With all the emphasis on bring art from earth to space, it seems the market has missed a major opportunity: bringing space art to Earth. An ongoing auction at Christie’s seeks to make up for that shortfall, with a collection of lots made from pieces of the Moon, Mars and meteorites. deep impact opened March 14, and bidding has already begun by people keen to own a piece of some of the rarest rocks this side of our atmosphere.
The crown jewel of the auction, so to speak, is a single row necklace of “moon beads” – that is, jewelry literally made from our own Moon – in a one-of-a-kind offering at auction. Each of the 48 beads on the stand are made of lunar meteorites, which are small pieces of ejected from the Moon due to asteroid strikes, identifiable by specific geological, mineralogical, chemical and radiation signatures.The Lunar Necklace has been offered for up to $10,000 at the time of this writing, but with a week remaining in the auction, one imagines it will approach – or even eclipse (heh) – its estimate of $140,000 to $200,000 Never since has the diamond had an enforced scarcity environment created so much leverage economic !
“If you love it to the moon and back,” Christie’s science and natural history manager James Hyslop said in a press release, “it’s nice to have something to show for the trip.” Although the winning bid is subject to the usual closing costs, you can benefit from this line for the gift card for free. (Oh, did he propose to you with a diamond? How earthly.)
Several pieces up for auction are framed in carvings, such as a lot titled “Emoji sent from an asteroid‘, apparently coming from a shattered asteroid around 650 million years ago. The event culminated in the Henbury meteor shower which rained iron on the Northern Territory of Australia around 4,200 years ago, creating a field of 13 craters measuring up to 425 feet in diameter and 50 feet deep which was considered sacred by the indigenous Arrernte people. The reference to the emoji in the title of the piece clearly refers to the wide-eyed, open-mouthed anthropomorphic face that appears on the rock, although it can be said to somewhat diminish the gravity of the ancient rock. spatial. But then again, no one has ever gotten rich by respecting the majesty of space or the sovereignty of indigenous peoples.
Besides calling your wealth manager to see how much you have on hand to invest in space rocks, you may be wondering about the legality of owning a piece of the Moon, as the layman understands that the selling moon rocks is illegal. In truth, lunar material can naturally be found on Earth in the desert regions of North Africa, Oman, and Antarctica, and these rocks are fair game on the open market; it is only illegal in the case of moon rocks collected during the Apollo mission, which are the property of NASA and the US government and cannot be sold or traded to individuals, according to rock collectors And lawyers.
It is also legal for hobbyists to collect pieces of meteorites (up to ten pounds per person, per year!) Land Management Office. Scientific and commercial collection of such specimens should be permitted.
Now that we’ve ironed out the pesky legalities, everyone will surely be eager to start freeing up five- to six-figure sums to spend on rocks from space! With 68 options, including nine different colorful pallasite meteor offerings presented raw, slicedAnd shapedyou can barely afford not to get your hands on one of these adorable babies.
“Meteorites inspire us like no other object can,” Hyslop said. “Holding a piece of another world in your hand is an experience you will never forget.”
At these prices, it’s better that no one else forgets that either.
