Question about coral values

[Wade]

First, I live in TN and am not interested in shipping these out so I'm NOT trying to sell anything here. I'm just trying to find out how much they're worth. I've got a local guy who wants to buy the whole lot, but I'm pretty sure they're worth quite a bit more than I'm being offered. Most of these I've had for several years and they've had some really good growth. I'm selling them because we're getting ready to sell our house and it will be several months before the new house is ready to move into and i don't want to try and move it to an apartment. Too many horror stories there and it kill me if I killed any of these. If this is still against the rules, then by all means delete this posting. Here's all that I'm getting rid of:

• 11 head torch
• 19 head dendro
• 30+ head pink acan
• 12 head hammer
• 6" welso
• 10 polyps of ricordia
• big colony of what I think is either Armor of God or Lord of the Rings palys
• 9-10 head frogspawn
• 4 head lobo
• 4" piece of purple pavona
• 20+ head orange acan

When I try to look up values on line, I only find small frags. It's like no one sells big specimens. Surely there's a market our there somewhere for people setting up big tanks and want larger specimens. Anyway, If you all can give me some idea of what these are worth I would greatly appreciate it. Again I apologize if posts like this are not allowed on this forum.

[jestep]

First, I live in TN and am not interested in shipping these out so I'm NOT trying to sell anything here. I'm just trying to find out how much they're worth. I've got a local guy who wants to buy the whole lot, but I'm pretty sure they're worth quite a bit more than I'm being offered. Most of these I've had for several years and they've had some really good growth. I'm selling them because we're getting ready to sell our house and it will be several months before the new house is ready to move into and i don't want to try and move it to an apartment. Too many horror stories there and it kill me if I killed any of these. If this is still against the rules, then by all means delete this posting. Here's all that I'm getting rid of:

• 11 head torch
• 19 head dendro
• 30+ head pink acan
• 12 head hammer
• 6" welso
• 10 polyps of ricordia
• big colony of what I think is either Armor of God or Lord of the Rings palys
• 9-10 head frogspawn
• 4 head lobo
• 4" piece of purple pavona
• 20+ head orange acan

When I try to look up values on line, I only find small frags. It's like no one sells big specimens. Surely there's a market our there somewhere for people setting up big tanks and want larger specimens. Anyway, If you all can give me some idea of what these are worth I would greatly appreciate it. Again I apologize if posts like this are not allowed on this forum.

Do you mean Duncan for the 2nd one.

Really hard to answer because the market is going to be a lot different depending on how many potential buyers there are in an area.

Just throwing out there, I could be way off on some of these.

11 head torch - $5 - $10 per head

19 head dendro - $75

30+ head pink acan - $80 - $150

12 head hammer - $5 - $10 per head

6" welso - $35

10 polyps of ricordia - $3 - $20 per polyp depending on the size and color.

big colony of what I think is either Armor of God or Lord of the Rings palys

9-10 head frogspawn - $5 - $10 per head

4 head lobo

4" piece of purple pavona

20+ head orange acan $80 - $150

More or less based on what I see things sell for locally and on other forums, you'll likely get less for a lot of this selling as a group or selling a coral without dividing it, but it's obviously a lot more work and potentially you don't have the market if you split everything up. The duncan and the acans are really nice, I could be low on these, I could be too high as well, but I've seen large head duncans go for $10 - $20 PP and the color on the acans definitely definitely makes them desirable.

For the euphyllias, I see them go for roughly $5 - $10 per head all the time but can go for more or less as well.

[Sissy36]

I have no suggestions price wise. I have seen larger colonies in LFS but very seldom online and never as large as what you have.

Side note: that hammer is stunning!

from me

[mFrame]

Have you checked alternate means of assessing the value, like seeing what your LFS would offer you for the lot?

[Sascha D.]

I agree with most of what Jestep said. A good starting point is to go to the online vendors and reduce their prices by half. Some things are more rare in some areas and you could get more or less if they're common. For example, Pink Birdsnest is pretty common here and you might get $10 for a big 2" frag, but it sells for $50 at Liveaquaria. You can use any website that you want, but I would choose a national one for price consistency. Websites that are dedicated to one type of coral, like SPS, will reflect what the hobbyists value a coral and might not be what common hobbyists might pay. 

AAF told me that Dendros were illegal in Texas for a while and he's selling them for $60 per head. I don't know how rare then are in TN but I think you could get $20 or more per head on them. I didn't see a picture of Dendros in your original post, but I did see a picture of Duncans. It might be a good idea to double-check the species because the price varies greatly. 

Acans and lobos vary greatly by color. I sell my normal sized colonies for $5 per head if they're 1-2 color. Big colonies are hard to sell at that price and you will have to discount it. It might be worth it for someone to flip a 40 head colony, but most hobbyists aren't going to pay $200 for it. 

[Wade]

Thanks all.  Yeah it was Duncans not dendros.  Not sire why but I always get those mixed up.  I ended up selling everything I listed above for $1,000 even.  The Duncans ended up having 21 heads.  The Hammer had 19 I believe it was.  I really hated parting with all those since I've had them so long, but I hate the idea of whoever buys my house wanting to keep the built in tank and killing everything.  I plan to help them as much as they want me to and teach them how to care for it all, but you know as well as I do that if they're new to the hobby that there's a pretty fair chance that they'll make some drastic error and crash it.  I really don't have a choice unless I want to rip the whole thing out remodel that corner of the room.  Just not financially feasible and there's a good chance of losing stock in the process of tearing it all down to move it anyway.  

Thanks again for all your input.  

[jestep]

12 hours ago, Wade said:

Thanks all.  Yeah it was Duncans not dendros.  Not sire why but I always get those mixed up.  I ended up selling everything I listed above for $1,000 even.  The Duncans ended up having 21 heads.  The Hammer had 19 I believe it was.  I really hated parting with all those since I've had them so long, but I hate the idea of whoever buys my house wanting to keep the built in tank and killing everything.  I plan to help them as much as they want me to and teach them how to care for it all, but you know as well as I do that if they're new to the hobby that there's a pretty fair chance that they'll make some drastic error and crash it.  I really don't have a choice unless I want to rip the whole thing out remodel that corner of the room.  Just not financially feasible and there's a good chance of losing stock in the process of tearing it all down to move it anyway.  

Thanks again for all your input.  

That's a really good price considering you didn't have to deal with a bunch of buyers and chopping everything up. It may not be the most conceivably possible, but there's definitely value in simplicity and convenience. 

[Sascha D.]

I agree. That guy bought as much as ten people might have! IMO you got the better end of that deal. Truthfully, you got much more than I thought you would get.