Yesterday, auction house Sotheby’s just auctioned off the largest known Martian meteorite. The stone NWA 16788 sold for $5.3 million, more than expected and the highest price ever for a meteorite.
The largest Martian meteorite on Earth
The Sotheby’s auction for meteorite NWA 16788, the largest chunk of Mars found on Earth, started at $2 million. While Sotheby’s expected it to go for between $2 and $4 million, a 15-minute bidding war drove the price up to $4.3 million… and with fees, the final price came in at an eye-watering $5.3 million. This makes NWA 16788 the most expensive meteorite ever sold at auction.
NWA 16788 weighs around 25 kilograms (55 pounds), making it 70 percent larger than the second-largest Martian meteorite found to date, and it accounts for about 7 percent of the total known mass of Mars on Earth. The rock was found in November 2023 by a meteorite collector in the Sahara Desert, and all evidence points to a relatively recent impact due to hardly any traces of weathering.
Martian rocks are extremely rare, with only 400 of the over 77,000 registered meteorites coming from the red planet. NWA 16788 is an “olivine microgabbro shergottite,” a volcanic rock from cooled magma. Over 20 percent consists of maskelynite, a glass that was formed by an asteroid impact on Mars. This type of meteorite is rare and accounts for only 5 percent of Martian meteorite finds.
A booming market for scientific finds
NWA 16788 was able to fetch such a high price thanks to its rarity, size, and scientific importance. It offers insights into the geology of Mars and the history of the planet. Thousands of visitors admired it before the auction, which speaks to our fascination of outer space. And at the very same auction, a Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton sold for $30.5 million, breaking yet another record.
“These stellar results underscore a deep and enduring fascination and respect for the natural world—from the farthest reaches of space to the ancient depths of the Earth,” emphasized Cassandra Hatton from Sotheby’s. “What draws collectors is more than just a passion for science; it’s a deep-seated curiosity about the forces that have shaped our planet and beyond.” As such, the market for meteorites and fossils is booming, with prices in the millions for rare pieces.
For mere mortals like us, possession of NWA 16788 is nothing more than a pipe dream, and we can only marvel at these sorts of things in museums. The auction proves how valuable extraterrestrial material can be—and how expensive a passion for the cosmos can be.