A Martian meteorite sold for US$5.3 million ($9m) at Sotheby’s, sparking questions over its provenance. Photo / Getty Images
A Martian meteorite sold for US$5.3 million ($9m) at Sotheby’s, sparking questions over its provenance. Photo / Getty Images
The recent auction of a Martian meteorite – for a record-grabbing US$5.3 million ($9m) at Sotheby’s New York – has sparked questions over its provenance and renewed debate over who gets to claim rocks fallen from the heavens.
The hefty 54-pound (25kg) stone is the largest Martian meteorite ever discoveredon Earth, according to its Sotheby’s listing, and was found in November 2023 in the vast Saharan desert in Niger.
The Government of Niger has announced that it will open an investigation following the auction, saying it appears to “have all the characteristics of illicit international trafficking”.
Last week, the Government suspended exports of precious stones and meteorites until further notice.
Sotheby’s has rejected the accusations, insisting that the meteorite was “was exported from Niger and transported in line with all relevant international procedure”.
In light of the controversy, however, a review of the case is under way, a Sotheby’s spokesperson told AFP.
“The stone journeyed 140 million miles through space, and hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere before crashing in the Sahara Desert,” the Sotheby’s listing said.
Following its discovery, the jagged, ochre-coloured stone was then sold to an international dealer, briefly exhibited in Italy, and eventually ended up in the auction catalogue in New York.
For American palaeontologist Paul Sereno, who has worked closely with Niger’s authorities for years, all signs suggest that the stone left the country “illicitly”.
The meteorite's scientific value raises ethical concerns about its auction and potential private ownership. Photo / Getty Images
“Everybody’s anonymous – from the person who found it, the dealers, the guy who bought it, everybody’s anonymous,” he told AFP, making no secret of his frustration.
“If they had put on baseball gloves and caught the meteorite as was hurtling towards Earth before it landed in any country, they could claim it... but I’m sorry, it landed there. It belongs to Niger,” he said.
Laws governing the ownership of meteorites vary based on their point of impact.
In the United States, for example, if a rock falls on private land, the property owners have ownership rights.
In Niger, however, a law governs “national cultural patrimony”, which includes rare mineralogical specimens, according to Matthieu Gounelle, a professor at France’s National History Museum, and his father Max Gounelle, a French university professor.
Both are specialists in regulations governing the collection and sale of meteorites.
“In our opinion, there is no doubt that meteorites should be included among the rare mineralogical specimens” protected by Nigerien law, they told AFP.
Beyond the legal battle and the possible involvement of a trafficking network, the sale of the meteorite also raises science ethics questions.
The rock, named NWA 16788, has unique scientific research value.
