Rare Meteorite Sells for $237,500 at Christie’s

An extremely rare 70-pound (32 kilogram) meteorite sold for a record $237,500 through Christie’s auction house last week.

This meteorite is referred to as a Canyon Diablo iron meteorite because it is made of iron and comes from Barringer Crater (also known as Meteor Crater) in Arizona, a famous site where a meteor crashed into the desert nearly 50,000 years ago, CNBC reported.

This is the highest price for a meteorite sold through an online Christie’s auction, and the highest price ever paid for a Canyon Diablo meteorite, said the meteorite’s now former owner Darryl Pitt, who is curator of the Macovich Collection of Meteorites. It had been estimated to sell for $150,000 to $250,000, Christie’s said.

It is rare for several reasons. Only about two percent of all meteorites are made largely of iron. Further, very few of those are regarded as aesthetically impressive enough to be considered natural sculpture, Pitt said.

On display at the auction was a specimen that resulted from the fireball seen over Michigan in January. That meteorite will be auctioned off at another Christie’s auction, based out of London April 10-17.