair price to pay for a specimen would be.

I imagined someone would say something akin to "Oh I got a nice thumbail specimen, $50, I think that was a fair price". Hence the innocence of such enquiry.

Is this forum not a way in whch I can understand more about the value of minerals?

I guarantee that I have no commercial interest in minerals.

Oh and I pretty much get the message that Tellurides and Tellurium are undestinguishable by sight, Capiche!

Thanks!

[John S. White]

I feel that Jordi may have overreacted a bit with regard to the question from MrOHBrown, I do not see this as too commercial, but I do have an opinion about the question. These specimens are rare, whether this be tellurium or a telluride, there just aren't many of thenm on the market. For this reason I believe that it is virtually impossible for anyone to propose what might be considered a reasonable price for such a piece. In cases like this it is a matter of what the market will bear. Someone desparately seeking such a piece will pay far more than most of us would ever consider paying. The price is "fair" if you think that the piece is worth that much to you.

But keep in mind what Jordi has said. If you would ever consider paying as much as $1500 for such a specimen then you would be foolish if you did not demand evidence that the minerals have been properly identified.

[Tracy]

Owen, your question about wanting to understand the value of minerals has weaved in and out of other Forum topics (e.g., my own posting about quality): https://www.fabreminerals.com/forum/Message-Board/viewtopic.php?t=162
(link normalized by Jordi)

The underlying message that I have picked up in following a number of Forum topics is that "value" and "fair price" are moveable targets: if a buyer really wants to acquire a specimen, then he/she, not the dealer, sets the "value" and "fair price" by being willing to pay a lot for it, perhaps an amount that others might find unrasonably high. Not knowing your level of experience, and still in the learning stages myself of this hobby, this seems to be a trial-and-error exercise which everyone has to go through and which gets refined over time with increased knowledge. John's comment about the rarity of tellurium species is useful because it helps identify whether high prices are justified, but ultimately you or another buyer has to decide whether the price is "fair." I think that by phrasing questions along the lines of "I found a piece of XXXX for sale, how rare are they to come by?" we might be able to uphold Forum traditions that Jordi is careful to maintain, without crossing the line into sticky matters of commerce.

Hope this makes sense - written in haste...

Tracy