Are megalodon teeth a good investment over time?

[mattbsharks]

Hi Everyone,

I have read lots of articles and blurbs from ebay sellers talking about how they find significantly less megalodon teeth than they used to and how the prices have skyrocketed. Do you guys think that this will continue, and that this would make megalodon teeth a good investment of money if I held onto my teeth and sold them say 10-20 years down the line? It should be noted that these are not complete teeth, but are 3/4 complete. I am struggling to decide whether to sell my teeth off now or not.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Doctor Mud]

Hi Matt,

 

I wouldnt rely to much on blurbs by eBay sellers - sounds like something they would say to talk up the price. I'm sure you know that, but just thought if say it.

I haven't noticed an increase in price of megs across the board, there still seems to be a good supply coming out of a lot of localities, dive megs in particular. 

I have noticed prices going up for Lee Creek megs for obvious reasons as the mine is closed.

So there is a definite site based trend.

I guess it comes down to supply and demand and in the Lee Creek case there is a high demand for the teeth with no obvious new supply.

 

Are you talking about the teeth you just posted restored?

The price of 6 inch plus teeth is always going to be high. I can't see the price dropping as they will always be rare.

Who knows about the future though....

i suppose it depends on whether your philosophy is to enjoy them for a while and see what happens (probably won't lose money) or sell them now and enjoy the cash.

 

Sorry it's not a yes or no, but I think if I knew for sure I might be buying up teeth tight now 

 

[mattbsharks]

2 minutes ago, Doctor Mud said:

Hi Matt,

 

I wouldnt rely to much on blurbs by eBay sellers - sounds like something they would say to talk up the price. I'm sure you know that, but just thought if say it.

I haven't noticed an increase in price of megs across the board, there still seems to be a good supply coming out of a lot of localities, dive megs in particular. 

I have noticed prices going up for Lee Creek megs for obvious reasons as the mine is closed.

So there is a definite site based trend.

I guess it comes down to supply and demand and in the Lee Creek case there is a high demand for the teeth with no obvious new supply.

 

Are you talking about the teeth you just posted restored?

The price of 6 inch plus teeth is always going to be high. I can't see the price dropping as they will always be rare.

Who knows about the future though....

i suppose it depends on whether your philosophy is to enjoy them for a while and see what happens (probably won't lose money) or sell them now and enjoy the cash.

 

Sorry it's not a yes or no, but I think if I knew for sure I might be buying up teeth tight now 

 

I am definitely planning to hang onto those teeth because I love them so much! For me, it is definitely about getting to hang onto awesome teeth. It would be advantageous if the price of them were to keep rising. From what I've read, there is still a somewhat steady stream of teeth found by divers, but not as many as before. Teeth prices seem to have gone way up over the decades. My hope is that if I were to hang onto my fossils, I would be able to enjoy them for the next 20 years as their value kept going up.

[snolly50]

2 hours ago, mattbsharks said:

Hi Everyone,

I have read lots of articles and blurbs from ebay sellers talking about how they find significantly less megalodon teeth than they used to and how the prices have skyrocketed. Do you guys think that this will continue, and that this would make megalodon teeth a good investment of money if I held onto my teeth and sold them say 10-20 years down the line? It should be noted that these are not complete teeth, but are 3/4 complete. I am struggling to decide whether to sell my teeth off now or not.

 

Thanks,

Matt

Megalodon teeth are common fossils. That is, they are plentiful and "easy" to find compared to many other types of fossils (e.g. raptor teeth). However, they are big and fiercely impressive. They appeal to the 10 year old boy in all of us. The "high" prices they bring are dictated by their popularity, consumer demand. They have become collectibles, like Hummel figurines or Beanie Babies. The collector's desire for a perfect example inflates the costs even higher.

As for a long term $ return, ask a Beanie Baby collector, what their retirement treasure is now worth. If you want a return, invest in US stock index funds. Invest early and often. That is the way to wealth.  

