Meteorites, those rare celestial travellers that end their billion-year journeys through the Solar System by crashing to Earth’s surface, are desired by many.
Made up of remnants from the early Solar System or fragments blasted off other planets, they hold immense scientific value, historical significance and aesthetic beauty.
These space rocks are the rubble left over from the formation of the Solar System’s planets 4.6 billion years ago, and are much sought after by collectors intent on owning a primordial piece of the cosmos.
Particularly rare or visually stunning specimens can fetch astronomical prices when they come up for auction.
Here are some of the most expensive meteorites ever put up for sale, and the reasons for their staggering price tags.
1. NWA 16788, the largest piece of Mars on Earth
- Sold for: More than $5.29 million (£3.92 million)
- Discovered: 16 November 2023 in the Agadez Region of Niger, West Africa
- Made up of: A coarse-grained texture composed primarily of pyroxene, maskelynite and olivine
- Who bought it? Not yet disclosed
At 25kg (54lb) of pure Martian material, NWA 16788 is a rare example of an exceptionally scarce type of meteorite. Sold in July this year by Sotheby’s, the lot listing described NWA 16788 as ‘a geological time capsule from another world’.
The description continued: ‘With fewer than 400 Martian meteorites ever recorded (of the 77,000 officially recognised meteorites), and most no larger than a pebble, this specimen offers the biggest tangible connection to a planet that has captivated humanity for centuries.’
NWA 16788 is a shergottite meteorite, made up of igneous rocks originating from Mars. The space rock’s impressive size accounts for 6.5% of all known material from the Red Planet to have been found on Earth. It is thought to have been chipped off Mars and blasted towards Earth following a major asteroid impact.
It even looks like it’s from Mars, with a reddish-brown hue and a glassy crust. The asteroid impact not only propelled it 225 million km (140 million miles) to our planet, the heat the impact generated fused 20% of the meteorite’s original feldspar into maskelynite glass.
The identity of the successful bidder is not known, and some scientists are unhappy that NWA 16788 ended up in private hands rather than with a museum.
However, a fragment of the meteorite was analysed prior to sale and a reference sample is kept at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China.
2. Fukang meteorite, a rare and beautiful, translucent golden-green meteorite
- Sold for: Multiple slices sold separately for up to £525,000 each
- Discovered: In 2000, near the town of Fukang, Xinjiang Province, in China
- Made up of: Nickel-iron laced with olivine crystals
- Who bought it? Not yet disclosed
The Fukang meteorite was found 25 years ago, by a hiker walking through the mountains near the town of Fukang in northwest China.
They had passed this strange rock on a few occasions and became fascinated by the strange crystals that seemed to be protruding from its surface.
The rock turned out to be 4.5 billion years old, and one of the rarest and most beautiful meteorites ever found.
Fukang is a pallasite meteorite, an unusual type of stony-iron space rock that makes up less than 2% of meteorites found on Earth.
Not only that, but it consists of some of the largest and most translucent olivine peridot crystals of any pallasite, making it of interest not only to scientists, but to gem collectors.
Pallasites are thought to get their unusual make-up from being formed between the metal core and silicate mantle of differentiated asteroids.
A collision long ago in the Solar System’s distant past then smashed the asteroid into pieces, ejecting its interior material into space.
Its incredible age, estimated to be 4.5 billion years, means the Fukang meteorite was created just as the planets in our Solar System were coalescing around the newly formed Sun.
This space rock is literally a preserved fragment from the birth of our planetary system.
The main mass of the Fukang meteorite is around 1,000kg (2,210lb), equivalent to a small car, making it one of the largest meteorites ever found. In 2008 it was listed at auction by Bonhams for $2 million (£1,477,000) but didn’t sell.
It was then cut into slices, polished and sold to collectors and museums. In 2021, a large slice sold at Christie’s, London, for a record hammer price of £525,000.
More on meteors and meteorites
3. Ahnighito (Cape York Meteorite), the second largest meteorite found on Earth
- Sold for: $40,000 (£29,388) in 1904; equivalent to $1.5 million (£1.1 million) today
- Discovered: Greenland, 1894, by explorer Robert C Peary
- Made up of: Iron (91%), nickel (7%) and traces of cobalt, copper, phosphorus and carbon
- Who bought it? The American Museum of Natural History in 1904
This enormous iron meteorite slammed into Greenland 10,000 years ago. Although ‘officially’ discovered by American explorer Robert C Peary in the 1890s, for thousands of years before it had been used by native Inuit tribes as one of the only sources of metal for their blades.
