Price Guides; Help or Hindrance?
Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Artifact Finds, Flint Artifacts
‘How much is it worth?’ is a question occasionally heard in arrowhead discussions. More times than not, it’s a question asked by folks unfamiliar with Indian artifacts who have recently made their first find.
As with most things that have intrinsic value, and in this case a limited supply and growing demand, there is a monetary value.
How is an artifact’s value determined? A lot of factors play into the equation such as rarity, condition, craftsmanship, material, symmetry, age, and pedigree (documentation). A common answer to the ‘how much is it worth?’ question is ‘whatever someone is willing to pay and whatever the seller is willing to accept’. When these two values meet, that could be considered fair market value on that particular piece.
The popularity of artifact price guides has grown tremendously over the past twenty years. Given that no two artifacts are alike, these guides often provide a price range for a particular artifact and show several examples of each type. This allows the reader to formulate an estimated valuation based on a broader range of specimens. 
These price guides are good for estimating relative worth and in the absence of easily sourced professional typology guides, aid collectors in identifying what they have found.
But are these artifact guides good for the hobby? While they do provide estimates of monetary value, are these prices accurate? With no formal process or objective criteria to calculate price, how are these values determined? Are they simply provided by the individual owner of the artifact based on their own knowledge and opinion?
Do price guides set unrealistic expectations? Most collectors who have gained experience in this field are familiar with the basics of establishing the approximate value of an arrowhead. But what about someone who is not a collector and has inherited a collection, or has amassed a collection over the years from picking them up on their property? It may be difficult for someone unfamiliar with artifacts to distinguish a triangular trade blank from a Clovis based on the description from a price guide. This misleads the owner to believe a collection of field grade points may be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The advent of price guides could also be credited to some degree with the increased number of dealers in the hobby today. Just as with Pokemon cards and Beanie Babies opportunistic folks see the rising prices and want to try their hand at dabbling in arrowheads for dollars.
And the anti-collecting community is heard more often stating that many collectors are in it solely for the money while tapping on the prices guides as the source of inspiration. In an effort to curb collecting, archeologists are actively reaching out to landowners claiming that collectors are getting rich from the artifacts found on their ranches and referencing these published prices.
Artifact price guides; a help or hindrance for the collecting community? What do you think?
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