Rabat – During an online public auction, a bidder purchased a chunk of lunar rock discovered in Morocco back in 2007 for $189,000 last Wednesday. Initial estimates for the piece were set at $300,000.
Organized by British auction house Christie, the auction presented a number of rare meteorites consisting of rocks.
Another bidder bought a meteorite that landed on Costa Rica; the meteorite had made headlines in 2019 as it almost missed a German Shepherd and crashed instead into his kennel, according to various reports.
The space rock was traced back to Mars and became the the third-largest piece from Mars to ever hit Earth. The Mars rock was sold for $21,420, below initial estimates.
During the annual Christie’s auction for unusual meteorites, another bidder bought the dog house where the Costa Rica meteorite fell including the pictured roof for $44,100, according to the auction house.
The price tag for the dog house was also below initiative estimates, as the auction reckoned the price could be anywhere between $200,000 and $300,000.
Another moon stone also figured on the list of auctioned items. Discovered in the Sahara desert in Mauritania, the rock was sold for $69,300 over the two-week online auction, ending on February 23.
The auction house found no bidder for a 9.1 kg Martian rock valued between $500,000 and $800,000, according to Christie.
The most expensive meteorite to ever be auctioned was a space rock found in South Africa, sold for €280,000. Described as Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream,” the rock was found on the edge of the Kalahari desert in the African country.
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