[sixgill pete]

I guess if you are into fossils for the "financial" aspect of it, you would want to keep track of market trends and take advantage of upswings in prices. I will say, at least to me, megs must be complete with sharp serrations to demand top dollar. Even Lee Creek megs, of which I have a fair amount, must be complete, no restoration and have good sharp serrations. 

It has always amazed me at the price of megs, they are relatively common compared to many other fossils, yet command a ridiculous price in my opinion. Yet, I have fossils that are so extremely rare, but relatively worthless value wise. But that is not why I collect. My fossils will all end up in a museum collection one day, many already are. 

 

I have read about and seen web pages about "investment quality" fossils. Look into that, if that is what interest's you. To me at least, there are much better ways to invest your money.

[doushantuo]

Great post ,Snolly.

I have invested,as we speak,in a company(Betamax) which puts out a very high tech consumer electronics product.

Can't wait 'til the market closes

I agree with Thomas Watson sr BTW: there's absolutely NO money to be made manufacturing computers or its component parts

[aplomado]

snolly is right.  Fossils are for fun, not investments.  Good thing they are REALLY fun!

[Miocene_Mason]

Fossils are fun, and I don't know if this is true, but a man peddling fossils near Calvert cliffs (all self collected, he had buckets full of large megs) said once a friend of his is the early eighties found a set of seven associated 6 1/2 megs, and sold them to a museum for something crazy like 12,000 dollars. He then said that megs are better than stock, had she waited three years, she could have sold them for 300% more. i just like to collect fossils not for sale. Trades are where it's at...

[siteseer]

9 hours ago, mattbsharks said:

Hi Everyone,

I have read lots of articles and blurbs from ebay sellers talking about how they find significantly less megalodon teeth than they used to and how the prices have skyrocketed. Do you guys think that this will continue, and that this would make megalodon teeth a good investment of money if I held onto my teeth and sold them say 10-20 years down the line? It should be noted that these are not complete teeth, but are 3/4 complete. I am struggling to decide whether to sell my teeth off now or not.

 

Thanks,

Matt

 

 

In the time I have collected fossils, since the late 80's, I have seen megalodon prices go up.  That was in large part because more and more non-collectors started to hear about the species.  in recent years there have been several shark shows on TV talk about when it lived and how big it got all while holding up some of the larger specimens.  The public got excited and then found out they could find teeth for sale.  What we don't know is whether interest will continue to increase or start to decrease once everyone who wants a tooth now has one.

 

I would also add that someone saying that hunters are finding less teeth is just a marketing ploy.  There are a lot more people looking for them so the average diver is probably finding less teeth per day than 20-25 years ago, but because a lot more people are looking for them, I think more teeth are actually being found.  Some divers are going farther and farther out to sea to scout new hunting areas. 

 

I would say that 3/4 complete teeth are not going to rise in value enough to make a real difference between selling today and selling 15 years from now.

 

[aplomado]

Honestly, investing in physical objects is generally a bad idea.  With some rare exceptions, historically investments in objects, when they go up over time, go up less than the same amount of $ in index funds for the stock market.  Your results may vary.

[ynot]

Any collectable has a very precarious position in the world of value. Taste change and new finds add to the availability of "rare" things.

So if less people are interested and more pieces are found then the value will decrease, if more people want and fewer pieces are found then the value goes up. 

[Macrophyseter]

I agree with meg prices rising due to increased popularity, though I also dont really feel any price rise. All I notice is that bargain 4 inches are almost never in the market (4 inch complete meg with some or significant enamel peel and worn edges for 40-60 dollars) anymore, when 2 years ago ebay was full of them.