So, when Peary took on the mammoth task of transporting this and two other fragments to America, he was depriving them of a natural resource.
To recognise Peary’s incredible, if through today’s eyes potentially misguided, effort, in 1904 the Ahnighito meteorite was bought by the American Museum of Natural History for $40,000 (£29,388). Adjusted for inflation, the equivalent sum today would be $1.5 million (£1.1 million).
At 34 tonnes, Ahnighito is the largest meteorite on public display in any museum in the world. It is so massive that the American Museum of Natural History had to extend the supports for its display platform down to the bedrock to stop its weight damaging the building.
Yet Ahnighito is only part of a much larger 200-tonne asteroid, known as Cape York – or Innaanganeq – which broke apart as it entered Earth’s atmosphere.
Two other pieces from it are also on display in the museum. Originating from the shattered core of a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid, these are surviving remnants from the very earliest eons of our Solar System.
4. Brenham meteorite – the largest orientated pallasite meteorite
- Sold for: Main mass auctioned for $717,500–$1.1m (£500,000–£800,000), but did not sell
- Discovered: Near Haviland, Kansas in 2005
- Made up of: Iron and olivine gems
- Who bought it? Currently held in a private collection
For meteorite collectors, one thing that increases a meteorite’s value is if its entry into our atmosphere is witnessed. The Brenham meteorite fell to Earth near the small town of Haviland, in Kiowa County, Kansas around 1,000 years ago and its descent is believed to be documented in local Native American glyphs. The Native Americans also used fragments as a source of iron, crafting jewellery and even placing pieces into burial grounds.
Another thing that sets this meteorite apart is that it’s an orientated meteorite – one that had a stable flight through the Earth’s atmosphere, rather than tumbling during its decent. This had the effect of creating an attractive, smooth parabola-shaped dome on one side, where the heat of its entry as it plunged to Earth vaporised the surface. The dome created the perfect angle to deflect heat and hot gases, helping to keep this part intact.
NASA engineers have studied the angles of other orientated meteorites to inform the design of effective heat shields for manned space capsules. That said, the Brenham meteorite did suffer during its plunge through Earth’s atmosphere: more than three tonnes of it were burnt off and fell over a large area of Kansas.
The dimples on the surface of this 649kg (1,430lb) pallasite meteorite are the result of the different melting temperatures of the material in it, nickel iron and gleaming circular olivine crystals.
The Brenham meteorite was put up for auction in 2016, but didn’t reach its $717,500–$1.1m (£500,000–£800,000) asking price. Smaller pieces of the meteorite have been sold since, with one slice selling for $37,374 (£27,500) in July 2025.
5. Springwater meteorite
- Sold for: $511,000 (£375,000)
- Discovered: Biggar town in Saskatchewan, Canada in 2009
- Made up of: A 50/50 mix of olivine crystals and a nickel-iron metal matrix
- Who bought it? The Royal Ontario Museum
It should come as no surprise that this is the third pallasite meteorite to make it into the top five – they are incredibly rare. Of the roughly 77,000 meteorites found on Earth only 84 have been identified as pallasites.
This specimen, the largest chunk of the Springwater meteorite, is a 53kg (116lb) piece, the size of a secondary school student’s backpack. It’s the biggest piece of a pallasite ever found in Canada.
The space rock is also famous for being the first known source of the rare mineral, Farringtonite. This doesn’t occur naturally on Earth, and is only found inside this kind of meteorite.
Large pieces of the Springwater meteorite have been unearthed around the town of Biggar in Saskatchewan province for almost a century. In 1931, farmers clearing rocks from a field discovered three large parts of the gem-studded space rock.
Locals then made a living during the difficult times of the Great Depression by selling polished parts. In 2009, a meteorite hunter visited the original site, equipped with an all-terrain vehicle and modern metal detectors, and uncovered a fourth, much larger, segment.
This 4.5-billion-year-old space rock, believed to originate from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was then bought by the Royal Ontario Museum in 2010 for a whopping $511,000 (£376,000).
With all these meteorites coming in at six-figure prices or more, you may be forgiven for thinking there are no affordable primordial pieces of the Solar System.
But don’t despair, these astronomical sums are reserved for very rare, often very sizeable, space rocks – and even then they don’t always make the asking prices.
With a little research you can get your hands on your own meteorite for the price of a good meal out. Or, even better, you can go out and hunt your own!
