If you’re looking for an extraordinary gift this Valentine’s Day, an auction house is offering rare meteorite chunks from the Moon, Mars and beyond – for just $ 250.
In an online sale beginning Tuesday, Feb. 9, Christie’s auction house is auctioning off 72 meteorites – solid pieces of debris from celestial objects such as comets and asteroids arriving on Earth as falling stars, which somehow survive their journey through our atmosphere to land on the surface.
“The weight of each known meteorite is less than the annual global gold production, and this sale offers spectacular examples for any collector, available at estimates ranging from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the auction house wrote on its website.
Included in the collection is a meteorite with 7-billion-year-old stardust, space gems encased in iron, and the fourth largest portion of the moon. A large part of Martian rock, valued at an estimated $ 30,000 to $ 50,000, contains bubbles of the planet’s atmosphere trapped within.
Christie’s
According to Christie’s, there are a dozen monsters of the moon and Mars, and another dozen previously housed by famous museums around the world.
“Everyone has a picture in their mind of what a meteorite should look like – an alien body heated by friction as it blasts through Earth’s atmosphere,” said James Hyslop, chief of science and natural history at Christie’s. a statement. “Rarely do objects survive this fiery descent, look like that shared ideal seen in this meteorite. It is a marvel to see and an honor entrusted with their sale.”
One object from the collection never hit the ground – a young boy in Morocco found the meteorite in the branches of a tree one day after a day. meteor shower – it’s worth an estimated $ 15,000 to $ 25,000. Yet another was from the largest US meteor shower in Odessa, Texas, expecting to fetch $ 40,000 to $ 60,000.
“If there was ever a time to be in awe of the infinity of the night sky, we live in it, but if you want to inspire and see your eyes expand, touch a meteorite,” said curator Darryl Pitt .
Christie’s
The auction house said one of the highlights of the sale is a 16-pound “highly aesthetically-oriented rock meteorite” estimated to cost $ 50,000 to $ 80,000.
“Unlike 99% of all other meteorites, this meteorite did not tumble or flip as it crashed to Earth, but maintained a stable orientation during its descent,” the auction house said. “The surface opposite Earth has elongated traces of flight that radiate outward in this compelling, alien aerodynamic shape.”
The meteorites have been found all over the world, from the Sahara to Chile to Russia.
The “Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites” auction runs through Feb. 23 and interested New York buyers can view them in person by appointment.