House of Bid
Pricing arrowheads, fossils, and crystals
Arrowheads, fossils, and mineral specimens are priced on authenticity, documented provenance, condition, and legality of collection — not on size or looks. Reproduction points are extremely common, fossils from protected land cannot be legally sold, and most decorative crystals are inexpensive commercial material. Documentation of where and when a piece was collected often matters more than the piece.
Arrowheads and stone tools
Reproductions vastly outnumber authentic points on the open market, and skilled modern knapping is hard to distinguish in a photograph. Value comes from material, type and period, symmetry, intactness, and above all a documented collection history. A point with a named site, a date, and a collector's record is a different object from an identical-looking point in a jar. Repaired or reworked tips cut value sharply.
Legality comes before price
In the United States, artifacts collected from federal or tribal land cannot be legally bought or sold, and some categories carry criminal penalties. The same applies to vertebrate fossils from federal land. Human remains and funerary objects are prohibited outright. This is not a pricing question — an illegal lot has no price, and House of Bid will not run it. If provenance is unknown, say so plainly and expect the lot to be reviewed.
Fossils
Common invertebrate fossils — ammonites, trilobites, crinoids, shark teeth — are widely commercially collected and generally inexpensive unless exceptional in size, preparation, or completeness. Preparation quality matters: a well-prepared specimen with visible detail is worth a multiple of the same fossil left in matrix. Composites assembled from multiple specimens are common and should always be disclosed.
Crystals and mineral specimens
Most quartz clusters, amethyst geodes, and tumbled stones sold decoratively are inexpensive commercial material regardless of how large they are. Serious specimen value comes from locality, crystal habit, colour saturation, damage-free terminations, and association with other species. Heat treatment, dyeing, and irradiation are routine in the trade and must be disclosed. A named classic locality can multiply the price of an otherwise ordinary piece.
How to list a natural history lot honestly
Photograph with a scale in frame, state the locality if you know it and say 'locality unknown' if you do not, describe any repair or preparation, and never guess at a species or period you cannot support. Buyers in this category are knowledgeable and will price an honest description better than an optimistic one.
Questions
Grandpa's arrowhead collection has no paperwork. Can I sell it?
- Often yes, if the pieces were legally collected from private land, but the lack of documentation lowers value and raises questions. List it as an undocumented collection and let bidders price the uncertainty. Do not invent a provenance.
How can I tell a real point from a reproduction?
- Patina consistent across all surfaces, wear in the right places, and flaking style appropriate to the claimed period. It is genuinely difficult, and a specialist opinion is worth paying for on a valuable collection.
Are big amethyst geodes valuable?
- Usually not in proportion to their size. Most are commercial Brazilian or Uruguayan material sold by weight and appearance. Colour saturation and undamaged crystal faces matter far more than how tall the piece is.