Largest piece of Mars on Earth fetches $5.3 million at auction, but young dinosaur steals the show
The 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, according to Sotheby's. The estimated sale price before the auction was $2 million to $4 million.
The identity of the buyer was not immediately disclosed. The final bid was $4.3 million. Adding various fees and costs, the official sale price was about $5.3 million, making it the most valuable meteorite ever sold at auction, Sotheby's said.
The live bidding was slow, with the auctioneer trying to coax more offers and decreasing the minimum bid increases.
The dinosaur skeleton, on the other hand, sparked a war among six bidders over six minutes. With a pre-auction estimate of $4 million to $6 million, it is one of only four known Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeletons and the only juvenile skeleton of the species, which resembles the Tyrannosaurus rex but is smaller.
Bidding for the skeleton started with a high advance offer of $6 million, then escalated during the live round with bids $500,000 higher than the last and later $1 million higher than the last before ending at $26 million.
People applauded after the auctioneer gaveled the bidding closed.
Winner plans to loan dinosaur skeleton to an institution, Sotheby's says
The official sale price was $30.5 million with fees and costs. That buyer also was not immediately disclosed, but the auction house said the buyer plans to loan the skeleton to an institution. It was the third-highest amount paid for a dinosaur at auction. A Stegosaurus skeleton called 'Apex' holds the record after it was sold for $44.6 million last year at Sotheby's.
Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it's ready to exhibit, Sotheby's says. It was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company.
It's more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long, and is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the T. rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long.
Mars meteorite is a rare find
The bidding for the Mars meteorite began with two advance offers of $1.9 million and $2 million. The live bidding slowly proceeded with increases of $200,000 and $300,000 until $4 million, then continued with $100,000 increases until reaching $4.3 million.
The red, brown and gray meteorite is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7% of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby's says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches (375 millimeters by 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters).
It was also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, the auction house says.
'This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,' Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in an interview before the auction. 'So it's more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.'
It's not clear exactly when the meteorite was blasted off the surface of Mars, but testing showed it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby's says.
Hatton said a specialized lab examined a small piece of the red planet remnant and confirmed it was from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.
The examination found that it is an 'olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,' a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby's says.
It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth's atmosphere, Hatton said. 'So that was their first clue that this wasn't just some big rock on the ground,' she said.
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Rare Ceratosaurus fossil sells for $30.5 million
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. A Ceratosaurus fossil that is one of only four known to exist has sold for $30.5 million at auction. The rare dinosaur fossil is 'one of the finest and most complete examples of its kind ever found,' auction house Sotheby's said in a statement published Wednesday. The specimen, which is the only juvenile Ceratosaurus fossil of the four, sold for multiples of its $4 million-$6 million estimate at Sotheby's New York following a six-minute battle between six different bidders. Ceratosaurus nasicornis was a meat-eating predator with a nasal horn, long teeth and bony armor that ran down its back and tail. Standing six feet, three inches (1.9 meters) tall and approximately 10 feet, eight inches (3.25 meters) long, this juvenile fossil is made up of 139 bone elements, of which 57 make up 'a superb virtually complete skull,' according to Sotheby's. It was found in 1996 at Bone Cabin Quarry in Wyoming and dates from the late Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago. The fossil was displayed at the Museum of Ancient Life in Thanksgiving Point, Utah, from 2000 to 2024 and has not been studied or described formally in a scientific journal, Sotheby's said. 'The buyer of the Ceratosaurus intends to loan it to an institution, as is fitting for a specimen of this rarity and importance,' the auction house said. In the same sale, a meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars on Earth sold for $5.3 million. 'These stellar results underscore a deep and enduring fascination and respect for the natural world — from the farthest reaches of space to the ancient depths of the Earth. What draws collectors is more than just a passion for science; it's a deep-seated curiosity about the forces that have shaped our planet and beyond,' Cassandra Hatton, global head of science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in the statement. Mark Westgarth, a professor of history of the art market at the University of Leeds, England, told CNN that the sale 'is part of a recent resurgence of interest in fossils and natural history.' For example, Sotheby's also sold the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction, Apex the Stegosaur, which fetched $44.6 million in July 2024. 'At the top end of the market … seems to be about an increasing desire for 'distinction,'' said Westgarth. 'These dinosaur specimens also have a particular aesthetic — they are sculptural and awe inspiring.' For Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland's University of Edinburgh, these kinds of price tags are shocking. 'Who has that kind of money to spend on a dinosaur? Certainly not any museums or educational institutions,' he told CNN. 'While I'm pleased that the buyer might loan the skeleton to a museum to be put on display, at this point it is just a vague suggestion. The buyer is still anonymous,' Brusatte added. 'My fear is that this skeleton will disappear into the ether, into the mansion of an oligarch or a bank vault to accumulate value as just another investment in the portfolio of a hedge fund, and not see the light of day until it's auctioned again, or maybe never at all,' he said. 'Bottom line, a world where dinosaur skeletons can fetch tens of millions of dollars within a few minutes at auctions is not a world where dinosaurs will long be accessible to educate and inspire everyone,' Brusatte added. However, Westgarth argues that there is a 'symbiotic' relationship between the market and wider research interests. He cites the example of Mary Anning, who discovered fossils on England's south coast in the early 19th century and went on to open a successful fossil shop. 'Here the market for fossils acted as a catalyst for research in public institutions in the 19th century, inculcating increasing attention and public interest and acting as a catalyst for increased research activity on dinosaur fossils,' said Westgarth, who argues that the fact that the buyer of the Ceratosaurus fossil 'has suggested that they will loan it to an institution only adds to its potential for future research activity.' Solve the daily Crossword
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Someone paid $5.3 million for a piece of Mars
Add this to the list of "things that might be fun if you had a buttload of money": Someone forked over $5.3 million in a Sotheby's auction to own a piece of Mars. The Red Planet meteorite was discovered in 2023 in a remote area of the Sahara Desert in Niger. Martian meteorites of any size are incredibly rare. To get here, an asteroid first hits the Red Planet to eject material from its surface. (Sotheby's says there are only 19 Martian craters large enough to have spit out this one.) That chunk then has to travel 140 million miles through space to reach Earth. Only 400 of the 77,000+ officially recognized meteorites hail from Mars. The meteorite is known as NWA 16788. Its reddish-brown, scarred exterior almost looks like the Red Planet's surface in miniature. This is also an exceptionally big Martian meteorite. It's about 70 percent larger than the second-biggest piece of Mars found on Earth. It measures 14.75 x 11 x 6 inches and weighs over 54 lbs. It's big enough to represent about 6.5 percent of all known Martian material on our planet. The winning bid was for $4.3 million. After fees, that comes out to over $5.3 million, making it the most valuable meteorite ever sold. Before bidding, the auction house sent a small piece of the space rock to a lab, which confirmed its distinctly Martian chemical composition. Over 21 percent of the rock is composed of maskelynite, a glass produced when the asteroid struck the Martian surface.
