Martian rock that crash landed in the Sahara listed to sell for around $2M at auction
Sotheby's in New York is selling the 55-pound rock, named NWA 16788, for upwards of $1.6m, which it says is the largest piece of Mars on Earth.
The reddish-brown Martian rock travelled 140 million miles to Earth before it was found by a meteorite hunter in Niger in 2023, according to the auction house.
The rock is about 70 per cent larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7 per cent of all Martian material currently on the planet, Sotheby's said.
'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, told Fortune.
An 11ft long dinosaur has also gone up for sale at the auction house, which is estimated to sell for anywhere between $4m and $6m (EPA)
Hatton said the rock was sent off for testing to a specialized lab, which found it to be an 'olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,' a type of rock formed from the slow cooling of magma.
It is also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, Sotheby's says.
It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat it experienced 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.
It's not clear exactly when the meteorite hit Earth, but testing shows it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby's said.
The meteorite was previously on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby's did not disclose the owner.
The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry (EPA)
Meanwhile, an 11-foot-long dinosaur has also been listed for sale at the auction house this week and is estimated to sell for between $4 million and $6 million.
The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry.
It is believed to be from the late Cretaceous period, approximately 65 million years ago, Sotheby's said. It will go up for sale on Wednesday.
Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appeared similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller.
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Associated Press
27 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Largest piece of Mars on Earth fetches meteoric $5.3 million at New York auction
The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday, while a juvenile dinosaur skeleton went for more than $30 million. 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 bid price was about $5.3 million. Two advance bids of $1.9 million and $2 million were submitted. The live bidding went slower than for many other objects that were sold, with the auctioneer trying to coax more offers and decreasing the $200,000 to $300,000 bid intervals to $100,000 after the proposals hit $4 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. The meteorite previously was on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby's did not disclose the owner. Bidding for the juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis dinosaur skeleton started with a high advance bid of $6 million, then escalated with offers $500,000 higher than the last and later $1 million higher than the last before ending at $26 million. The official sale price was $30.5 million with fees and costs. The original estimate was $4 million to $6 million. Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. It's more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long. 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. The skeleton is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, Sotheby's says. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appear similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the Tyrannosaurs rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long. The skeleton was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company. Wednesday's auction was part of Sotheby's Geek Week 2025 and featured 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
World's biggest Mars rock sells for $4.3 million at auction
A meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars on Earth has sold for a hammer price of $4.3 million to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby's New York auction Wednesday. Known as NWA 16788, the meteorite weighs 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms), massive compared with most Martian meteorites, which tend to be small fragments, auction house Sotheby's said in a July 8 statement. Meteorites are what's left when a comet, asteroid or a meteoroid survives its passage through the earth's atmosphere. Discovered in November 2023 in the remote Agadez region of Niger, NWA 16788 is a 'monumental specimen' that is around 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars ever found on Earth, according to Sotheby's. It is also incredibly rare: only around 400 Martian meteorites have ever been found on Earth. 'NWA 16788 is a discovery of extraordinary significance — the largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth, and the most valuable of its kind ever offered at auction,' Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in the statement. 'Weathered by its journey through space and time, its immense size and unmistakable red color sets it apart as a once-in-a-generation find. This remarkable meteorite provides a tangible connection to the red planet — our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination,' she added. Analysis of the meteorite's internal composition has revealed that it was probably removed from the Martian surface and blasted into space by an asteroid impact that was so powerful it turned parts of the meteorite into glass. A glassy crust can also be seen on its surface, formed as it hurtled through Earth's atmosphere, according to Sotheby's. For some, the fact that the meteorite was auctioned off rather than donated to science is cause for concern. 'It would be a shame if it disappeared into the vault of an oligarch. It belongs in a museum, where it can be studied, and where it can be enjoyed by children and families and the public at large,' Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland's University of Edinburgh, told CNN before the sale. But for Julia Cartwright, a planetary scientist and Independent Research Fellow in the Institute for Space/School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Leicester, England, there is a balance to be struck. 'Ultimately, if there was no market for searching, collecting and selling meteorites, we would not have anywhere near as many in our collections — and this drives the science!' she told CNN on July 9, describing a 'symbiotic relationship' between researchers and collectors. 'If samples weren't being found, we would not have anywhere near as much to study, and so wouldn't know as much as we do,' added Cartwright. While she believes it would be great if this 'really fabulous rock' were to be studied or displayed for the public to see, Cartwright underlined that a reference sample from the meteorite has been saved at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China. While we don't know where the meteorite will end up, Cartwright believes that 'the scientific interest will remain, and the new owner may be very interested in learning from it, so we may still gather lots of science from this,' she said. In February 2021, a Martian meteorite with the planet's atmosphere entrapped in it went under the hammer at Christie's auction house. It sold for $200,000, far above its pre-auction estimate of $30,000-50,000. Solve the daily Crossword
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
World's biggest Mars rock sold for $4.3 million at auction
A meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars on Earth has sold for a hammer price of $4.3 million to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby's New York auction Wednesday. Known as NWA 16788, the meteorite weighs 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms), massive compared with most Martian meteorites, which tend to be small fragments, auction house Sotheby's said in a July 8 statement. Meteorites are what's left when a comet, asteroid or a meteoroid survives its passage through the earth's atmosphere. Discovered in November 2023 in the remote Agadez region of Niger, NWA 16788 is a 'monumental specimen' that is around 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars ever found on Earth, according to Sotheby's. It is also incredibly rare: only around 400 Martian meteorites have ever been found on Earth. 'NWA 16788 is a discovery of extraordinary significance — the largest Martian meteorite ever found on Earth, and the most valuable of its kind ever offered at auction,' Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in the statement. 'Weathered by its journey through space and time, its immense size and unmistakable red color sets it apart as a once-in-a-generation find. This remarkable meteorite provides a tangible connection to the red planet — our celestial neighbor that has long captured the human imagination,' she added. Analysis of the meteorite's internal composition has revealed that it was probably removed from the Martian surface and blasted into space by an asteroid impact that was so powerful it turned parts of the meteorite into glass. A glassy crust can also be seen on its surface, formed as it hurtled through Earth's atmosphere, according to Sotheby's. For some, the fact that the meteorite was auctioned off rather than donated to science is cause for concern. 'It would be a shame if it disappeared into the vault of an oligarch. It belongs in a museum, where it can be studied, and where it can be enjoyed by children and families and the public at large,' Steve Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at Scotland's University of Edinburgh, told CNN before the sale. But for Julia Cartwright, a planetary scientist and Independent Research Fellow in the Institute for Space/School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Leicester, England, there is a balance to be struck. 'Ultimately, if there was no market for searching, collecting and selling meteorites, we would not have anywhere near as many in our collections — and this drives the science!' she told CNN on July 9, describing a 'symbiotic relationship' between researchers and collectors. 'If samples weren't being found, we would not have anywhere near as much to study, and so wouldn't know as much as we do,' added Cartwright. While she believes it would be great if this 'really fabulous rock' were to be studied or displayed for the public to see, Cartwright underlined that a reference sample from the meteorite has been saved at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China. While we don't know where the meteorite will end up, Cartwright believes that 'the scientific interest will remain, and the new owner may be very interested in learning from it, so we may still gather lots of science from this,' she said. In February 2021, a Martian meteorite with the planet's atmosphere entrapped in it went under the hammer at Christie's auction house. It sold for $200,000, far above its pre-auction estimate of $30,000-50,000.
