Martinez Company lost most of its inventory in a fire in December just before the year$-$end physical inventory was taken. The

corporation's books disclosed the following.

Merchandise with a selling price of $$23,100$ remained undamaged after the fire. Damaged merchandise with an original selling price of

$$15,700$ had a net realizable value of $$5,500.$

Compute the amount of the loss as a result of the fire, assuming that the corporation had no insurance coverage.

Amount of the loss $