Largest Moon Rock Ever Auctioned Expected To Sell For $380,000 49
First time accepted submitter amkkhan writes "One lucky space-lover with some extra cash could become the proud new owner of the largest moon rock ever to be auctioned, according to the auction house Heritage Auctions. The moon rock, known as Dar al Gani 1058, is part of a lunar meteorite that was found on Earth in 1988 and is expected to fetch as much as $380,000 at auction."
Break it into 1,000 pieces.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Then you could sell each one for $1,000, appeal to a larger market, and make a shit ton more money.
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Wow... (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow...
"For example, three seed-sized pieces of the moon that were brought back to Earth by a Russian robotic probe in 1970 were sold at auction 30 years later for $442,500," Pearlman told Space.com. "And while the moon rocks recovered by the Apollo astronauts are considered National Treasures and have never been awarded to individuals, hypothetical appraisals have suggested even a 1-gram sample could be worth millions."
I think NASA ought to be working on ways to ship back containers of moon rocks. Their budget woes would be solved!
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Moon rocks are only worth so much because they're really hard to obtain. Were NASA (or some other space agency) to flood Earth with moon rocks the price would floor. Same goes for paintings, they are only worth millions because there's only one of each.
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You mean that eating a Moon rock doesn't extend your life by 10 years?
Dammit, dammit, dammit! $50k in Moon rocks and $75k in dental work wasted!
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No, turned out that if you ground it up it's pure poison.
Darn. When I really want them I have no moderator points.
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On the Moon, no-one can hear a "whoosh."
On the Earth, no-one can see a "scam" from De Beers.
NASA should hire De Beers as a consultant, and convince the women of the Earth that their men must buy them Moon Rock rings. Tighten demand and fire up demand with rocket engine thrusters.
NASA would have so much money, that we all would be vacationing in their Las Vegas on Mars resort, really soon!
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You'd have a good lengthy window though, where they might be falling in price but still worth more than gold for some decades. Especially if they were attached to important missions, then they gain historical value as well. Say the first mission to set up a moon base in a lava tube also ships back a hundred tons of moon rock, that stuff would have permanent significance. Maybe even get some artisans to work the stone.
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Wow...
"For example, three seed-sized pieces of the moon that were brought back to Earth by a Russian robotic probe in 1970 were sold at auction 30 years later for $442,500," Pearlman told Space.com. "And while the moon rocks recovered by the Apollo astronauts are considered National Treasures and have never been awarded to individuals, hypothetical appraisals have suggested even a 1-gram sample could be worth millions."
I think NASA ought to be working on ways to ship back containers of moon rocks. Their budget woes would be solved!
Supply vs demand dude...the price of moon rock will fall if a lot of them are on earth
Hmm. How about the reverse? What if I charge people for not crashing all of the Moon rocks (7.35E19 tonnes) into the Earth with my giant laser and tractor beam. How much would that be worth? Moon rock collectors would certainly be happy that the value of their collections aren't devalued.
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Too many moon rocks will make the prices fall. :(
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It's "Moon rock! Oh wow."
"California Lady..."
"Corn, chicken, green peppers, chilis, *sigh* onions..."
Reasonable (Score:2)
If rarity in part determines price then I am surprised this isn't selling for more. I have heard, and I am not sure how true this is, that someone with a rock that fell from the sky broke it up and sold it by the gram - and made a lot more money. One thought though, how can people be sure this is a moon rock? All I am getting is that it was a part of a meteor.
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The question is whether or not it's "The biggest moon rock ever" or "The biggest moon rock ever to be auctioned"
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The question is whether or not it's "The biggest moon rock ever" or "The biggest moon rock ever to be auctioned"
No, to see "The biggest moon rock ever" look up into the sky!
meteorite (Score:5, Insightful)
Calling it a moon rock is kind of cheating, as it's probably been on earth longer than humans have. (uh.. right?)
Moon rock makes me think brought by humans, or something like this. Really neat, though.
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>Most left the Moon in the past 100,000 years. After leaving the Moon, most lunar meteoroids go into orbit around Earth and eventually succumb to Earth's gravity.
ok. Not longer than humans
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Exactly. Don't buy from this frauds!
I, on the other hand, happen have a rock formed by matter that was once ejected in a supernova.
Only $10 000 per gram.
Any takers?
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Samzenpus accidentally misspelled rich as lucky...
You wanna change this :
"One lucky space-lover with some extra cash ..."
to this :
"One rich space-lover with some extra luck ..." ?
How about (Score:2, Funny)
How about auctioning off the big piece of moon rock that they didn't brink back. That ought to fund space exploration for a long time without having to worry about congress cutting their budget. Of course they would have to do it before someone else (China) lands on it and claims it.
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There are a few. They sell novelty land titles.
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Of course they would have to do it before someone else (China) lands on it and claims it.
Sorry, Putin already claimed the moon. He claimed Russian scientists carbon dated a bunch of rocks in Siberia and found a connection with the moon.
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I heard he is going to dress up like the moon, and orbit around it a few times.
Then he will lead the moon home to it's rightful spot - in the perpetually fog shrouded wasteland below the arctic peaks of Zokov island.
All fun and games... (Score:1)
Largest? (Score:4, Funny)
Pretty sure the largest moon rock ever is still in orbit.
Moon rock (Score:1)
one would expect from /. (Score:2)
one would expect from /. at least to put the stuff that matters the most in the summary. But no... Instead, the price. Who cares?
"The rock, which weighs in at 4 pounds"
Provenance? (Score:2)
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It's called science, you might have heard of it, even as an American.
Whoever buys this is gonna be pissed... (Score:1)