[meteorite-list] Re: The Most Expensive Meteorite Ever Sold on eBay (Zagami Mars Meteorite)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:16:33 2004
Message-ID: <200308141523.IAA21790_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

>LINCOLN, Neb., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Now is your chance to own a rare 1.3
>Billion year old piece of the Red Planet! The largest known specimen in
>circulation (188 grams) of the famous Mars rock Zagami, is owned by a private
>individual

Sounds like they're getting their Mars meteorites mixed up. Zagami is a
shergottite, which is 180 million years old. Nakhilites, another
type of Mars meteorite, are 1.3 billion years old. Zagami is the largest
single Mars meteorite stone at 18 kg, or 40 pounds, when it fell in 1962.
So, this 188 gram fragment is roughly 1/100th of the original main mass,
though still rather sizeable for a Mars meteorite.

>Some estimates value this specimen at over $2,000,000.

That translates to over $10,000/gram, which is extremely optimistic.
That is about 20 to 30 times the current market rate for Zagami.

>Out of 22,000 meteorites known to man, only 13 are actually
>known to be "Martian."

There are currently 28 known Mars meteorites.

Ron Baalke
Received on Thu 14 Aug 2003 11:23:21 AM PDT