Site Auctioning Biggest Moon Rock Ever Sold

Meteorite is expected to fetch $340K
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 20, 2012 2:39 PM CDT
Site Auctioning Biggest Moon Rock Ever Sold
A view of the moon rock up for auction.   (Heritage Auctions)

Heritage Auctions is currently taking bids on the biggest moon rock ever to come up for auction—a glittering 4-pound slab of meteorite from the highland breccias on the far side of the moon, Space.com reports. The rock, which is called Dar al Gani 1058, is expected to fetch at least $340,000. That may sound like a lot, but it would be even higher if the rock weren't a meteorite, experts say; collectors prefer rocks retrieved by men, or man-made robots, which have added historical value.

Whatever the final price, Ian Chant of GeekOSystem is hoping a museum winds up paying it, rather than a rich collector who'd put it in mothballs. "Putting this in a private collection isn't even respectable villainy," he writes. "It's cartoonish, Disney-grade villainy. Owning a moon rock won't make anyone fear you, or think you're cool or powerful. It will just make them think you are a buffoon with way more money than class." (More moon rock stories.)

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