- Location
- Upper West Side
The comparison to Comic Books is not quite valid. Comic Book values dropped for many reasons:
1. Counterfeit comic books were hitting the market.
2. eBay created a venue where individuals could suddenly become comic book "dealers" and dealers could no longer hide the fact that what they were selling as "rare" was, in fact, common as dirt.
3. Video games really took off in the 90's and 99% of kids and teens preferred video games to comics and baseball cards.
With corals we have a market that is still pretty isolated. Most reef keepers do not belong to sites such as MR nor are they members of organizations such as the Brooklyn Aquarium Society. Also, I really do not think that the "odd" colors we are seeing are very common in the wild.
I used to receive hundreds of acro and monti colonies directly from the Indo Pacific and MAYBE one out of 50 was not brown or yellow. We are fortunate in that Australia has recently opened up and we are seeing a lot of choice specimens for two very good reasons- the amount they are permitted to sell is VERY limited,thus they are more selective in what they collect and sell so that they can charge a premium and second, they are are also shipped directly to NY and are treated with much more TLC than the stuff coming in from Fiji and the rest of the South Pacific. (If you saw how corals came in from these places it may bring tears to your eyes)
"Rare" corals will continue to be rare for one simple reason- the majority of reef keepers do not have the conditions in their aquariums to keep the vibrant colors that make them rare. (Mostly incredibly strong lighting)
Alfred
1. Counterfeit comic books were hitting the market.
2. eBay created a venue where individuals could suddenly become comic book "dealers" and dealers could no longer hide the fact that what they were selling as "rare" was, in fact, common as dirt.
3. Video games really took off in the 90's and 99% of kids and teens preferred video games to comics and baseball cards.
With corals we have a market that is still pretty isolated. Most reef keepers do not belong to sites such as MR nor are they members of organizations such as the Brooklyn Aquarium Society. Also, I really do not think that the "odd" colors we are seeing are very common in the wild.
I used to receive hundreds of acro and monti colonies directly from the Indo Pacific and MAYBE one out of 50 was not brown or yellow. We are fortunate in that Australia has recently opened up and we are seeing a lot of choice specimens for two very good reasons- the amount they are permitted to sell is VERY limited,thus they are more selective in what they collect and sell so that they can charge a premium and second, they are are also shipped directly to NY and are treated with much more TLC than the stuff coming in from Fiji and the rest of the South Pacific. (If you saw how corals came in from these places it may bring tears to your eyes)
"Rare" corals will continue to be rare for one simple reason- the majority of reef keepers do not have the conditions in their aquariums to keep the vibrant colors that make them rare. (Mostly incredibly strong lighting)
Alfred
This is EXACTLY what happened to comic book collecting in the early 1990's...and a few years later, people were sitting with comic books that were worth pennies on the dollar because the flame burned out.
It seems that the cycle in this hobby is much shorter. Fortunately, I have met vendors and hobbyists that have things that are currently "hot" that don't really mind throwing in some stuff for $10 a frag...that's right, $10 for chalice frags that I have seen people selling for $100 per eye, or mouth, or whatever we call them these days.
I guess my point is that if you want a nice tank, buy and put whatever you want in it, but spend wisely...and, most importantly, be nice to people in the hobby.