The biggest piece of mars On Earth once found on Wednesday for just over $ 5 million was sold at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday, while a youth dinosaur skeleton went for more than $ 30 million.
The rock of 54 pounds (25 kilograms) called NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after he was blown off the surface of Mars by a huge asteroid strike and 140 million kilometers (225 million kilometers) to the earth, according to Sothymy’s. The estimated selling price before the auction was $ 2 million to $ 4 million.
The identity of the buyer was not immediately announced. The last bid was $ 4.3 million. By adding different costs and costs, the official bid price was around $ 5.3 million.
Two in advance bids of $ 1.9 million and $ 2 million were submitted. The live bidding went slower than for many other objects that were sold, with the auctioneer trying to persuade more offers and reduce the $ 200,000 bod intervals to $ 300,000 to $ 100,000 after the proposals had reached $ 4 million.
The red, brown and gray meteorite is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars on earth and represents almost 7% of all The Martian material that is currently on this planetSays Sotheby’s. It measures almost 15 inches at 11 inches at 6 inches (375 millimeters at 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters).
It was also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian Meteorites Of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on earth, says the auction house.
“This Martian meteorite is the biggest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” said Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s, in an interview for the auction. “So it’s more than double what we thought was the biggest piece of Mars.”
It is not exactly clear when the meteorite has been broken down The surface of MarsBut testing showed that it probably happened in recent years, says Sotheby’s.
Hatton said that a specialized lab investigated a small piece of remnant of the red planet and confirmed that it was from Mars. It was compared to the individual chemical composition of Martian Meteorites discovered during the Viking Space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.
The research showed that it is an “Olivijn-Microgab bricic shot titite”, a kind of Mars-rock formed by the slow cooling of Martian Magma. It has a course -grain texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, says Sotheby’s.
It also has a glassy surface, probably because of the high heat it burned when it fell due to the atmosphere of the earth, Hatton said. “So that was their first indication that this was not just a big rock on the floor,” she said.
The meteorite was previously exhibited at the Italian space agency in Rome. Sotheby’s did not announce the owner.
Bidding on the Jeugdceratosaurus nasicornis Dinosaur Skelet started with a high advance bid of $ 6 million and then escalated with offers of $ 500,000 higher than the last and later $ 1 million higher before it ended at $ 26 million. The official selling price was $ 30.5 million with reimbursements and costs. The original estimate was $ 4 million to $ 6 million.
Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, in Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. It is more than 6 feet (2 meters) long and almost 11 feet (3 meters) long.
Specialists have put together nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate and mounted the skeleton, so it is ready to exhibit, says Sotheby’s.
The skeleton is supposed to be out of the late Jurassian periodAbout 150 million years ago, says Sotheby’s.
Ceratosaurus Dinosaurs were bilingers with short arms that look like comparable The Tyrannosaurus RexBut smaller. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could be up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the Tyrannosaurs Rex can be 40 feet (12 meters) long.
The skeleton was taken over last year by Fossilogic, a fossil preparation and increasing company established in Utah.
Wednesday’s auction was part of Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025 and contained 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and geminalals for precious stones.
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