I was playing around with some stones yesterday and measuring some SGs. Then also decided to have a go estimating their value by weight, to get an idea of how different types of natural stones compare in terms of absolute price.
A few things to note: These values are in US$ per gram, and are based on my estimation of a 'market value' that one might reasonably expect to pay on BST for the stone. I'm not selling any of them atm, it's just a guess of what they might go for if I did. None of the jnats are particularly fancy, patterned or colourful, so the values are somewhat lower than they can be, but they're all good stones in terms of use. The non-Japanese stones are slightly 'posher' examples, and I've not included things like some of the relatively cheap slates and sandstones that were used quite extensively in times gone by, I might add them in later. There are also some notes to explain or clarify certain things about specific stones.
LHS top to bottom:
Okudo Suita - 0.16
Mizukihara Uchigumori - 0.15
Mauruoyama Shiro Suita - 0.31
Ozuku Asagi - 0.15
RHS top to bottom:
Yellow-Green Thuringian - 0.70 [Pretty much certainly an Escher. If it still had its label the price could be north of $1/g.]
Norton Translucent Arkansas - 0.47 [This is a completely pristine example of a 1950s 'Green Label' stone. You could snag a more recent 8x2 Norton translucent for about 1/2 to 2/3rds of this price.]
Fiddich River Stone - 0.45
Tam O'Shanter - 0.11 [At the beginning of the year the value might have been 2x this, but a massive hoard of NOS stones from the Dalmore estate are being sold off very cheaply atm.]
Coticule - 0.89 [This is very high for a few reasons: It's based just on the price of yellow Coticule, which has gone up a lot in the last year, and this is a particularly desirable one. You can get Cotis at half this price or less, but whatever way - Coticules are expensive stones.]
Charnley Forest - 0.19
Llyn Idwal - 0.11
And then I dug out a few other things that I knew would come in quite expensive in terms of $/g, which is the result of a combination of rarity and having original boxes/labels/stamps.
Top to bottom and left to right:
Pike Rosy Red Washita - 0.96 [This is actually a low-ish estimate for RRs. It could be as high as 1.50.]
JG Escher Saxonian Oilstone - 1.25 [An exceptionally rare stone and so difficult to estimate. It could be worth more than this.]
Escher & Co. Blue Thuringian - 0.75
Asano Mikawa Nagura Koma - 0.86
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So there you go - Jnats are certainly not unreasonably expensive relative to many other desirable types of natural whetstones. The reason it might seem that way on a stone by stone basis is that they're traditionally cut much larger than western stones, but priced by weight they can actually often look like very good value in comparison.
I'm sure a lot of people will have known that already, but others won't have, and it's interesting to crunch some numbers on I think.
A few things to note: These values are in US$ per gram, and are based on my estimation of a 'market value' that one might reasonably expect to pay on BST for the stone. I'm not selling any of them atm, it's just a guess of what they might go for if I did. None of the jnats are particularly fancy, patterned or colourful, so the values are somewhat lower than they can be, but they're all good stones in terms of use. The non-Japanese stones are slightly 'posher' examples, and I've not included things like some of the relatively cheap slates and sandstones that were used quite extensively in times gone by, I might add them in later. There are also some notes to explain or clarify certain things about specific stones.
LHS top to bottom:
Okudo Suita - 0.16
Mizukihara Uchigumori - 0.15
Mauruoyama Shiro Suita - 0.31
Ozuku Asagi - 0.15
RHS top to bottom:
Yellow-Green Thuringian - 0.70 [Pretty much certainly an Escher. If it still had its label the price could be north of $1/g.]
Norton Translucent Arkansas - 0.47 [This is a completely pristine example of a 1950s 'Green Label' stone. You could snag a more recent 8x2 Norton translucent for about 1/2 to 2/3rds of this price.]
Fiddich River Stone - 0.45
Tam O'Shanter - 0.11 [At the beginning of the year the value might have been 2x this, but a massive hoard of NOS stones from the Dalmore estate are being sold off very cheaply atm.]
Coticule - 0.89 [This is very high for a few reasons: It's based just on the price of yellow Coticule, which has gone up a lot in the last year, and this is a particularly desirable one. You can get Cotis at half this price or less, but whatever way - Coticules are expensive stones.]
Charnley Forest - 0.19
Llyn Idwal - 0.11
And then I dug out a few other things that I knew would come in quite expensive in terms of $/g, which is the result of a combination of rarity and having original boxes/labels/stamps.
Top to bottom and left to right:
Pike Rosy Red Washita - 0.96 [This is actually a low-ish estimate for RRs. It could be as high as 1.50.]
JG Escher Saxonian Oilstone - 1.25 [An exceptionally rare stone and so difficult to estimate. It could be worth more than this.]
Escher & Co. Blue Thuringian - 0.75
Asano Mikawa Nagura Koma - 0.86
---
So there you go - Jnats are certainly not unreasonably expensive relative to many other desirable types of natural whetstones. The reason it might seem that way on a stone by stone basis is that they're traditionally cut much larger than western stones, but priced by weight they can actually often look like very good value in comparison.
I'm sure a lot of people will have known that already, but others won't have, and it's interesting to crunch some numbers on I think.
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