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Largest Martian Meteorite Fetches Record $5.3 Million at Sotheby’s Auction

Authenticated through lab analysis against NASA’s Viking data, the 54-pound specimen illustrates surging market value for extraterrestrial collectibles.

Overview

  • It hammered at $4.3 million after a 15-minute bidding war, with fees bringing the total to $5.3 million and setting a new auction record for a meteorite.
  • Discovered by a meteorite hunter in Niger’s Agadez region in November 2023, the rock journeyed about 140 million miles after being blasted from Mars by an ancient asteroid impact.
  • Specialized laboratory tests matched its chemical fingerprint to samples from NASA’s 1976 Viking mission, leading to its classification as an olivine-microgabbroic shergottite containing maskelynite, pyroxene and olivine.
  • Accounting for nearly 7 percent of all known Martian material on Earth, the 54-pound NWA 16788 highlights the rarity of Red Planet fragments among more than 77,000 meteorites.
  • With the buyer’s identity and the meteorite’s future location undisclosed, the sale reignites debate over private ownership versus public scientific access to extraterrestrial specimens.