We all have a perceived value of something we own. What we think it should be worth is not always
what somebody is willing to pay for it. Relying on somebody to tell you what something is worth is great, as long as
that person knows how you can sell it for that price, or that person is willing to pay the price they are quoting. I
will tell you how much your artifacts should sell for on the open market, and I will tell you how much I am willing to pay.
I will show you where artifacts are selling and show you how much they have sold for.
. PLEASE NOTE: If you own a reference book that is also a price guide for Native American
artifacts, don't expect to find a lot of people who are willing to pay the prices listed in the reference book. Many people
have grand ideas that their arrowheads are worth exactly what it says in the price guides. Some of these books offer inflated
artifact values in an effort to sell more books, and do not give realistic prices in the current market. For those of you
who watch the traveling antique shows on television, and they tell somebody that the chair they pulled down from their attic
is worth a million dollars, don't believe it. Perhaps they have sold similar pieces for the amounts they state, but in the
real world, that wealthy collector who is willing to pay a small fortune for what you are selling is a very rare occurrence.
If you have a few hundred arrowheads and expect me to tell you that they are worth tens of thousands of dollars, I'm afraid
you are probably in for a big disappointment. I look at the contents of the overall collection, and make a reasonable offer
based on the current market value. Not on what a book says they should be worth. In most collections, a very small percentage
of the collection hold the majority of the value. Please keep this in mind when asking for an appraisal. Online
auction sites have pretty much set the standard for prices on many things. Before the Internet, dealers of artifacts would
meet at local shows to buy and sell artifacts. Sellers would ask a certain price, and buyers could either take it or leave
it. Now you can put an artifact online where thousands of people will have the opportunity to see and bid on it. But those
thousands of people will also be able to see and bid on many other artifacts, some better, some worse than the piece you have
for sale. Consequently, what may have sold at an artifact show for $500 will only get $250 on the Internet, because there
are more nice arrowheads available, and competition drives prices down. But you can still have a very unique artifact that
is very uncommon, and worth a lot of money.
If you want to sell your artifacts, and have an idea of how much you
want for them, tell me your price. I will give you my honest opinion of their value, and let you know what I feel they are
worth to me based on the pictures you provide. I will never offer you a low price for an item worth much more. I will tell
you honestly what I feel an item is worth, and will even provide you links for examples that have recently sold
online. Because I will most likely be buying many items from you, what I offer will be somewhat less that their
current market value. If you have an artifact that is worth $500 on the open market, and if that is the only artifact
you are selling, I will probably offer you $400 for it. But if I will be buying many artifacts from you, I will offer
less. Remember that you can always sell them yourself on the Internet if you have the know-how, and technical expertise. But
selling online is a lot of work, it can be very expensive, and if you don't know what you are doing, you either won't sell
your artifacts, or you will let them go for too little.
I primarily buy artifacts for three reasons.
1. For my own personal collection.
2. I give presentations at local schools about Native Americans and how they
lived. I use my collection as visual aids for the children, and I always give each child their very own arrowhead. Children
are very receptive to learning about Native Americans, and are always thrilled to take home a piece of history that was made
thousands of years ago.
3. I donate many artifacts each year to local schools, and museums.
Yes I do sell some on the Internet, especially if I have too many of one particular variety, or want to clear out old inventory
to make room for new things.
Condition is everything
Every Native American artifact is unique, even if they are the same variety and approximatly the same age, some just
look better than others. Over the last hundred years or so, many arrowhead varieties have been classified based on age, and
general location where they are found. A very common point worth only a few dollars, could be worth many times more if it
was crafted from an uncommon material such as a brightly colored jasper, or translucent agate. Appearance and symmetry have
as much to do with value as the variety and age. As with anything people buy, things in a more
appealing condition will bring a higher price. What may appear to you as a perfect arrowhead may have flaws that are
unappealing to a collector.
Pictured below is a group of four projectile points. Can you tell which would be worth
the most? They are actually all worth close to the same amount. The two in the middle, while in great condition
are very common pieces, and worth around $10 each. The piece on the far right is a little less common, and worth around $15.
The first piece on the left, even though it's missing the tip, is an uncommon variety, and worth around $5, even in this less
than perfect condition.

|
|