Rocks &amp; Crystals

The Metzee team2 min read

How to sell rocks, crystals and minerals on Metzee

Name the species, name the locality, declare the treatment — and make no claims about health.

buying

Buying rocks, crystals and minerals in a live auction

Ask for the species, the locality and the treatment. Then ask for it on a scale.

The Metzee team2 min read

Pricing rocks, crystals and minerals for a live auction

Collectors pay for species, locality and condition. Decorative buyers pay for the look. Know which room you have.

delivery

Packing and posting minerals and crystals

Heavy, and it breaks at the points. Wrap the terminations before you wrap anything else.

Describing the condition of minerals and crystals

Natural, treated, repaired — and every chip located rather than angled away from.

What is your mineral or crystal worth?

Species, locality and whether it has been treated. Size is the least of it.

Photographing minerals and crystals

Scale in every frame and daylight for colour. Specimens photograph twice their size.

delivery

Delivering minerals and crystals: courier, local or collection

Dense, brittle and heavier than the photograph suggests. Weigh before you quote.

buying

Questions to ask before bidding on a mineral

Put it on a scale and hold something beside it. Photographs lie about size.

How minerals are described

Not graded — identified. Species, locality, treatment, damage.

Storing and caring for minerals and crystals

Some fade in light, some dissolve in damp air, and most chip when they touch each other.

Starting a mineral collection

Buy labelled specimens. An unlabelled mineral loses most of its value the day you forget.

Common mistakes selling minerals and crystals

No scale in the frame, an undeclared treatment, and a claim about what a stone does to a person.