 

Just hopefully megs dont get popular to the point that a 3 inch would be more expensive than any tyrannosaurus tooth (which are currently worth thousands due to trex popularity)

[Kurufossils]

I feel like the market swings when it comes to megs as there are times more are bought than others but I've been seeing alot selling less for what they are worth and ebay stores buying from each other generally fossil-wise to try and make a quick buck (especially dinosaur material), from what I've been personally seeing it seems like stores are buying more than collectors now but I think rare and closed locality megs will maintain or keep rising in value. I have an itching feeling that this generation growing up will not be into fossils nearly as much as the last one that was exposed to the golden age of fossils and dinosaurs and such in movies so the demand may slightly decrease long term, but hey maybe that Megalodon movie coming up next summer if its good mite shake up the meg market again. Then again I'm no professional but I think alot of people are into collectible assests now and are trying to stray away from the typical stock market investments, I'm not to sure why maybe collectibles such fossils are unregulated, untraceable, untaxable or something? but who knows what will happen long term.

[Macrophyseter]

1 minute ago, Ryann10006 said:

. I have an itching feeling that this generation growing up will not be into fossils nearly as much as the last one that was exposed to the golden age of fossils and dinosaurs

I feel it too, although, but I guess that because the general public now lost intrest in Jurassic World. I still remember back when on youtube there would be youtubers posting videos of fights between prehistoric animals (if you ever tried posting one of your own, its extremely hard to NOT get massive hate because of these idiots known as fanboys/fanatics who will trash talk any person who says that their fav lost the fight and tell them to commit suicide), and "tributes" to a prehistoric animal (which is literally a slideshow of pics of that animal) but that was like back in the early 2010s, now the media doesnt really put that much fanwork on prehistoric animals now, at least on youtube.

 

7 minutes ago, Ryann10006 said:

maybe that Megalodon movie coming up next summer if its good mite shake up the meg market again.

Maybe shark week could pull another megalodon one more time.

[Kurufossils]

@Macrophyseter Oh those youtube videos I know what you mean Ive seen sime of them with my friend I find some of the tributes funny but understand able haha who wouldnt want to pay tribute to thier favorite prehistoric beast. Yeah I feel it the media does not give it the same attention and enither mainstream entertainment as much, theres lots of things going on to distract people these days, I only got into fossils and prehistoric creatures by accident visiting a friends house, otherwise on my own I loved them very young but my interest wadnt nutured past the age of maybe around 5 or 6 so I feel out of it till I rediscovered it, I regret buying so many video games and such when I could of been getting some pretty neat fossils back in the day. Im not sure when the next resurgence of popularity if any on prehistoric animals will come.

[mattbsharks]

3 hours ago, Ryann10006 said:

I feel like the market swings when it comes to megs as there are times more are bought than others but I've been seeing alot selling less for what they are worth and ebay stores buying from each other generally fossil-wise to try and make a quick buck (especially dinosaur material), from what I've been personally seeing it seems like stores are buying more than collectors now but I think rare and closed locality megs will maintain or keep rising in value. I have an itching feeling that this generation growing up will not be into fossils nearly as much as the last one that was exposed to the golden age of fossils and dinosaurs and such in movies so the demand may slightly decrease long term, but hey maybe that Megalodon movie coming up next summer if its good mite shake up the meg market again. Then again I'm no professional but I think alot of people are into collectible assests now and are trying to stray away from the typical stock market investments, I'm not to sure why maybe collectibles such fossils are unregulated, untraceable, untaxable or something? but who knows what will happen long term.

I can tell you that I am very into fossils. I am 16 and absolutely love the,, especially megalodon teeth

[mattbsharks]

I found a really cool article: http://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/23/8/article/i1052-5173-23-8-27.htm

4 hours ago, Ryann10006 said:

I feel like the market swings when it comes to megs as there are times more are bought than others but I've been seeing alot selling less for what they are worth and ebay stores buying from each other generally fossil-wise to try and make a quick buck (especially dinosaur material), from what I've been personally seeing it seems like stores are buying more than collectors now but I think rare and closed locality megs will maintain or keep rising in value. I have an itching feeling that this generation growing up will not be into fossils nearly as much as the last one that was exposed to the golden age of fossils and dinosaurs and such in movies so the demand may slightly decrease long term, but hey maybe that Megalodon movie coming up next summer if its good mite shake up the meg market again. Then again I'm no professional but I think alot of people are into collectible assests now and are trying to stray away from the typical stock market investments, I'm not to sure why maybe collectibles such fossils are unregulated, untraceable, untaxable or something? but who knows what will happen long term.

