Heritage Auctions’ Natural History Signature® Meteorite Auction, featuring more than 125 select meteorites – many with museum provenance – realized $1,066,106 (all prices include Buyers Premium).
“The enthusiasm among collectors for these rare, aesthetic space rocks was just tremendous,” said Jim Walker, Director of Nature & Science at Heritage Auctions, “and the top prices that collectors were willing to pay for the prime examples reflected that passion.”
The auction’s centerpiece, the fourth largest piece of the Moon ever made available to the public, with a final price realized of $330,000, led the day.
““This Moon rock is easily worthy of the finest natural history museums in the world,” said Darryl Pitt, Meteorite Consultant to Heritage. “All of us are thrilled for the new owners of this impeccable specimen.”
There was also tremendous interest in the rest of the auction, as a matchless Gibeon Meteorite, a truly brilliant sculpture from outer space, realized $46,875, while a complete transitional slice of Seymchan Meteorite, from the collection of television’s “Meteorite Men,” provided some of the most spirited bidding of the day to finish at $43,750 – more than 12 times its’ $3,000+ pre-auction estimate.
A large piece of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite, from the famous Arizona meteorite crater, realized $27,500, while the largest complete slice of the Conception Junction Meteorite, which also graced the cover of Meteorite Magazine, realized $26,250 and a large piece of Imilac meteorite, a celestial treasure sparkling with interstellar gems, realized $25,000.
“There was a great deal of interest from collectors in the middle section of the auction,” said Darryl Pitt, Meteorite Consultant for Heritage Auctions. “We saw some superb examples well exceed their pre-auction estimates, in many cases more than double and triple.”
A piece of the planet Mars that legendary recording artist Herbie Hancock had in his pocket during a gala performance at The Kennedy Center last fall for The Thelonious Monk Institute, which brought $9,375.
This auction coincided with the 20th Anniversary of the Peekskill fireball — the most videotaped meteorite descent of all time — which burnished its legacy by smashing a Chevy Malibu in its final act just 50 miles outside of Manhattan. A portion of this renowned meteorite sold for $16,250.
A naturally sculpted iron meteorite from the Kalahari that is the extraterrestrial evocation of Munch’s “The Scream,” which garnered massive amounts of international press before the event, also failed to open.
A large fragment of the Tissint Martian meteorite that fell last year in Morocco, which perfectly fits and locks into the large 1099 gram fragment that is now a centerpiece at the Natural History Museum in London, did not receive and opening bid.
Heritage Auctions is far and away the largest auction house founded in the United States, and the world’s third largest, with annual sales of more than $800 million, and 750,000+ online bidder members. For more information about Heritage Auctions, and to join and receive access to a complete record of prices realized, with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HA.com
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