Saturday, 18 March 2023

Christie's rare meteorite auction

Leading the 68 lots at Christie's is the Lunar Necklace. It was made from a meteorite found in the Sahara Desert, with each of its 48 beads weighing about 3.66 carats, composed of olivine, pigeonite, augite, ilmenite and white anorthite, a mineral that is rare on Earth but common on the moon. Est $140k to $200k.
A Henbury meteorite was found in Australia a century ago after 4,200 years on earth, and a previous 650 million in deep space.
Total world supply of lunar material, including that brought back from the Apollo missions, is less than 1,400kg and fits in the trunk of an SUV. Martian meteorites are rarer, with less than 350 kg known to exist. The sale includes a 15 cm sphere of material from the asteroid Vesta, weighing in at hefty 5.2 kg.

See ----->https://www.christies.com/features/Deep-Impact-Lunar-and-Rare-Meteorites-10834-7.aspx