No hyperbole is necessary here, nor breathless embellishment.
This lot in Heritage Auctions August 7 Nature & Science event is nothing less than as advertised: a large piece of the moon.
To be precise, 6.4 pounds large. That is a staggering size for a moon meteorite, considering there are but a few hundred pounds of lunar material known to have crash-landed on our planet.
And that is what this is: a 7.5-inch piece of the moon sliced off the lunar surface by a passing asteroid that eventually made its way to the desert of Morocco, where it was discovered and first sold from a dealer to a collector-curator only six years ago. It bears the classification NWA 8641 because its the 8,641st meteorite discovered in northwest Africa.
The Meteoritical Bulletin reveals plenty about its petrography, its geochemistry, its physical characteristics. The literature explains, dryly, what the eye can plainly see: This is a large rounded, ellipsoidal dark gray stone with white clasts visible and with a beige, clayey coating on one side.
But academia misses the most obvious lure.
The moon is the only extraterrestrial body any human has ever touched, said Craig Kissick, Heritage Auctions Director of Nature & Science. Its the satellite of our planet. It doesnt get more human than that. And, without question, this is one of the finest large lunar meteorites that can be privately owned.
That one can even purchase such a thing, 51 years after Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins first landed Apollo 11 on the moons surface, seems almost unfathomable. After all, fewer than 0.5% of all meteors found are lunar in origin; The Meteoritical Bulletin reports there only some 200 meteorites classified as lunar in origin, and those moon meteors that are discovered are usually diminutive the size of small rocks.
The Apollo astronauts, of course, were not allowed to keep those samples returned to Earth. All of those are the property of the United States government, and reside with NASA or the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum.
The truth is, this is a museum-quality specimen, period, Kissick said of the lot being offered August 7. We use that phrase a lot. We tend to throw it around museum-quality. But the truth is, this is a piece that would appeal to the most sophisticated collector or institution. Its so classic-looking: the outer part looks like the surface of the moon, and the interior allows you to see the composition of the moon. This really is one of those Holy Grail pieces.
The upcoming Nature & Science auction is not wanting for significant space artifacts including several associated with the Apollo astronauts.
Theres also a 5.14-pound Martian meteorite also discovered in northwest Africa. Like its lunar counterpart, this slice of Mars is one of the largest examples of its kind discovered and, now, brought to market.
The Meteoritical Bulletin notes there are but 225 meteorites classified as Martian in origin; and they, too, are usually small. The one being offered by Heritage Auctions is sizable and significant.
Quite simply, its a large, exquisite example of a rare meteorite that just doesnt come in big sizes like that, Kissick said. There is a finite amount of this material around of the moon, of Mars. Can you imagine owning it? How amazing. How cool.
to browse all the items in the August 7 Nature & Science event and view high-resolution photos.