Christie's auctions 'oldest matter humankind can touch', moon rock for $1,89,000

Weeks after auctioning the largest known cut diamond, Christie’s has sold another chunk of outer space rocks in an auction on Wednesday. Named “Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites” sale, the auction saw the sale of 66 meteorites in total which had struck Earth at different points in time. Interestingly, the sold objects range from the “oldest matter humankind can touch” to a comet-cracked kennel from Costa Rica and raked in over $1 million in total. 

Christie’s auctions off a slice of the Moon

Out of all the sold items, a slice of the Moon (shown in the image above), which was discovered in Morocco, fetched as much as $1,89,000. Among other precious items was a 15g fragment of the Winchcombe meteorite which was auctioned off for $30,200. The 15-gram fragment is said to be a part of the Winchcombe meteorite, which was spotted across Britain, and became the most coveted rock, The Guardian reported. On the other hand, a smaller fragment weighing just 1.7 gram was sold for $12,600.

The auction company traded another item that was rather unusual– a dog house that became auction worthy after it was struck by a meteorite in April 2019 in Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica. According to The Guardian, the meteorite punched a seven-inch hole in the house’s roof, however, the German Shepherd named Roky escaped unharmed. The house reportedly fetched $44,100 although it was expected to have been sold for as much as $3,00,000.

James Hyslop, head of the science and natural history department at Christie’s told BBC as per The Guardian, “My first question when I was offered the dog shed for auction was, ‘Was Roky OK?. I’m pleased to report that other than now being ‘sans’ dog shed, he’s doing just fine. As for the meteorite that hit the dog house, it weighed 178.7g and was sold for $21,420. The auctioned meteorites also included the "oldest matter humankind can touch”. Named Allende, the meteorite estimated to be 4.56 billion years old is the most studied meteorite in the world and fell to Earth on February 8, 1969, near Chihuahua, Mexico.

Other items sold for a hefty amount were the fragments of the infamous meteorite that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013. The fragments, which emerged after an explosion near-equal to an atomic bomb’s were sold for $4,788, reported The Guardian.

Image: Christie's.com