Trading/Exchange Interests
We welcome collectors and dealers to our website to contact us if you have an interest in developing a trading relationship with The Geode Gallery. We are currently especially interested in exchange relationships with international collectors and dealers who have minerals they would like to trade. We have found that collectors may be located near or have access to a well-known locality or mining district and have many duplicates or extra quality specimens but limited access to trade or buy other specimens from other areas to add to their collection. We may be able to help!
We are only interested in receiving mineral and/or geode specimens. We are NOT interested in finished/polished products, lapidary, or fossils.
Please read our typical guidelines for trades:
1) Such a trading relationship does not imply an opportunity to "finally get rid of" lower end specimens, only exchanges will be made on a "quality for quality" basis. We will send back all specimens not meeting the description or quality we are looking for.
2) Nearly all specimens on our website are available for trade, with a few exceptions. Indicate specimens you are interested in and we will let you know if they are available for trade. If we do not have what you are looking for but want to trade your specimens for specimens available from other dealers for the value of your specimens to trade, we are willing and will not hesitate to buy from other dealers so you can get what you are looking for in trade. Buying from other dealers is not a problem in our opinion since all specimens are unique and other dealers may have better access to specimens from certain locations than we do. This works especially well for international trades where an exchange of money is more troublesome than an exchange of specimens and is actually preferred versus money. Contact us with your requests, even if the specimens are not from our website.
3) Trades are preferably done by monetary value, and "retail for retail". We do not trade "wholesale for wholesale" due to differences in wholesale policies from dealer to dealer unless other arrangements have been made. For example, you have X number of specimens at a retail price you determine, and you wish to trade specimens Y and Z from me (and/or from another dealer).
4) Shipping is the responsibility of each person sending his/her items in the trade. If a large difference in postage exists, an exception may be made to even out the trade value. International trades are usually completed by airmail unless the weight is exceptional (then air cargo freight is used depending on the circumstances).
5) For "first time" exchanges, we may request the interested party to send his/her specimens before we send the requested specimens from us. We do this to ensure that we are not going to send a parcel at the same time containing quality specimens and receive a box of junk or lower end specimens and then not be able to retrieve the quality specimens sent. This request is especially the case if the interested party does not have a method to send us file attached pictures in an email.
6), Finally, communication must be made on both ends when parcels are sent and when they arrive, and if the quality is what was expected and if each party is pleased with the contents.
We like to trade for all sizes of specimens from thumbnails up to large cabinet/museum size specimens. We prefer specimens in the miniature to cabinet size, but we also realize that some specimens in the larger sizes can get quite high in price, so a "case by case" scenario will be used. We may have special requests depending on what or where the interested exchange partner is located, and we will also entertain any special requests from locations that we have minerals from for the trade. An exchange, by no means, has to be done just to receive minerals to re-sell, if you have a request for something specific for your collection and you think you have something we would like to add to our collection and/or a quantity of minerals that we can re-sell, just let us know. We are also looking for additions to our collection and not necessarily for re-sell but both will suffice! We feel this is an excellent way to "do business" without necessarily exchanging money but still a way to acquire that specimen or specimens for the collection or additional stock to re-sell.
We look forward to hearing from you if interested, and contact us here to discuss an exchange: Interest in Trading