[meteorite-list] RE: Most Expensive Meteorite Ever Sold on eBay (Zagami Mars Meteo rite)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:33 2004
Message-ID: <200308142104.OAA29709_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>
> I remember the aborted Southby's auction of three
> Martian meteorites a number of years ago. A large
> piece of Nakhla ~90 grams?, a large piece of Zagami
> ~190 grams?; and a fragment of Chassigny ~12.5 grams?
>
> I was looking for the auction catalog, which was in my
> files, so my memory of the weights are in question.
>
> Could this be the same Zagami that was offered in that
> auction which failed? Certainly, the price is high,
> but considering the possible source, possibly an
> infamous dealer in Conneticut, this asking price is in
> line with him.
>
> Could the un-named owner of it be the same person that
> attempted to auction the pieces some number of years
> ago?
>
> $1.2 million was the opening bid price; the auction
> failed.
>

You're thinking of the Guernsey auction from November 1996.
This was about 3 months after the ALH84001 annoucement, and the
Mars meteorites prices were at their peak. For example, Zagami was selling
for up to $2,000/gram back then. See below.

Ron Baalke

-----------------------------------------------------------

No Sale for Mars Meteorites
Main Antique Digest
November 20, 1996

In spite of lots of pre-auction publicity and NASA's announcement this past
summer that life may have existed on Mars as evidenced by fossil remains in
a known Mars meteorite specimen, three prime pieces of Martian meteorite
material failed to sell at Guernsey's one-lot auction November 20 at the 7th
Regiment Armory in New York City.

The bidding opened at half a million dollars, probably a reserve bid by the
auctioneer. In less than a minute it climbed slowly until the auctioneer
announced that at $1.1 million, the pieces had failed to meet their reserve,
which is the confidential minimum price agreed on by the consignor. The one
lot consisted of specimens of the three known types of Martian meteorites.
Guernsey's said that of the 90 pounds of known Martian meteorite material,
only about eight pounds are in private hands. The auction offered slightly
over a pound of the material; the estimate was $1.5 million to $2 million.

Ron Farrell, whose company Bethany Sciences of Woodbridge, Connecticut, is
one of the leading brokers in meteorites, said, "People all through history
have paid a lot of money for all meteorites. The announcement by NASA has
driven up the price of the Martian material. There's so little of it, and a
worldwide demand." Farrell may well have been the unnamed consignor of the
material at auction. His catalog lists a rock identical in shape and chips
to the largest rock Guernsey's is offering. Both Farrell and Arlan Ettinger,
president of Guernsey's, declined comment on the identity of the consignor,
although Farrell admitted it was fair to say that the large meteorite piece
had "probably" passed through his hands.

M.A.D. reporter Dorothy Gelatt attended the sale and reported that there
were almost more camera crews and reporters at the short sale than bidders.
One collector was shocked that the rocks did not sell. He thought they would
bring $7 million.

A spokesman for Guernsey's said that the sale had drawn a lot of interest
from all over the world and that negotiations were still underway on
possible sales.
Received on Thu 14 Aug 2003 05:04:29 PM PDT