By a Factor of 10

My parents brought to my attention that some fossils would be going up for auction in Los Angeles on Friday. This sort of thing always amuses me since I can get just about anything that would be going up for auction at a price significantly lower than would be paid at the auction house. Most things were too expensive by only one order of magnitude, although some were estimated to sell for close to 100 times what I thought it was actually worth on the fair market. I was astonished when I saw that the estimate for a well preserved uncoiled ammonite was less than $3,000, since it is the only thing that I think could be sold for significantly more. Admitidly, there are a few things that I think belong more in a museum than in someone's private collection, but nothing especially new to science is up for sale. I'm tempted to go to the auction if only to offer my services as an aprasor and proffessional shopper for people who have more money than experience with natural history.