The Name Game: Does Coral “Lineage” Matter?

[jda]

Would you pay $30 more for the one that you KNOW is what you are looking for rather than growing the cheaper one out for a year just to find out that it is not as good or a totally different coral? I don't have a lot of room in my tank so I will pay more for something that I KNOW FOR SURE what it will become.

 

[Troylee]

All lineage traces back to a single place and it doesn’t care about names or prices… lol

 

[Reefer Matt]

Would you pay $30 more for the one that you KNOW is what you are looking for rather than growing the cheaper one out for a year just to find out that it is not as good or a totally different coral? I don't have a lot of room in my tank so I will pay more for something that I KNOW FOR SURE what it will become.

Another question is how do you know? Vendors run out of their “signature” corals sometimes and buy them back from hobbyists. There isn’t a certified way to guarantee that you get what you pay for, just trust in a brand name, imo.

 

[Reefer Matt]

All lineage traces back to a single place and it doesn’t care about names or prices… lol

True lineage, yes. But this is about the name game “lineage”, or the attempt at trademarking coral.

 

[jda]

Another question is how do you know? Vendors run out of their “signature” corals sometimes and buy them back from hobbyists. There isn’t a certified way to guarantee that you get what you pay for, just trust in a brand name, imo.

Trust the right people.

 

[fish farmer]

Would you pay $30 more for the one that you KNOW is what you are looking for rather than growing the cheaper one out for a year just to find out that it is not as good or a totally different coral? I don't have a lot of room in my tank so I will pay more for something that I KNOW FOR SURE what it will become.

Yes I would.

I know that breeding isn't happening yet so I can't compare trout to corals, but there is a well known company that sells their line of trout, world wide distribution. I inquired about obtaining a viable broodstock from them...not necessarily for reselling, just public stocking. Nope....not going to happen.

If by chance some basement breeder happened to say he had this particular strain for breeding stock....I would question it all day long. They would have to show the paperwork that they were licensed to sell the parent company stock.

 

[AIRDADDY]

Still has too many flaws.. tons of people have a receipt from asd from years ago on a holy grail torch… they could bring a wild one in today and sell it as asd.. yes it’s the honor system but who’s, who to say so and so is honest? I think it’s all lame in my opinion! I used to care many years ago when collecting became a thing but today you can’t! Same coral has 12 names from 12 different vendors.. bigger names get bigger prices because people wanna add that tag to their resale price. And for what it’s worth you’ll never see real collector corals as the divers deal directly with the clients that pay big money! It’s in someone’s personal collection without a dumb name lol.. If a few gems make it into a shipping box it’s picked by the next guy inline for his clients before hitting wholesale where they cherry pick for their higher end clients then your lfs gets what’s left.

Yes there will undoubtedly be loopholes in any system, however in the sense that we go by labels with no proof in the way we operate now, adding a structure would give some sense of order. I agree that it can get a little silly with the naming driving prices but that's the world of collectors of all types. I love basketball but I wouldn't even pay face value for a Michael Jordan rookie card but that doesn't make it less valuable for a card collector.

A good use case example is a seller using a label "WWC-Sparkle-Bang" leaves the borrower with no real proof that it was aquacultured and not wild caught which could make or break your success with that high priced piece. Once the token is minted anyone can look it up on the blockchain and verify that there was a purchase from WWC and deposited in the wallet of the person selling. The new seller could even apply this method as a split for all his frags sold.

I'm just brainstorming so I'm sure someone could come up with a better setup with a little more knowledge of coral distribution along with a more knowledgable crypto enthusiast. It would definitely bring some structure to the world of high priced corals. I'm sure AKC pups will be on this path in the coming decade.