 

4 hours ago, ynot said:

Any collectable has a very precarious position in the world of value. Taste change and new finds add to the availability of "rare" things.

So if less people are interested and more pieces are found then the value will decrease, if more people want and fewer pieces are found then the value goes up. 

 

5 hours ago, aplomado said:

Honestly, investing in physical objects is generally a bad idea.  With some rare exceptions, historically investments in objects, when they go up over time, go up less than the same amount of $ in index funds for the stock market.  Your results may vary.

 

On 8/16/2017 at 8:24 AM, snolly50 said:

Megalodon teeth are common fossils. That is, they are plentiful and "easy" to find compared to many other types of fossils (e.g. raptor teeth). However, they are big and fiercely impressive. They appeal to the 10 year old boy in all of us. The "high" prices they bring are dictated by their popularity, consumer demand. They have become collectibles, like Hummel figurines or Beanie Babies. The collector's desire for a perfect example inflates the costs even higher.

As for a long term $ return, ask a Beanie Baby collector, what their retirement treasure is now worth. If you want a return, invest in US stock index funds. Invest early and often. That is the way to wealth.  

 

[Kurufossils]

@mattbsharks Its good there is people growing up like you that are into fossils, I not to old at 23 but if I knew about them earlier I would've been deep into them long ago I was always under the guise that only museums could get them and had no idea how to find them so I forgot about them, interesting article I will check it out soon. Its funny how my fossils can be seen as great investments but I dread selling them when I have to, I rather buy them for the long term and have them till I die them lol.

[mattbsharks]

3 hours ago, Ryann10006 said:

@mattbsharks Its good there is people growing up like you that are into fossils, I not to old at 23 but if I knew about them earlier I would've been deep into them long ago I was always under the guise that only museums could get them and had no idea how to find them so I forgot about them, interesting article I will check it out soon. Its funny how my fossils can be seen as great investments but I dread selling them when I have to, I rather buy them for the long term and have them till I die them lol.

I feel you man. I buy 3/4 complete megs with the intention of restoring and selling them all, but I probably end up keeping about half of them. I'm constantly negotiating with my self like fine you can keep this one but you have to sell this one lol.

[Kurufossils]

@mattbsharks Thats cool, I plan to learn someday I'd love to restore and buy a bunch of nice fragments to complete and keep.

[mattbsharks]

On 8/17/2017 at 9:10 PM, Ryann10006 said:

@mattbsharks Thats cool, I plan to learn someday I'd love to restore and buy a bunch of nice fragments to complete and keep.

I'd be happy to give you some tips when you do. It is not as hard as you would think. Even when you mess it up, it is nothing a little sand paper and an exacto knife can't fix.

[Kurufossils]

@Ryann10006 duely noted I maybe getting a new job soon soI could actually afford materials to try in the near future I'll definitely let you know, I'd be thrilled to apply my artistic skills to megs lol.

[Nimravis]

I agree with the points that @aplomado and @ynot made. 

 

People that spent tons of money on Beanie Babies and decided to hold them, rather than selling at their peak, made a huge mistake- they can be bought at any Goodwill store for 50 cents. Same thing can be said for baseball cards. 

 

If my my memory serves me right, fossils, pre-Jurassic Park were less expensive to buy at shows. Once the movie hit the screens, it was off to the races. The demand was there and fossils that were rarely ever seen at shows began to show up.  But on the other side of the coin, the internet, in my opinion, has also taken away value. Now you can by fossils that are found, say in Florida and get a good price versus when a dealer had something that he/she brought up from Florida and it was your only chance to get it. It's all about Supply and demand.

 

I collect for the enjoyment of collecting and trading and do not think about it as an investment.